TfL’s light touch puts LEZ fines in freefall
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By Derren Hayes
HAULIERS BREACHING London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) rules were given an easy ride during the first six months of this year, Transport for London (TfL) has admitted.
Data obtained by CM has revealed that there was a staggering drop in the number of penalty charges issued to operators for breaking the LEZ standards this year, despite the 3 January step-up from a Euro-3 to Euro-4 minimum standard.
Figures provided by TfL under the Freedom of Information Act show that 1,485 penalty charge notices (PCNs) had been issued in 2012 (up to 11 October), compared with 9,550 PCNs issued in the whole of 2011.
TfL attributed the drop in PCNs to its decision to only issue warning letters to drivers of all vehicles that broke the standard for a first offence in the first six months of the year.
Nick Fairholme, TfL director of congestion charging and traffic enforcement, said: “We have sought to encourage operators of non-compliant vehicles to take appropriate action to clean up their vehicles’ emissions, rather than unduly penalise them.
“Until recently we have issued warning letters in the first instance rather than PCNs. This has been effective and to date 93% of lorries, buses and coaches travelling in Greater London comply with the relevant emissions standards.” A major beneficiary of this policy has been foreign-registered operators: they received only 84 PCNs in 2012 for breaching the LEZ, a drop on the 5,738 fines handed out in 2011.
However, the rate of reduction in the number of PCNs issued to UKregistered vehicles is nowhere near as pronounced: 1,401 so far this year compared with 3,812 in 2011.
At £1,000 a time, the value of LEZ PCNs owed to TfL stands at £5.38m over the past two years, with just over half owed by drivers of non-UK registered vehicles.
Fairholme said recovering unpaid penalties from foreign drivers is “problematic” , but added: “We work hard with our European debt recovery agency to recover these penalties.” Peter Cullum, head of international affairs at the Road Haulage Association, said: “These figures are disappointing but we suspected [debt recovery] was going to be a problem as it requires a claim [to be made] in the civil courts [in European countries].” Piers Carroll, vice chairman of Slough-based Saints Transport, branded TfL’s enforcement of the new Euro-4 standards as “absolutely ridiculous”.
“There are those of us, like Saints, who have spent millions of pounds to ensure compliance and what happens to the people who haven’t? Not a lot. We all had the same deadline so why don’t we have to adhere to the same rules?” Since 3 July, TfL has been issuing PCNs for first offences.