Ban hauliers face permit fees
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• Operators face paying a fee for driving through London at night and the weekends.
The London Boroughs Transport Committee, which allocates permits allowing hauliers to use the capital's roads during unsociable hours, plans to impose a charge on all trucks of 16.5 tonnes and above.
It has asked the Department of Environment for power to demand payment from the 5,000 hauliers who hold exemption permits for its controversial London Lorry Ban scheme, which covers most non-trunk roads in Greater London.
So far the LBTC has been unable to charge for the permits under the terms of the 1985 Road Traffic Order which authorised the ban.
But now the committee's lawyers believe they have found a way around this restriction by asking the DoE to enact an amendment to Section 150 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
The DoE has asked the LBTC to apply for this support from either the Association of London Authorities or the London Boroughs Association. Tomorrow (17 January) the LBTC will meet the 24 boroughs participating in the scheme to decide whether to approach the associations.
The Freight Transport Association has approached the Department of Transport to try to "nip the matter in the bud". It says: "This action would be another imposition on operators using London."
The Road Haulage Association agrees that a charge would be "unfair" to operators who need to use roads covered by the ban, which is in force 21:00-07: 00hrs weekdays, 00:00-07:00 and 13:00-00:00 Saturday and all day Sunday.
But the LBTC defends its action by saying that "budgets are difficult" — a situation which will be made worse in March when Hillingdon, Ealing and Enfield withdraw their annual subscription to the scheme.
Hillingdon says: "the scheme represents poor vaule for money ...the benefits of belonging are minimal, with no measurable re duction in heavy lorry traffic." Enfield believes that the permit system is ineffective: it wants a 7.5-tonne ban.
Operators have reacted angrily to the LBTC move: "It's amazing — the haulage industry is already in a deep recession and this will have more of a depressing effect," says Albert Ingleston, operations director of Hythe-based Inter City Trucks. He believes the LBTC has timed its move cleverly, waiting to get permission to force operators to fit air brake silencers before trying for even more power.
David Rogers Haulage of Felixstowe is furious too: "It's another cost for us which we will not get back from our customers," it says. The company's trucks average 12 London trips a week, and it already feels burdened by customers' demands for cab phones and Government requirements for equipment like spray suppression.