Leader - The Cleanzine

Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 28th May 2026 Issue no. 1212

Your industry news - first

The original and best - for over 20 years!

We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.

Welcome to the Cleanzine

Survey findings we covered last week, which revealed that the vast majority of drivers remain unclear on how London's well-established Ultra Low Emission Zone works and that almost half are unaware that they must check whether their vehicles are ULEZ compliant and pay manually if they’re not, have been playing on my mind.

Living within the perimeter of the M25 motorway which circles London and its outskirts, means local car journeys have me crossing briefly into the ULEZ zone without noticing – and I’m not the only one. Luckily, (for the time being, anyway!) my car’s ULEZ compliant, but since – like many of those surveyed - several of my family & friends who drive non-compliant vehicles have been caught out by unexpected fines, I can’t help feeling that the much-hated scheme's been set up (for us) to fail. Why? Because if our journeys take us unexpectedly into the zone, it’s our job to find out whether or not we’re liable to pay for that part of our trip, rather than us being automatically sent a fine, as we are following other transgressions, such as coming to a halt in a yellow box, or speeding. The system clearly isn’t working fairly since it’s not consistent with how things are normally done.

Yes it’s bringing in a lot of money, but that wasn’t (supposedly) what it was set up for, was it? If it’s an unexpected side effect there’s been plenty of time to put things right. The technology exists to be able to bring the way ULEZ works into line with everything else. Why hasn’t this happened? It shouldn’t be down to a motoring organisation – in this case, Regit, who carried out the survey, to devise and pay for an awareness campaign alerting drivers of their need to check their ULEZ status before continuing their journey into the zone and be sure to pay within the tight time limit if their vehicle's not compliant, should it?

And if British drivers are struggling with it, what about drivers from overseas?

Finally, if you’re a long-term reader of Cleanzine you’ll be aware of how much John Austen and I have enjoyed Amsterdam’s Interclean Exhibition over the years and how much we look forward to attending. Sadly this time around, John has prior commitments and I’m having surgery this week, so we’re having to miss out. If you’re there as an exhibitor, presenter, speaker or visitor, we hope you’re having fun and that you achieve everything you’re aiming for. Hopefully we’ll see you next time!

www.facebook.com/Cleanzine

You can also follow us on X (Twitter) @cleanzine

Yours,

Jan Hobbs

16th April 2026