Lorries to face massive pollution fines

12:59pm Tuesday 25th July 2006

By Peter Law and Martina Smit

Plans to fine lorry and coach drivers in London up to £1,000 for failing to meet strict new air pollution standards have moved a step closer.

Owners of heavy vehicles without special emission filters will have to pay as much as £200 a day for driving in the proposed Low Emission Zone (LEZ), or risk a fine.

The zone would include all 33 London boroughs, but not the M25. A network of mobile and fixed cameras would read the registration plates of large vehicles driving in Greater London.

Following a 12 week public consultation, the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said he would make changes to the Transport and Air Quality Strategies to allow for the scheme.

The next step will be a further consultation later this year on a draft scheme order.

The scheme, which would start in February 2008, would first apply to lorries over 7.5 tonnes. From July 2008 coaches, buses and lorries over 3.5 tonnes would also be included.

A vehicle will be fined if records show it was built before 2001 and it has not been fitted with a filter.

But the two government databases to be used for checking these facts are both in doubt.

Last year the Home Office admitted in a written Commons reply that records of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) were just 40% accurate.

Recently the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA), which regulates the freight industry, also had huge problems when it introduced a computerised MoT system.

Mr Livingstone said research showed air pollution caused the deaths of about 1,000 Londoners a year.

"London suffers the worst air quality in the UK and amongst the worst in Europe. We want people living, working and visiting London to benefit from better air quality and to live longer and healthier lives," he said.

"The proposed Low Emission Zone is the most effective way of quickly reducing pollutants that are among the most harmful to human health. It will make London one of the first cities in the world to have taken such a radical step to tackle air pollution and safeguard our environment."

The move could cost the haulage industry up to £390 million, Transport for London (TfL) estimated. About 60,000 of the 180,000 heavy vehicles that enter London annually would have to be fitted with emission traps.

Bur the British Lung Foundation chairman Keith Prowse said: "For the one in seven of the population with lung disease, any initiative which reduces harmful emissions is good news as they are particularly at risk from air pollution.

"This applies especially to the elderly and children. Improving the air we breathe should mean fewer premature deaths, reduced hospital visits, and fewer GP consultations for people with respiratory disease."