The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has welcomed London Councils’ decision not to introduce mandatory fitting of sideguards and class V and VI close-proximity mirrors aspart of its London Lorry Control Scheme (LLCS).
However The FTA said an an opportunity had been missed to overhaul the 'out-of-date' scheme and enable easier night-time deliveries.
Following a public consultation, London Councils’ Transport & Environment Committee announced last week (17 July) that it would not be bringing in additional regulation to the LLCS.
FTA head of urban logistics and regional policy Christopher Snelling said: “London Councils has reached the only sensible decision it could, as its planned changes were due to be totally overtaken by the Mayor’s Safer Lorry Scheme only a few months later.”
He added that London Councils’ proposals were only ever going to have a marginal effect on safety, and that having two separate regulatory regimes in the capital trying to control the same issue would have created “a nonsensical example of unnecessary red tape”.
But Snelling said London Councils had again missed a perfect opportunity to revamp an outdated scheme, based on trucks of the 1980s, which deters operators from making quiet deliveries out of peak hours when fewer pedestrians and cyclists are on the roads.
“Out of hours deliveries have safety, emissions and congestion benefits that London could really use,” he added.
A London Councils spokesman told CommercialMotor.com: “London Councils is determined to make London’s road safer and is continuing to work in partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to achieve this. On 17 July, London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) suspended proposed changes to the London Lorry Control Scheme, which included compulsory safety measures such as side guards. The decision was taken in light of the development of Transport for London’s (TfL) Safer Lorry Scheme, as the schemes would overlap in time and objectives.”
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