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E-zone 'will add £750 to cost of removals'
David Williams, Motoring Editor05.02.08
The cost of moving house could rise by as much as £750 as a result of the new low emission zone.
Removals firms said today they would pass on the costs of buying new trucks or fitting old ones with new exhaust filters to meet the emission rules to their customers.
That would push the average cost of a London removal from £2,500 to £3,250, said the British Association of Removers.
The zone, which means the drivers of heavily-polluting trucks must pay £200 a time to enter the capital, came into force yesterday. The association estimates that 1,500 removal trucks are based in London and a "significant proportion" do not comply with the new rules.
Association president Jonathan Hood said the lorries cost more than £70,000 and were designed to last 15 years so many firms would be left with expensive vehicles that were not LEZ-compliant.
"Many of our members have invested heavily in new trucks over recent years. We cannot now sell these expensive vehicles on because the bottom has dropped out of the market," he said. Operators who had fitted exhaust "traps" said it had added £250 a month to their operating costs.
But Mr Hood said that because removal trucks averaged only 20 miles a day their contribution to pollution was negligible.
"They spend most of their lives parked outside customers' homes and offices being loaded and unloaded. They do not clog up roads and pump out fumes all day," he said. "Between a quarter and a third of companies could potentially go out of business. The environmental impact of scrapping a vehicle is huge."
The Freight Transport Association said the new zone would hit film and television company lorries going to and from outside broadcasts and construction industry vehicles, such as cement mixers. Spokesman Gordon Telling said: "Sometimes there is no room for exhaust filters that would make them compliant so they have to pay the £200 charge each time they enter London and they will have to pass the costs on."
Mark Weston of the British Horse Society said: "This is having an effect on riders. Their vehicles are often based on older lorries and the majority do not comply with the new rules."
Transport for London today defended the low emission zone scheme. A spokesman said: "Thousands of Londoners suffer illhealth from pollution released by traffic fumes and two thirds of emissions of the most dangerous air pollutants come from road traffic. The majority are caused by vehicles that the scheme will target - the heaviest, most polluting diesel-engined lorries, coaches and buses.
"Removal vehicles can be retro-fitted to meet the required emissions standards. The claim the zone will add £750 to removal bills seems far-fetched in the extreme."
Reader views (8)
An increase of £750 is a joke as the removal companies could just add £200 to the bill to cover the charge. But the whole point of such a high charge is to be more expensive than the cost of complying, so any increase to the customer should be less than £200.
- Chris, Aylesbury, England
The extra cost doesn't just apply to removal lorries, what about compost delivery from a small firm in Windsor to my garden in Twickenham, organic food deliveries from outside the zone...
When you think about the extra tax (it's nothing else than a new tax) affects everybody.
Thank you Ken.
- Paul Epps, Twickenham
It's another scam. It only covers particulates but does not do anything about nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds. It allows in some old vehicles which can scrape through the Livingstone test but will still be very bad polluters but bans some newer vehicles with very little pollution. A rolling programme starting with the oldest vehicle might have achieved something but was rejected by Ken. It won't stop black smoke as any vehicle that satisfies Ken will emit it if badly maintained. The conversion kits cost £2500-£5000 each and do not work on low mileage urban vehicles.
- John, Bromley
I'm so sick and tired of all this Ggeen rubbish. We're told to do this, do that, tow the party line. It makes no difference to London as the polluted air from ouside the Zone will still get into the city. Unfortunatley air has no bounderies! Doh!
- Paul Humphreys, Essex
Livingstone is "out of control", if voted back in, trust me, the man will ban cars next!
- George, Hempstead
When I move house, if I am faced with paying a removals firm either £750 to contribute to a shiny new lorry or £200 to pay the new fine I know which one I would choose.
- Tim, London
TFL's own website admits that the LEZ will do little to reduce polution/emissions in the zone. So then we must ask, what is the point?
Of course - to rip us off even more. No doubt the camera system will be used in 12m time as a London wide congestion charge zone.
- Marc, Harrow, UK
The arguments from the hauliers do not make much sense, except from a 'we don't care what the air's like' point of view. Lorries are replaced regularly or they ooze pollution and make the city unhealthy. If the vehicles are compliant i.e. are certified as having low emissions, they are exempt.
If the lorry is making a one-off visit, it is hardly going to affect the company's financial position.
To many Londoners who have had to suffer on the kerbside or be stuck in a car behind a vehicle oozing black smoke, this measure is welcome if it means that fewer children have asthmatic problems as they grow up.
- Eric Ray, London, UK
