The ULEZ expansion will pretty much cover the whole of London from Tuesday 29th August. Potentially the impact is massive to the Film & TV industry in London. ULEZ operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and costs £12.50 each day.
I am of course remaining neutral with this article but wanted to share views and opinions on both sides.
Why should we be doing it?
Let’s face it, the last few years have seen extreme weather conditions, with a wet summer this year and a scorching summer last. We need to reduce our emissions to try and stabilise our impact on the environment. Film London, BAFTA Albert scheme and FilmFixer’s Generator Project are leading the way by introducing incentives in the city.
How it will impact crew?
Lots of crew of course will be impacted – particularly those at the bottom end of the pay scale or more junior roles (whom may have older cars). Many unit managers have diesel vehicles and pick-ups.
How it will impact suppliers?
Security, Traffic Management and Facilities & Service Suppliers will all be impacted. A number of them all have older or more polluting vehicles (just like crew). Of course for facilities and service vehicles the costs will be passed onto productions (but this does take time to get these costs back).
Lorries, vans or other specialist heavy vehicles (all over 3.5 tonnes) and buses, minibuses and coaches (all over 5 tonnes) do not need to pay the ULEZ but will need to pay the LEZ charge.
Historic vehicles (e.g. possibly action vehicles built more than 40 years ago) are expected to be excluded from the ULEZ.
How to avoid penalties?
Check your vehicle type on the TfL.gov.uk website – there is some really useful information on there. Maybe it is worth setting up auto pay as, let’s face it, are we going to remember to pay after a long day? There is scrappage scheme that is being run by the Mayor of London that is worth looking into. There are also a few business and charity short term grace period schemes for London registered businesses. If you work in a production team – why not do a survey on whom is going to be impacted and inform all within the production via the call sheet daily or memo in advance.
Overall, ULEZ is expanding and we need to be aware of it if we are working within the new boundaries. Productions will need to ask crew, suppliers and facilities to be compliant if they can and I am sure that Unit Managers will be adding this to their movement orders.
Please contact us if you need any traffic management service or routes via our library.
Oliver Laurenson-Gore – Location Manager & Scout
Tel: 07845 699110 / 020 4524 6399
Email: [email protected]