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FTA slams LEZ's worth based on Vosa figures
Page 6
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By Chris Tindall JUST 3,300 VEHICLES have been modified to comply with London's low-emission zone (LEZ), which the Freight Transport Association (FTA) brands as a "damning statement" of the scheme's benefit.
Vosa's figure for HGVs entering the world's first clean-air zone comes as Transport for London (TfL) releases a report claiming the LEZ has made London a "significantly cleaner" city.
TM says 96% of HGVs are compliant with the scheme — a 26% increase compared with 2007. The second phase of the LEZ, which affected trucks between 3.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes, has seen a 91% compliance level. TfL estimates that operators upgrading vehicles and retrofitting equipment will cost the industry between £80m and £110m by 2015. It expects hauliers to pass on twothirds of this cost to customers.
TfL has also told the FTA that more than 6,700 vehicles — twice the number Vosa confirmed to CM—have been fitted with particulate traps. However, the FTA has called into question the -true benefit" of the LEZ. FTA policy director Gordon Telling says between 10% and 12% of compliant vehicles have been bought by operators regardless of whether an LEZ was in place or not. He also claims 19,000 low-emission certificates have been issued for all Euro-I and II vehicles, proving they already met the scheme's requirement for particulate matter and did not need any equipment fitted.
Telling says whichever figure is correct, it is still dwarfed by the number of LECs issued: "If only three-and-a-half thousand have been modified, then more than five-times as many have slipped through on LECs; that's quite a damning statement of the LEZ."