HGV enforcement statistics update

Following my request for updated HGV enforcement statistics TfL have now given me the following update:

"Thank you for your email.

TfL, MPS, and City of London Police (CoLP) work in close partnership with Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to proactively enforce against the most non-compliant and dangerous commercial vehicles on London's roads.

Between 1 October 2013 and 1 August 2014, the Industrial HGV Taskforce stopped over 3000 vehicles, issued over 800 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), and seized 36 vehicles.

It is important to note the IHTF actively target the worst offenders, and therefore the results of the IHTF are not indicative of compliance across all HGVs in London.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. "

Compare this to their previous statement from June:

"Between 1 October 2013 and 7 June 2014, 2577 vehicles were targeted and stopped, over 600 fixed penalty notices were issued and 35 of the most unsafe vehicles were seized."

From this I've worked out that in June and July the HGV taskforce:

• Stopped over 400 vehicles - which works out as 200+ per month, which is down from approximately 322 per month reported previously.
• Issued around 200 Fixed Penalty Notices - 100 per month, up from approximately 75 per month previously.
• Seized one vehicle in two months, compared to an average of 4.3 in the previous months.

There appears to be a significant reduction in the number of vehicles stopped, which may be a lull over the summer, but an even greater fall in the numbers of vehicles seized.

This is concerning given the importance of improving lorry safety to keep cyclists safe. It has been reported the HGV task force is to be boosted by over 50%, which would be very welcome, however we haven't seen this officially announced, so we need to keep this in the spotlight.

You can still sign the HGV petition we started earlier this year here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/London-Mayor-Must-End-Lethal-Truck-Epidemic-Now