London, UK: Expanding the London Congestion Charge will hit logistics businesses – already struggling financially and operationally as a result of the Covid-19 crisis – especially hard, warns Logistics UK.
Logistics UK says the charge will be an additional blow to the recovering logistics sector.
“With little alternative to using lorries and vans to keep the capital’s businesses, schools, shops and homes stocked with the goods and services they need, these changes amount to a tax on deliveries and would therefore have little effect on commercial vehicle movements,” it said.
Logistics UK has written today to Grant Shapps secretary of state for Ttansport, about its serious concerns about a proposed extension to the London Congestion Charge.
David Wells, chief executive of Logistics UK, said: “Logistics UK is urging government to refrain from including an expansion of the London Congestion Charge as a condition of Transport for London’s financial bailout package; logistics businesses continue to struggle financially and operationally as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and this additional burden would be a significant blow to the recovering logistics sector.
He said the charge “would simply increase operating costs for those charged with delivering to meet the capital’s needs, including supporting the vulnerable and those self-isolating with home deliveries, during this difficult time.”
