Quartix can help customers manage the London Low Emission Zone
12 March 2008
The London mayor, Ken Livingstone, has designated the 33 boroughs of Greater London as a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and will charge older vehicles £200 per day to enter it.
Much of the charging zone runs up to, but does not include, the M25. All other public roads within the area, including small parts of the M1, M4 and the M4 spur to Heathrow airport, are included.
Vehicles entering the zone will be monitored by fixed and mobile cameras and vehicles that do not meet the LEZ’s emission standards will have to pay a charge of £200 per day. Penalties start at £1000 and rise to £1,500 for late payment. One in four of the120,000 vehicles over 12 tonnes driving into Greater London in 2007 would have had to pay the charge.
The Quartix Advanced Vehicle Tracking System is a fusion of satellite global positioning system (GPS) and GPRS technologies. A small unit fitted to a vehicle receives position, direction and speed information from up to 12 GPS satellites and transmits this information over the mobile telephone network, continuously, as the vehicle moves. Quartix’s servers process this information to display the vehicles as icons on a computer screen map shown on a web page. Operators and managers can see where their vehicles are, in real time, by simply logging on to the internet.
Critical or sensitive locations can defined as ‘alert’ areas and the Quartix system will automatically send text or email warnings when any specified vehicle enters, or leaves, the area.
In the case of the LEZ however, the Quartix system has a special trick up its sleeve. The whole LEZ has been defined as a standard alert area and operators will know when a vehicle enters or leaves the zone, automatically. So, if they have not paid in advance, they will be able to avoid penalty charges by paying their charge promptly.
About Quartix:
Quartix's award-winning, in-vehicle tracking technology enables subscribers, ranging from small businesses to major corporations, to maximise efficiency of fleet operations. Proven commercial benefits include significantly lowered fleet operating costs, more responsive delivery times and improved vehicle security. The user-friendly technology also assists employers in meeting a wide range of duty of care responsibilities.
The Quartix GPRS real-time tracking system is produced in ISO 9001:2000 facilities in compliance with European safety and vehicle directives. The discreet tracking units can be installed on-site in an hour and the system is protected by a comprehensive warranty. After sales and technical support is provided by a dedicated in-house team, with a high customer satisfaction rating reflected in sales of repeat orders and referrals accounting for more than half all business in 2007.