A quarter of van users have no ULEZ plan, research finds

Research from Europcar Mobility Group UK has revealed that, even as late as February, a quarter of businesses that use vans haven’t made plans to comply with London's Ultra-Low Emission Zone.

What's more, more than 1 in 10 (12%) businesses either weren’t sure what the requirements of the ULEZ will be or had never even heard of it.

Once the ULEZ is introduced on 8 April, petrol vans travelling within the zone must meet Euro 4 specification and diesel vans must be Euro 6 compliant. Under new regulations non-compliant vehicles will be charged £12.50 a day in addition to the usual congestion charge.

According to the Europcar Mobility Group UK research, more than a third (34%) of London based businesses said that these regulations will be the single biggest transport issue that affects their business in 2019. Despite this, at the beginning of February only 36% said that they fully understood the impact in terms of vehicle emissions.

This lack of understanding is particularly concerning as the majority of businesses (59%) surveyed use their vans every day of the week. For businesses travelling through the ULEZ every day, driving non-compliant vehicles could add up to over £4,500 a year, per van. 

For more than half (51%) of businesses based in Greater London, one of the key transport issues they had was vehicle condition with 92% of those businesses admitting that they had vans on fleet that were more than 3 years old. Diesel vans that are older than this may not meet Euro 6 specifications and will therefore not comply with ULEZ regulations[iii].

However, the impact of the ULEZ extends beyond just businesses based in Greater London. More than a quarter of businesses spread across the UK said that between 11 and 50% of their fleet travel into London on a regular basis, with 36% of businesses from as far as the East Midlands travelling into London at least once a week.