More than 33,000 HGVs checked by London Freight Enforcement Partnership

Transport for London (TfL) has marked the two-year anniversary of the London Freight Enforcement Partnership (LFEP) that works to make London's roads safer by raising compliance standards across the freight industry.

The LFEP is a joint partnership between TfL, City of London Police, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Metropolitan Police Service that targets dangerously non-compliant drivers, vehicles and operators on London’s roads.

The partnership works towards four strategic aims: to improve air quality; improve road safety; reduce congestion; and promote fairness within the trade.

Leon Daniels, TfL's managing director of surface transport, said: “We are determined to rid London of dangerous freight operators who flout the rules and have no regard for safety. By sharing information between enforcement agencies the most unsafe operators are identified, targeted, prosecuted and referred to the independent traffic commissioners. We take our responsibility to reduce road danger extremely seriously and we are working across our organisation and with our partners to eliminate death and serious injuries from London’s roads by 2041.”

Since the launch, more than 33,000 freight vehicles have been stopped and checked, and 9,114 fixed penalty notices and traffic offence reports have been issued, acting as deterrents and forcing operators to improve their standards. The multi-agency approach to road safety has led to 106 arrests, 221 vehicles seized and 12 operator licences being revoked, sending a clear message that dangerous freight practices will not be tolerated. 

More than 5,600 mechanical prohibitions have been issued to operators with seriously defective vehicles that are deemed unsafe to travel on London’s roads, in line with the Vision Zero approach to reduce road danger and eliminate death and serious injuries from collisions on London’s roads by 2041. In 2015 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) were involved in 20% of pedestrian fatalities and over 70% of cyclist fatalities despite only making up 4% of road mileage every year in London. 

The Freight Compliance Unit is the UK’s first multi-agency unit to use its intelligence to coordinate targeted checks on the routes where there is history of particularly bad practices by operators.

Russell Simmons, DVSA’s traffic enforcement manager for the Industrial HGV Taskforce, said: “There’s no excuse for driving while tired, with mechanical defects or with an overweight or unstable load. Those on London’s roads who break the rules are putting themselves and others at risk. Working alongside our colleagues in the police and Transport for London, we’ll crack down on rogue drivers and operators, making London’s roads safer for all.”     

Matt Winfield, London director of walking and cycling charity Sustrans, said: “We welcome the London Freight Enforcement Partnership’s work to keep dangerous lorries and dangerous drivers off the roads. The figures released today send a clear message that those lorry drivers and operators who would flout the rules and risk Londoners safety will not be tolerated.”

Cynthia Barlow, from campaign group RoadPeace, said: “We enthusiastically support the work of the LFEP. Road deaths are not ‘accidents’, they are preventable tragedies. For many years it has been freight vehicles that were disproportionately involved in the deaths and serious injuries of pedestrians and cyclists. But just changing the law and setting higher working standards is not sufficient, we need to be able to check that the operators, vehicles and drivers are actually compliant and the LFEP’s roadside checks have made a significant difference. Given the latest DVSA figures on the high proportion of lorries with potentially lethal mechanical defects, we must ensure that the LFEP continues its crucial work.  And we would encourage other cities to do the same.”