Transport for London's Industrial HGV Taskforce (IHTF) has resulted in the issue of over 1,000 fixed penalty notices to non-compliant vehicles in the last twelve months.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has reiterated its support for the scheme, which focuses on dangerous and unsafe compliance issues.
FTA’s head of urban logistics policy, Christopher Snelling, said: “FTA thinks the IHTF is working well. Its success is based on it being a targeted programme - identifying the potential non-compliant vehicles though intelligence or observation, and focusing on them for enforcement action.
"This has allowed the IHTF to concentrate their efforts on the more serious infractions by a tiny minority of operators whilst letting the vast majority of HGV operators get about their business of providing London with the goods it needs to keep working.”
Snelling added: “It should be remembered that every day over 360,000 tonnes of goods are moved by thousands and thousands of lorries in London.
"The examples of non-compliance found by the IHTF are not representative of the industry as whole as they are based on a highly targeted operation.”
“FTA members spend thousands of pounds making sure each vehicle and driver is safe on the road and do not want to be undercut commercially by any of the small number of operators who work to a lower standard.”
David Glossop - 08/02/2015 09:45
Can't help thinking you'd save more lives by penalising the cyclists who ride like total tits, rather than just using the haulage industry as a cash cow, yet again! I challenge Boris Johnson to come out with me for a day in my 7 axled low loader on the streets of London and let's see if he thinks the cyclists are so totally blameless afterwards?! He hasn't got a clue!