LOW EMISSIONS ZONE MADNESS & MARQUEES

This post is not strictly about marquees but as transport regulation has a big impact on how we run our business, it does occupy rather a lot of our time! Of course we are all in favour of improving London's air quality, and a Low Emissions Zone will help to do this. However what follows really does not make sense.

Phase 3 of London's low emission zone (LEZ) came in to force at the beginning of this year. This requires vehicles over 3.5 Tonnes to meet the Euro IV standard for particulate matter emissions. Sadly the LEZ system seems to be based on the mad idea that a vehicle registered in September 2006 is not LEZ compliant whilst one registered in October is. Guess what - one of our trucks was registered in September, and has according to the manufacturer identical engine & emissions with the same vehicle registered in October. However LEZ says that doesn't matter. Even if we have it tested and the emissions are below the required level, we will have to have abatement filters fitted to make it compliant. Worst of all we have been informed that as we are not doing long motorway journeys the filters will not get hot enough to operate properly, and within a few months will not be doing their job. Never mind - we only need to get them tested annually, and can send them off for cleaning just before testing. Cost of filters for one vehicle is over £4000, + cost of annual cleaning & retest in excess of £200. Surely it would be better to allow vehicles that comply with the emissions requirement to be checked annually and providing they still meet the requirement not have filters fitted.

All this after phase 1 of the LEZ caused us to scrap a truck and phase 2 a van!

I understand that even LEZ estimates indicate that the reduction in pollution expected from this phase is a fraction of 1%. Surely there must be better ways improving air quality in London.

Of course we could stop erecting marquees in London!

CLAREMONT MARQUEES PHOTO PRIZE 2011

2011 WINNER

Once again a wedding photo has won the prize for last year. This time the photo was taken by the professional photographer Benji Barnes. To see other winners please follow the link to our website action=photo_gallery&cat_id=22&recordsPerPage=50 . If you would like to enter a photo for the prize do look at the details of the competition on our website Many thanks to all those who entered this year. As always it was very hard to choose a winner.