Are you asking about the LEZ, which is based on particulate emissions, or the new CO2 emission based congestion charge?
If it’s the congestion charge then I don’t think there’s any need to worry about it – as far as I can see it will only apply to cars and to double cab pick-ups. The only change for vans is that there’ll be a £2 reduction for vehicles which meet Euro 5 standards.
Posted under Tolls, Charges & Fines, Vans
Posted by Alec at 7:51 am, February 14, 2008
“How do you go about getting CRB checked” – you don’t, unless you’re involved in an activity which requires it. Most couriers aren’t involved in anything that would involve a Standard or Enhanced Disclosure, so they can’t be CRB checked by their employers or customers.
All that can be obtained is a Basic Disclosure, which is only ever issued to the applicant (the driver or whoever), these are available from www.disclosurescotland.co.uk. Ignore the fact that it’s a Scottish service – it covers the whole of the UK.
Posted under Employment
Posted by Alec at 9:54 am, February 12, 2008
The owners are financially responsible for the actions of their dog whether it’s on their premises or not. If they’ve got house insurance it will normally have public libility cover built into it. Pet insurance often has PL cover as well. If they’re tenants without insurance then you can still sue them, but you might not recover anything even if you win. If the driver’s an employee then you may need to notify your employer’s liability insurer.
Posted under Employment
Posted by Alec at 3:12 pm, February 11, 2008
I’m not sure where the issue of driving licence categories comes into it but my understanding is:
A category B (ONLY) licence allows you to tow any trailer up to a combined (ie vehicle & trailer) MAM of 3500kg BUT the MAM of the trailer must be less than the UNLADEN weight of the towing vehicle. It also allows you to drive a VEHICLE with a MAM of 3500kg, towing a trailer of 750kg or less.
The B+E licence allows you to drive any vehicle up to 3500kg MAM PLUS any trailer up to the manufacturer’s limit. There’s no 3.5 GTW limit for B+E licence holders, except for the weight of the towing vehicle.
Patrick said “any road vehicle that exceeds 1525kg ulw would require an `O` licence” – I guess he didn’t mean that?? That would include every van bigger than a Scudo.
Posted under Uncategorized, Vans
Posted by Alec at 1:20 pm, February 11, 2008
Zen, they might cost a few £ more but it’s worth it. IDNET are very well thought of as well. You get what you pay for I’m afraid – you’re never going to get consistent top quality support on a budget package.
Posted under IT & Technology
Posted by Alec at 9:31 am, February 8, 2008
You can’t leave the payment terms blank when sending a confirmation through the courier ‘Network’. Do the payment terms actually come up on the text message then?
Posted under Courier and Freight Exchanges
Posted by Alec at 4:22 pm, February 7, 2008
Quote:
“Meanwhile, the Green Party has urged the Mayor to extend it to transitdriving “white van man” in 2010.”
Yehbut we already know that it’s going to be extended to transits in 2010 so why are they bothering to do any urging.
It was announced months ago that the LEZ would apply to diesel vans over 1205kg unladen with effect from October 2010. It doesn’t apply to vans that meet Euro 3 standards though – including all vans registered after 01/01/2002 and many registered before that.
How many couriers drive 9 year old vans?
Posted under Tolls, Charges & Fines
Posted by Alec at 2:54 pm, February 4, 2008
There won’t be a charge to pass on Pat. Even for operators whose fleets aren’t already Euro 3 compliant it’s just a matter of bringing forward vehicle renewals by a year or two or only using the newest vehicles in a fleet for London deliveries.
Nobody is actually going to be paying the charge, except as a one off, because the alternatives make more financial sense.
Nobody’s going to pay £50k per year to enter the zone every day, rather than buy a newer vehicle and no customer is going to accept a £200 surcharge on a London delivery just because a transport company is running outdated vehicles.
Posted under Tolls, Charges & Fines
Posted by Alec at 4:13 pm, February 1, 2008