BVRLA and TfL support van users ahead of London ULEZ

Added: 05 December 2018

BVRLA and TfL support van users ahead of London ULEZ

Last Friday the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) co-hosted an event with Transport for London to explore the impact of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on van users in the capital.

Representatives from government, business, fleet management and used vehicle suppliers shared insights and contributed towards plans for increasing awareness amongst small business van drivers that are likely to be affected by the ULEZ when it goes live in April 2019.

The ULEZ will operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week within the current congestion charge area.  The new regulations will charge any vehicle not meeting the following emissions standards:

• Euro 3 for motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles (L category)
• Euro 4 for petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles
• Euro 6 for diesel cars, vans and minibuses and other specialist vehicles
• Euro VI for lorries, buses and coaches, and other specialist heavy vehicles

Speaking at the event, James Davis of Cox Automotive explained: “The biggest challenge for commercial vehicles is the age of vehicles on the road right now.  Our calculations show that about 80% of vans on the road would not be compliant in an Ultra-Low Emission Zone.  It’s important for an operator to think about future-proofing themselves by buying or changing their ownership model to get themselves into a Euro 6 van.”

Toby Poston, Director of Communications & External Relations at the BVRLA added: “TfL have an enormous task ahead of them to support the hundreds of small businesses who essentially rely on vans but will be caught out by the new Ultra-Low Emission Zone in a few months’ time.”

And James Ingram, Principal City Planner for TfL, said: “One of the key challenges for us is building awareness before the introduction of the ULEZ in April 2019.  We recognise some of challenges that small businesses face in order to upgrade their fleet in time.  That is why we have joined forces with the BVRLA to give smaller businesses as much support as we can to be ready, not just for the introduction but for the long-term future as London moves towards becoming zero-carbon by 2050.”