Tesco Accused of 'Openly Undermining' Air Quality Efforts
Vehicles spotted ignoring delivery ban
The supermarket company Tesco has continued to flout a ban on daytime deliveries on Putney High Street.
Once again a Tesco lorry was spotted and photographed breaking the new rules stopping parking and/or loading and unloading in the high street between 7am and 7pm Monday to Saturday. A delivery vehicle was also spotted this week ignoring the ban, but the business is not known.
Since a ban on daytime deliveries was introduced this month to stop vans and lorries blocking traffic, large Tesco lorries have twice been photographed parked up outside its small store in the high street. The vehicles caused delays to buses and other traffic for at least half an hour including at the height of Thursday's morning rush hour.
The council’s environment spokesman Jonathan Cook has criticised the company. Cllr Cook said:
“It is extremely disappointing that our efforts to improve air quality in the high street are being so openly undermined by Tesco. We would certainly have expected a large company like theirs to understand the need to comply with these rules, which will not only be of benefit to the wider community but also directly benefit their own staff and customers.
“We did speak to their store manager after last week’s initial transgression and were assured it would not happen again. Sadly today has shown this is not the case and as a result Tesco’s reputation is bound to suffer - in Putney at least.”
The driver of today’s lorry was issued with a £130 fine. Tesco's have been asked to comment on the latest contravention but we have yet to receive a response.
However, unsurprisingly Tesco is not the only company and on twitter on 21st January a post showed a lorry parked on the high street at 11.350am - it was claimed this was deliverying to Bill's restaurant. However a spokesperson for the company assured this website that the lorry was not delivering to Bill's, that they had received notification of restrictions and were keeping to the limits. So who was the lorry delivering to?
For more information about the work being carried out locally to improve air quality across the borough visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/airquality.
January 22, 2016
