HGV ban would push up costs and hit site safety

A ban on HGV deliveries in central London during rush hour would push up construction costs and potentially compromise the safety of site workers if it involved more deliveries in the dark, a senior logistics expert in the industry has warned.

The warning comes as TfL is understood to have circulated “risk” advice to suppliers suggesting they build in the risk of changes in the law over HGVs into their contract costs.

The logistics manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that the TfL document suggested the transport authority expected the law on deliveries to change and impose more delivery restrictions.

Calls for a ban continued to get louder this week after a sixth cycling fatality on the capital’s roads in two weeks. Labour’s Harriet Harman and Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman have both backed such a move and the Transport Select Committee of MPs will consider a proposal in their inquiry in early December. 

A ban would badly hit building sites throughout the capital which depend on early deliveries and site waste removal because of existing night-time lorry bans.

“It think it will certainly cost construction firms more money because even if you delivered more in daylight which is possible in the summer months people will have to be on site earlier. There would be extra labour costs and management costs,” said the logistics manager.

“During the winter months you could flood light sites but most of the time they are in residential areas, so this would be a nuisance to residents. If more people had to work in the dark we would see more site accidents, you can’t get away from it.”

Construction firms also point out that Paris, which is held up as a model for restricting deliveries, is not a growing city.

The logistics manager conceded that construction firms managed under an informal delivery ban during the Olympics and added: “That was about the whole country pulling together. Our company absorbed the costs but that was for just a few weeks.”

However, the ban during the Olympics had made suppliers do more off site and think about the process a lot more.

Tipper truck danger

The latest accident victim was a cyclist in his 60s who died in a collision with a tipper truck just before noon on Monday in Camberwell, south London, as the vehicle was turning left.

It is the 14th death so far this year with HGVs involved in nine of the fatal crashes. During the last four years HGVs have been involved in 53% of London cyclist deaths with cycling campaigners warning tipper trucks are the most dangerous vehicles.

Presently construction lorries and tipper trucks are not required to be fitted with life-saving sidebars or low skirts because of problems driving off road.

Nigel Jackson, chief executive of the Mineral Products Association, has also pointed out that if a rush hour ban was introduced without addressing night constraints firms would not have enough time to supply construction customers.

Around half of the cyclist fatalities in Greater London involve lorries, he said, and three-quarters of those are from the construction industry.

Meanwhile, Harriet Harman called for an immediate Task Force to look at cyclist safety and questioned whether the science which governs how our roads are set out is being used the way it should be.

Leader of Southwark Council Peter John has also called for a ban on HGVs during rush hour to try to tackle the problem.

Code of Practice

Meanwhile, the capital’s construction sector is set to sign up to a new code of practice setting stringent safety standards on vehicles.

TfL is preparing to launch the new industry-backed code for construction logistics at an event on 9 December, following six months of preparation by an industry working group.

The code will extend the safety culture that already exists on sites onto London’s roads, with signatories embedding best practice on vehicle and logistics safety in contracts and subcontracts. 

It draws on 11 different existing standards already operated by organisations such as Crossrail and the Mineral Products Association, taking the toughest elements of each rather than average approach. Twenty clients and contractors have already pledged to sign up to the code.

Ian Wainwright, road freight programme manager at TfL, told CM: “We’ve tried to take the best from each of the existing codes, to create a clear lead in construction logistics. Transport for London’s role has just been to put everyone in the room, but the industry have taken this forward and led on this.

“The Code of Practice clearly states that any vehicle procured for a project has to be up to the job – that’s what you expect if you order steelwork and it has to be the same for vehicles too.”

At the same time, TfL and the Department for Transport have launched a new inspection regime targeting vehicles involved in illegal tipping and other infringements. The two organisations are now funding a new Vehicle Task Force, launched at the beginning of October, to target enforcement efforts at vehicles and contractors breaching laws on weight limits and driver hours as well as vehicle safety. 

In a third tactic, in September London mayor Boris Johnson announced a consultation on a proposed Safer Lorry Charge, modelled on the Low Emission Zone charge, which would mean any vehicle driving in London without basic safety equipment is fined £200 a day.