FINE HAULIERS AND EVERYONE WILL PAY THE PRICE SAYS RHA

That’s the reaction of the Road Haulage Association to the Mayor of London’s latest proposals for a cleaner London which will include pre Euro 6 trucks being fined £100.

“Of course we all want a cleaner London,” said RHA chief executive Richard Burnett. “But don’t let the Mayor’s quest for clean air turn the nation’s capital into a ghost town.

“The thousands of restaurants, shops and tourist attractions that make London one of the world’s major tourist centres are massively reliant on an efficient delivery network,” Richard Burnett continued. “That must not be jeopardised”.

“Euro-6 engine technology is, in effect, a clean air plant - the air that emerges from the exhaust is actually cleaner than the air that goes in. The majority of hauliers entering the Capital on a regular basis are already using trucks that meet the Euro 6 standard – but many are not. They will be facing an additional £24K per year in fines. Many will be forced out of business while others will have no alternative but to pass the additional cost on to their customers. The knock on effect will be an increase in prices for consumers, including the millions of tourists that come to London each year.”

The Road Haulage Association will be pushing hard for the early implementation of a scrappage scheme as an incentive to those hauliers using pre-Euro6 trucks to buy the cleaner vehicles.

“The road freight industry is responsible for the movement of 85% of everything consumed in the UK – yet once again we are the ones getting penalised for doing a crucial job; keeping the economy – especially the economy of London moving. To impose a £100 fine on those operators who simply cannot afford the new, cleaner engines will see jobs lost and hauliers put out of business.