Cameras to enforce foreign truck charge in April

The Department for Transport is to target foreign trucks for non-payment of the Lorry Road User Charge using live automatic number plate recognition technology when the toll is introduced on 1 April.

While the VOSA-successor Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will lead enforcement of compliance with the LRUC, which will be imposed on all trucks of 12 tonnes or more gross weight using UK roads irrespective of their country of registration, the DfT has stepped in with additional funding to the cameras.

For UK operators, the charge is incorporated into the existing price of Vehicle Excise Duty, and at least 90 per cent of vehicles will be charged no more in total than they are at present for VED alone. Payment will be made as and when VED is due for renewal, and will be enforced in the same manner.

Foreign operators must pay the LRUC before their lorry uses UK roads – preferably online through an HGV Levy Payment Portal – but facilities will be available to make payments in person. The levy can be purchased on an annual, monthly, weekly or daily basis. Daily, weekly and monthly payments attract a premium compared to an annual payment.

The level of charge reflects vehicle weight, vehicle type and axle configuration – from £85 to £1,000 per year. The charge was introduced after decades of lobbying from the transport industry highlighting the perceived iniquity of a situation where British-registered trucks paid VED at home and for tolls, permits and vignettes abroad, while foreign-registered trucks used the British road system free.