On 22nd June 2004 I left Catford lorry park at 05.40hrs and proceeded to Woolwich using the A205 south circular, I was heading to the woolwich ferry. A week later a letter drops through the door saying no more than the vehicle was spotted in woolwich common at 05.59 hrs in a restricted zone and a fine of £250 has been imposed. If it is not paid within 14 days the fine rises to £500 ! Now I know there are lots of places you shouldn’t go in a truck at certain times but not sure where or what restrictions I’ve broken by going down one of the countries main roads, the A205 south circular. The letter say it’s from a company who work on behalf of the council. I was parked for 5 minutes at the ferry but so was plenty of other trucks, cars and vans (but not in the parking area, I couldn’t get in there as everyone was just queing on the road after the roundabout, not obstructing anything, but that said Woolwich Common is further away from the ferry). So can someone shed any light on this for me asap and let me know what the hell Ive supposed to have done, Im sure you can drive around the a205 without a borough permit, and also does anyone know where you kind find info on the net regarding the borough permits ? Thanks in advance. (Kerbdog is back after being bin bagged !! - long story folks !)
cant help you, but welcome back!
paul
Kerbdog…
We have to deliver all over London (overnight) and are required to follow very strict routes ‘INTO’ London, as you are probably aware they are known as LBTS routes (London Borough Transport System) If we dont stick to these pre-agreed routes we face a fine of £1000 and normally the driver gets the bill…
However, once we are ‘IN’ London and have completed our 1st drop, we are allowed to get ‘OUT’ of London or on to our next drop, whichever way we want. Obviously, that does mean we have to stick to the main roads and not use the more residential roads that have restrictions, but generally speaking its legal.
Maybe you could tell them you were leaving London by the most convenient route, sticking to the main routes (as you were) and did not pass through a ‘restricted’ zone. This would put the onus on them to provide evidence and then your further argument about other vehicles in the area also could see them dropping the fine altogether…
Its easy money to these ‘agencies’ and we should always question the fine if only to cause them some irritation…
Sincerely hope you succeed…
Terry
kerbdog
you can go down the south circular from west to east all the way until you reach the a2.
from the a2 to the ferry is a restricted zone,to reach the ferry you would have to go down the a2 on to the a102m then come off at the a2203 then turn under the a102m upto the island turn right and come passed the back of sainsburys through the lights and straight on at the next island.
come to the next island and turn right up to the light then do a left onto the a206 over 2 islands and you then reach the island for the ferry.
my mate went down that section from the a2 to the ferry even though we deliver to a store in that section and still got fined £185 
aboslutly stupid to not included tha section i quite agree
jon
Big Piggy:
Kerbdog…We have to deliver all over London (overnight) and are required to follow very strict routes ‘INTO’ London, as you are probably aware they are known as LBTS routes (London Borough Transport System) If we dont stick to these pre-agreed routes we face a fine of £1000 and normally the driver gets the bill…
However, once we are ‘IN’ London and have completed our 1st drop, we are allowed to get ‘OUT’ of London or on to our next drop, whichever way we want. Obviously, that does mean we have to stick to the main roads and not use the more residential roads that have restrictions, but generally speaking its legal.
Maybe you could tell them you were leaving London by the most convenient route, sticking to the main routes (as you were) and did not pass through a ‘restricted’ zone. This would put the onus on them to provide evidence and then your further argument about other vehicles in the area also could see them dropping the fine altogether…
Its easy money to these ‘agencies’ and we should always question the fine if only to cause them some irritation…
Sincerely hope you succeed…
Terry
This is new to me & I live within the boundries for the scheme.
In the past I have worked for numerous companies based within the scheme and you still have to follow designated routes from 1 job to another.An example of this is 1 job I used to do for Superdrug.
Croydon depot to morden store (approx 3-4 miles if you go direct route)
only legal route:-
leave croydon depot via beddington farm road to junc of purley way (A23)
turn left to (vodaphone) roundabout 2nd exit Thornton road(still A23) direction Thornton Heath
next roundabout 2nd exit London road direction Norbury (still A23)
stay on this road through Streatham common & Streatham high road until you get to the lights with the south circular road (A205) turn left at these lights
stay on this road (A205) until you get to lights at Balham road name Clapham Common South Side.
