With a number of cities revealing plans to introduce clean air zones, it’s never been more important for hauliers and couriers to have an up to date, modern fleet.

Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham are just three of many councils that have recently announced proposals to start charging the most polluting cars, taxis, HGVs and buses entering their cities in a bid to radically improve air quality.

With some of the schemes planning to come into place from 2020, it’s critical courier and haulage businesses begin to plan how they’re going to comply with the new systems in order to avoid charges that quite frankly, no business needs.

London already has its Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which was introduced in 2008 to help the Capital to become cleaner by charging vehicles that do not meet their emissions standards.  However, it’s now even further advanced than any other city in the UK as it’s updating the LEZ system to an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), scheduled to begin on April 8th 2019, which has even tighter regulations.

As a haulage business, we’re committed to supporting these plans and therefore at Chadkirk Transport, we’ve put a number of things in place to help the environment. Over the past couple of years, we’ve invested in three Euro 6 vehicles, including two 18 tonne trucks and one 12 tonne truck, and we’re now aiming to replace the whole of our fleet by 2020. The aim of Euro 6 vehicles is to reduce the levels of harmful exhaust emissions going into the air that have a major impact on the world we live in.

Our commitment to operating safer and greener is also demonstrated through our FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) Silver accreditation. The scheme is voluntary for transport businesses however only those who achieve exemplary levels of best practice in safety, efficiency and environmental protection are accredited. A huge part of the FORS process is proving how you reduce, monitor and record tyre wear and fuel consumption and also how you use data to minimise empty running, maxime vehicle fill and highlight any wasted mileage. In putting these systems in place, FORS has not only allowed us to be more efficient but we’ve done so in an environmentally sound manner.

In addition, we have relevant Company policies all of our driver’s have to adhere to including engine idling, which they’re shown on induction and regularly thereafter.

Rhys Fildes, Managing Director of Chadkirk Transport, said: “Although the new clean air zone schemes affect us as a business quite dramatically, we take this issue very seriously and therefore we’re extremely committed to doing everything we can to make the air cleaner and safer for everyone.

“As a haulier with a number of HGVs in our fleet, we’re continuously monitoring the processes we have in place to ensure we’re operating as environmentally friendly as possible, from updating the vehicles in our fleet to training our staff.

“We would like to see consistency with these schemes though as there seems to be a consistent focus on HGVs, however some cars can produce just as many harmful emissions nowadays.”