New regulations for delivery vehicles in central London are to be trialled by Westminster City Council in a bid to cut the amount of parking tickets issued by up to 25 per cent for this type of offence.
Research shows the average time for a heavy goods vehicle to unload is between 23-42 minutes. But lorries have only 20 minutes loading time on single and double yellow lines, between 11am and 6.30pm, which results in parking fines. But new plans will extend this time limit to 40 minutes.
The new regulations apply to vehicles with a maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes and over. Other vehicles – including the majority of delivery vans – still have to complete their deliveries in 20 minutes. Vehicles will still be able to load for an unlimited time between 6.30pm and 11am.
Councillor Danny Chalkley, cabinet member for Economic Development and Transport, said: “We have done our research into the problems with goods deliveries around Westminster and the key lies in the amount of time HVGs are given to load and unload.
“I’m sure this will make a great difference to businesses. The logic is simple, the bigger the lorry, the more it carries and the longer it is going to take to unload. I’m sure this will be a success and help delivery firms keep their costs down.”
