Lorry congestion charge hits £100

The new Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) came into effect in central London in April and with it a daily charge of £100 for lorries not meeting the emissions standards.

The ULEZ replaces the T-Charge and operates within the current Congestion Charging Zone (CCZ).

For heavy vehicles, including lorries and other specialist vehicles over 3.5T and buses and coaches over 5T, the ULEZ standard is Euro VI. Contractors operating within the ULEZ and not meeting the standard need to be alert to the new charge which, if not paid on time, attracts a penalty of £1,000 (reduced to £500 if paid within 14 days).

London-based

Scaffolding is the latest specialist contractor to gain Scaffolding Association Audited Member status. The audit was carried out during April and TFL is now the 53rd contractor to achieve one of the highest audit standards in the construction sector.

With a team of 30 and an annual turnover of between £1m and £1.5m, TFL Scaffolding mostly takes on big commercial contracts. The main/principal contractors running these have high standards and know what they’re looking for from their scaffolding contractors.

Mr Turner said: “We are proud to now be Audited Members of the Association and are confident that by going through this stringent audit, we are demonstrating to our clients the standards we uphold.

“The Scaffolding Association audit supports everything we work hard to deliver within the sector.”

FIND OUT MORE www.scaffolding-association.org/membership-levels

Hedy Aghdam, managing director of GVL Management Limited, said: “Although we are not upportive of seemingly financial means of tackling congestion and pollution, and we favour the carrot rather than the stick, there perhaps could have been more encouragement in cleaner technologies in lorries and investment incentives for operators to upgrade their fleets – something similar to the car scrappage scheme.”

The daily charge runs from midnight to midnight. For those driving within the ULEZ area across two days, for example before midnight and after midnight, the requirement is to pay two daily charges.

FIND OUT MORE www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultralow-emission-zone