News

Just 3,300 vehicles have been modified to comply with London's Low Emission Zone, 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.

It says 96% of HGVs are compliant with the scheme, which launched in February – a 26% increase compared with 2007. The second phase of the LEZ's rollout, which brought trucks between 3.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes within its scope, has seen a 91% compliance level.

TfL estimates that operators upgrading vehicles and retrofitting equipment will cost the industry £80-110m by 2015. It expects hauliers to pass on two-thirds of this cost to customers.

Tony Pain, marketing director at manufacturer Daf, says he is surprised at TfL's estimated pass-on costs: "Fuel costs I can understand, but I would be surprised if this is passed on to their customers. If you were the customer you would ask 'why should I pay?' I would be amazed if they did."

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. Policy director Gordon Telling says between 10-12% 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 (LECs) have been issued for all Euro-1 and Euro-2 vehicles, proving they already met the scheme's requirement for particulate matter and did not need any equipment fitted.

Telling says whichever figure for modifications 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."