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Zone of contention
Page 9
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Working out how not to charge customers a £200 a day LEZ surcharge is confusing, says owner-driver Dick Flute.
It now appears that the only option, apart from charging our customers a 2200 surcharge per job (I rarely work for more than one customer a day) is to fit a particulate trap specifically suited to my vehicle and the way it is operated.
I only discovered that there were ways to avoid the charge because of an advert placed in the RHA magazine Roadway by Eminox. I thought it would be a fairly simple matter of stumping up the cash and getting a particulate filter fitted. Indeed, the sales people at Eminox HO confirmed it was all very simple (well they would, wouldn't they?). Not so, despite what TfL (Transport for London) is saying.
At a cost of about 25,500 fitted it seemed the best answer; we would then charge customers a 225-a-day LEZ surcharge.
There are other options around that appear much cheaper, but they generally can't take Euro-1 engines to Euro-3, or Euro-2 engines to Euro-4. Anyway, I'm rather sceptical about many "one-size-fits-all" filters on the market.
I had been getting bogged down by all sorts of conflicting information, mostly negative, and without a doubt there is a lot of misunderstanding around helping to blur an already complex picture.
It wasn't until mid-August when I spoke directly to Environsafe which is dealing (on behalf of Eminox) with ownerdrivers or companies needing only one or two particulate traps that a clearer picture started emerging. Eminox offers at least three main types of particulate traps designed to work in very different operating regimes. As Environsafe panted out, fitting the wrong type can have serious and costly consequences. How often will this happen I wonder?
As so often in life, if you fail to ask the right question it's doubtful you'll get the right answer. But, in order to ask the right question you need to fully understand the subject and—and it wouldn't hurt to be clairvoyant.
• Many CVs could find their main job dramatically changed, especially within a four-year period. Like older, longdistance trunkers being relegated to local city collection and deliveries working mostly on congested roads, they might have easily passed their annual tests when running along motorways. But how will they cope with local work?
"I had been getting bogged down by all sorts of conflicting information, mostly negative... there is a lot of misunderstanding'