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Transport for London has refused to extend the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) grace period after Logistics UK said a shortage of parts and vehicles was making compliance difficult for operators.

In a letter to the association, TfL said the industry had already “had a significant amount of time to prepare” for the safety scheme.

It also said 13 people walking and cycling in London had died in collisions with HGVs last year and so “in this context, our view is that it would not have been right to postpone full implementation of the scheme any longer.”

Natalie Chapman, Logistics UK head of policy, had argued that hauliers were being held back from fully complying by forces outside their control.

She said there was a nationwide shortage of available technicians, vehicles and parts, leaving many businesses unable to upgrade or replace their vehicles in time for the ending of the grace period.

But in its response, TfL said: “You highlighted issues in the supply chain and continuing disruption from Brexit and Covid-19.

“However, the DVS HGV safety permit scheme has been in development for several years.

“As you no doubt recall, we conducted a formal consultation on the proposals in Nov 2018-Feb 2019 and the DVS portal and applications went live in October 2019.

“Then in April 2020 we announced a postponement of more than four months from the planned October 2020 launch date because of the pressures on the industry of the pandemic, before agreeing in January 2021 to a further delay for owners of zero-starred vehicles in the form of the grace period.”

The letter added: “Our view is that the logistics industry has had a significant amount of time to prepare for the changes and indeed most operators have done so: as of Monday this week we had issued more than 137,000 permits, including to owners of more than 71,000 zero-starred vehicles who have installed safe systems.

“Moreover, ANPR data indicates that nearly 70% of vehicles on the grace period list did not enter London at all during that period, despite being free to do so.”

TfL has also said that since enforcement was rolled out in March, around 7,000 PCNs have been issued.