Logistics plea to government: don’t expand the London Congestion Charge
Thursday 29 October 2020
Logistics UK, the business group representing the logistics sector, has today (29 October 2020) written to Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, the Secretary of State for Transport, with serious concerns about a proposed extension to the London Congestion Charge. David Wells, Chief Executive of Logistics UK, comments:
“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. 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. Instead, it 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.”
Logistics UK (formerly FTA) is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With COVID-19, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.
