City appeals to businesses to reduce deliveries and cut pollution

The City of London Corporation has stepped up a call for companies to cut back vehicle deliveries and use more hybrid taxis as officials brace for a day of severe air pollution across the city on Friday.

The government's environment department has warned people with heart and lung conditions to reduce strenuous outdoor physical activities as a toxic mix of warm, still weather, traffic fumes, Saharan dust and pollution drifting over from the Continent threatens to create the worst air quality conditions in a year.

A similar combination of conditions led to health warnings a year ago when air quality also plummeted.

The problem highlights the need for companies to look at reducing their use of the diesel vehicles that are a large source of the problem, said Jon Averns, public protection director at the City of London Corporation.

As well as reducing the number of daily vehicle deliveries, companies should think about hiring taxi services with a lot of low emission vehicles in their fleet, he said. "There are quite a few taxi companies around now who take that into account," he said.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has set out plans to launch an Ultra Low Emission Zone in 2020 requiring vehicles in the Congestion Charge Zone of central London to meet new emission standards 24 hours a day, seven days a week or else pay a daily charge.

Mr Johnson has also said that from January 2018, all new taxis and private hire vehicles less than 18 months old should be zero emissions capable, while Transport for London says all 300 single decker buses operating in central London will be zero emission by 2020, and all 3,000 double decker buses will be hybrid.

But some groups say the scale of the problem requires more urgent action.

Simon Birkett, director of Clean Air in London, said: "If there is one lesson this week, it's that we must follow the lead of cities like Paris that are issuing public health warnings, restricting traffic and putting forward ambitious plans to triple cycling rates within five years."

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Thousands of premature deaths in London have been attributed to poor air quality and, although steps have been taken to tackle the problem, the City of London Corporation says targets are still not being met.

"We would like to see earlier action to control emissions," said Mr Averns.

The corporation is working with businesses in the Square Mile, where about 350,000 people work each day, to encourage them to use more efficient transport and heating.

It has also launched a campaign urging drivers to switch off their engines in heavy traffic.

Friday's air pollution is forecast to be high in many areas of central, eastern and northern England, with very high levels expected at times in the far southeast. Overnight, Atlantic winds are expected to blow the bad air away by Saturday.

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