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Hauliers see red in London Thr ee o n fo w r CIT
Page 12
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by Jennifer Ball Changes to traffic light phasing in London which keep lights at red for longer are costing £,14m a day in additional fuel and driver costs for the 130,000 goods vehicles serving the capital, says the Freight Transport Association.
The new phasing is designed to improve pedestrians priority. However, since it began the average speed of traffic has fallen from 9.9mph to just 2.9mph: an FTA survey shows that almost a third of companies delivering goods in London believe 4 has had a detrimental effect on their business.
The FTA says these increased costs must be passed on. It warns that Londoners now face an £880m annual bill through these extra costs.
Waverley Vintners, which deliv ers drinks daily to West End hotels and bars, estimates that changed phasing has already cost them £5.000, while Simple Simon Foods says it has seen a £2,500-a-week loss of business due to missed deliveries.
David Griffith, fleet manager at document storage company Recall, says that the new phasing has been introduced to make congestion charging appear more successful and that, while disruption has been minimal, it will increase when charging begins in February: "Most of our deliveries are within the charging zone so we will have to look at rescheduling Our routes and making more deliveries in the early morning and late evening.
"However, in many cases this may not be possible as many of our clients are office-based or banks, in which case the extra costs from charges will have to be passed onto our customers." he explains. FTA spokeswoman Louisa Bellee says: "Our survey highlights the problems that companies delivering into London are facing on a day-to-day basis, but the situation looks set to worsen as traffic becomes virtually gridlocked.
"What is even more infuriating for commercial vehicle operators and drivers is that traffic light phasing achieves nothing but longer queues and bigger headaches as they have no choice but to drive into central London to serve the shops, restaurants and hotels."