To negociate this junction you need to go left then immediate right and carry on following the South Circular (A205)
You are then running alongside Clapham Common & you will come to a one way system at which you keep to the left then bear left at the end,you are now on Battersea Rise (A3) keep following signs for Putney A3 through the Wandswortrh one way system still following signs for Putney A3.
At west hill lights (just past fire station on left) bear left & follow A3 signed Portsmouth.
This road will open out into a dual carriage way bear left before going under the first underpass to roundabout & take first exit Wimbledon Parkside (A219)
(watch out for the wombles they just run out in front of you when crossing the road 
)
stay on A219 through High Street & Wimbledon Hill Road then on through The Broadway still A219 to junction with A238 Kingston Road (you will have South Wimbledon tube staition omn the left hand corner facing you)
Go straight over these lights into Morden Road still A219 to next roundabout from there the shop is only about .25 mile away but there are two ways you can go depending on whether you wanted to reverse on the blindside or not as the back door is off B286 (cant remember name of road)
THIS IS THE MORE ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY WAY ACCORDING TO GOVERNMENT!!!
The alternate way (illegal) is to turn right out of yard onto Beddington lane to lights
turn left onto Croydon Road (A236) to roundabout
take second exit then 1st left into Madeira Road to the end
turn right onto Cricket Green A239 to lights
turn left onto London road A217 to lights
turn right onto Morden road A239 to round about
(the road I lost the third axle on an 8 wheeler on but thats a different story)
take 3rd exit onto Morden Hall Road A239 to lights
turn left into B286
Oh sorry I forgot to mention that you still need a permit to do that
Kerbdog you say you were seen at 05.59 that seems very mysterious to me as the ban runs out at 06.00
I would write back saying that their “witness” must have been mistaken about the time
This is the sort of thing that we as drivers and operators should be able to do something about.
This LBTS in all its various forms over the years is not written into any Traffic Laws, If it was then it would be a police issue with endorsements and a chance to go to court.
A main route that is shown on a map with no weight limits or truck / vehicle restrictions is one thing, these council operated lorry bans make no sense in some places. The red routes are the same in places althogh these are properly policed with wardens or traffic officers.
If you have to pay for a special map to enter London, then we should just refuse to deliver to customers in the bans. Get them shouting about lost business and the various councils may have to listen.
I know that the foreign trucks can get away with it as tracing them is beyond some numpty council hooligan. but how are the continentals supposed to know where they can drive? A 7.5 tonne restriction is universal in every country I have been in.
The Eastern European towns and cities had a specially marked TIR route which could take you miles from the centre. Anyone who has risked the direct route through Bratislava will tell you the time saved and the fine made it worth doing.
Anybody would think that Drivers like delivering into London, either move the businesses to the outskirts in the stockbroker belt or sort the London Borough Transport Scheme Ken! 
Thanks for all the replies. I know London like the back of my hand as I used to do 30 drops on one trailer every Mon and Tues for 4 years, never once getting anything like this. I wonder if it was a camera noting the vehicle reg and comparing it with a computer database ? Anyway 5.59am is ridiculous, also the fact that the A205 is an absolute main road, no wonder congestion in London is bad if a lot of lorries aren’t aloud to drive around the main roads of the main city of this country.
NSH… Yes you are right in that respect, we do have permits that allow us to enter London but again only by the LBTS routes. However, we have had drivers found ‘off’ route as such (after their 1st drop or leaving London) that have got off their fines by stating that they had entered London following the ‘permitted’ route but at the time of the ‘offence’ were exiting the City.
It has not happened to me personally and I am only quoting other colleagues, but that is what has been explained to me as being the situation.
Terry
In answer to your question, i used to work for a company that was on the industrial park near sainsburys, we used to start at 0600 and out of the yard by 0615…there is a lorry ban which does not end until 0700…there are plenty of signs warning about the lorry ban…from midnight to 0700, and other mumbo jumbo…but…not all of the roads are marked with a sign…so i can only assume that you had broken the rules of the said ban…and its a heavy old fine…we were told that we had indeed broken the rules of the ban and we live and work in the area…so what chance do others have… personally i would have gone through the blackwall at that time of the morning anyway…
have a nice day