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London rental warning

31st October 2002
Page 7
Page 7, 31st October 2002 — London rental warning
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The Freight Transport Association is seeking urgent talks with the vehicle hire sector to seek a solution to problems posed by London's congestion charging scheme.

The FA says that there is the potential for chaos caused by operators hiring vehicles at short notice and having to ensure they are registered to enter the capital. This would particularly apply to operators using the two feet schemes under which hauliers will have a list of their vehicles registered for central London use.

It is possible to amend the list of vehicles or use the basic daily licence scheme but the potential for unregistered vehicles operating in London and racking up huge fines is high, says the FTA.

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) says its members cannot afford to preregister their vehicles because of the 210/vehicle registration fee.

Jay Palmer, head of legal services at the BVRLA, adds: "I cant see the economic sense for our members to do that—they would have to register their whole fleet but of that maybe only 2% would go into London.

"If you take someone like TLS, TIP or Ryder with 20,000 vehicles lhen you are talking 2200,000 per year," he points out.

Palmer adds that the BMA approached Transport for London (TfL), which is running the scheme, to see if it would waive the registration fee. However, the TfL rejected this idea, citing administration costs.

• Operators registered on the 'automated' fleet scheme who have their licences cut below the 25-truck threshold could use a loophole to continue on the 'notification' scheme. If an operator has any company cars or vans, even if they never enter London, they can be used to increase the fleet size back to the threshold level. Additionally, operators registering alternative-fuel vehicles before Christmas will be exempt from the £10/vehicle fee.


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