E-zone 'will add £750 to cost of removals'

The cost of moving house could rise by as much as £750 as a result of the new low emission zone.

Removals firms said today they would pass on the costs of buying new trucks or fitting old ones with new exhaust filters to meet the emission rules to their customers.

That would push the average cost of a London removal from £2,500 to £3,250, said the British Association of Removers.

The zone, which means the drivers of heavily-polluting trucks must pay £200 a time to enter the capital, came into force yesterday. The association estimates that 1,500 removal trucks are based in London and a "significant proportion" do not comply with the new rules.

Association president Jonathan Hood said the lorries cost more than £70,000 and were designed to last 15 years so many firms would be left with expensive vehicles that were not LEZ-compliant.

"Many of our members have invested heavily in new trucks over recent years. We cannot now sell these expensive vehicles on because the bottom has dropped out of the market," he said. Operators who had fitted exhaust "traps" said it had added £250 a month to their operating costs.

But Mr Hood said that because removal trucks averaged only 20 miles a day their contribution to pollution was negligible.

"They spend most of their lives parked outside customers' homes and offices being loaded and unloaded. They do not clog up roads and pump out fumes all day," he said. "Between a quarter and a third of companies could potentially go out of business. The environmental impact of scrapping a vehicle is huge."

The Freight Transport Association said the new zone would hit film and television company lorries going to and from outside broadcasts and construction industry vehicles, such as cement mixers. Spokesman Gordon Telling said: "Sometimes there is no room for exhaust filters that would make them compliant so they have to pay the £200 charge each time they enter London and they will have to pass the costs on."

Mark Weston of the British Horse Society said: "This is having an effect on riders. Their vehicles are often based on older lorries and the majority do not comply with the new rules."

Transport for London today defended the low emission zone scheme. A spokesman said: "Thousands of Londoners suffer illhealth from pollution released by traffic fumes and two thirds of emissions of the most dangerous air pollutants come from road traffic. The majority are caused by vehicles that the scheme will target - the heaviest, most polluting diesel-engined lorries, coaches and buses.

"Removal vehicles can be retro-fitted to meet the required emissions standards. The claim the zone will add £750 to removal bills seems far-fetched in the extreme."