The Mayor of London has announced that he will be taking action later this year to support small businesses operating heavy vehicles.
This follows on from the meeting between CPT Chief Executive Graham Vidler and Heidi Alexander, London’s Deputy Mayor for Transport in November which provided the opportunity for Graham to highlight the difficulties both coach operators and operators of buses running into London under local service permits will have meeting the costs of LEZ compliance from October 2021. Heavy vehicles, which include HGVs, coaches and buses that are not part of the TfL network, make up more than a third of the emissions of NO2 from transport.
To help operators upgrade their fleets, the van scrappage scheme will open to small businesses operating heavy vehicles later this year. TfL is finalising the details of the scheme, but it is expected that it will be in the form of a grant of around £15,000 for each non-Euro VI heavy vehicle, up to a maximum of three vehicles.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Our dirty air is a national health crisis that contributes to thousands of premature deaths every year. While bold action such as our Ultra Low Emission Zone is starting to make a difference in London, I want to ensure there is help for businesses making the switch to cleaner greener vehicles – whether you rely on a van, lorry or coach.
While we’re doing all we can in the capital, we now need the Government to match our levels of ambition and fund a national scrappage scheme that supports all those small businesses who want to do the right thing and switch to cleaner vehicles across the UK.”
Graham Vidler commented: “A single coach can help take a mile of traffic off the road, helping to improve our capital’s air, but there is always more we can do and this welcome funding will help operators deliver cleaner and greener coaches. We look forward to working with TfL to finalise the details of the scheme over the coming months.”
