Lorries will have to achieve the Direct Vision Standard proving drivers can adequately see potential hazards from their cab using specially installed cameras and other measures.
Haulage firms must apply for the permit by March 1 or face £550 fines for each day the vehicle is driven within the capital, heaping more pressure on an industry already hit by the extra paperwork required for Brexit.
Roadside cameras will be used to enforce the measure aimed at tackling the high incidents of road deaths in the capital involving HGVs.
Fewer than 60 per cent of the 91,800 HGVs in London and the South-East have a permit, according to truck safety experts SmartWitness.
The company estimates a total of 500,000 trucks in the UK are entitled to apply. Figures from TfL show just over 70,000 permits in total have been issued with 35,928 being considered.
Christina Calderato of TfL said: “We understand the pandemic has caused problems for hauliers but this is a public health issue, it’s a matter of life and death. We have been working with industry and more are applying all the time.”
The Road Haulage Association is appealing for TfL to extend a 90-day grace period for hauliers to fit the required safety features.
Between 2018 and 2020, HGVs were involved in 41 per cent of accidents where cyclists were killed and 19 per cent where a pedestrian died.
