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Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor, has pledged to end the low-emission zone (LEZ) and halt congestion charging for commercial vehicles. The mayoral election takes place on 1 May and Paddick is standing against incumbent Ken Livingstone and Conservative candidate Boris Johnson.

The LEZ has caused a huge headache for the road haulage industry and many feel the congestion charge penalises trucks that have to make deliveries in London. Paddick's transport policy  states he would scrap the LEZ because it is putting small and medium-sized businesses at risk. It adds that commercial vehicles and London-registered vehicles would be exempt from the congestion charge, which would be rejigged to become a 24-hour-a-day £10 charge for all other vehicles coming from outside Greater London.

Paddick also wants to rephase traffic lights and manage roadworks better to keep traffic moving in the capital. Boris Johnson also plans to change the congestion charge, but the details of this are unclear. He does intend a consultation on the western extension and hopes to change the payment method to an account-based system, whereby vehicles would be sent a bill every time they entered the C-charge zone.

Geoff Dossetter, director of external affairs at the Freight Transport Association (FTA), says scrapping the LEZ would be welcome. "The industry is getting cleaner due to the Euro system. All the LEZ  has been is an enormous cost." The FTA also backs the idea of allowing CVs into London free of charge. "The FTA has always said CVs should be exempt from the congestion charge because they only enter the zone to make essential deliveries at the times that customers demand."

Chrys Rampley, manager for infrastructure at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), adds: "We've always argued that lorries should be free because they provide an essential service to supply the capital." He adds that the RHA has always been against the LEZ because the industry is "getting there anyway". However one operator contacted CM to say he had been through a lot of pain to comply with the LEZ and would be "very annoyed" if it were scrapped. Dossetter says that despite this there would be more benefit and less red tape for the haulage industry in the long run if the LEZ was not in place.