Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- London, which has the dirtiest air in Britain, will impose a 200 pound-a-day ($394) charge on the most polluting trucks starting Feb. 4 in an effort to improve health.

The low-emission zone, which will be the world's largest, uses a network of 90 cameras to monitor license plate numbers and catch truck owners who haven't paid the charge. Vehicles that meet European Union emissions standards are exempt. The zone takes in most of the area within the M25 motorway that encircles the U.K. capital.

``It's an effort to save the lives of 1,000 Londoners a year who die prematurely because of the worst air quality in Western Europe,'' Mayor Ken Livingstone said at City Hall on Jan. 30.

Livingstone, who says reducing global warming is a priority, also is considering tripling central London's congestion charge to 25 pounds a day for big cars and sport-utility vehicles. Trucking groups criticized the low-emission zone as too costly.

``We now have a massive and costly infrastructure of signs and cameras in place and a substantial cost to Londoners and lorry operators for a minimal benefit,'' said Gordon Telling, head of policy at the Freight Transport Association, in a statement on the group's Web site.

The money would have been better spent on incentives for truckers to buy cleaner vehicles, he said.

Berlin and the Swedish city of Malmo operate smaller emission zones. The London zone will cost 49 million pounds to set up and 10 million pounds a year to operate, according to Transport for London, which oversees the city's trains, buses and roads. London has the worst air pollution in the U.K. and among the worst in Europe, the agency said.

Health Benefits

The zone will reduce pollution 16 percent by 2012, and deliver 250 million pounds in health benefits such as lower spending on treating respiratory illness, Livingstone has said.

Diesel trucks must meet the EU's Euro III exhaust emission standards for particulate matter or the owners must pay the 200 pound daily charge. Fines for failure to pay the charge will be 1,000 pounds. Trucks must be equipped with new engines or fitted with filters that reduce pollutants. The emission-zone rules also apply to trucks from outside the U.K.

License-plate numbers recorded by the cameras will be compared with vehicle registrations to find violators. The system is similar to the one used for the congestion-charge zone, where a daily 8 pound fee applies to most vehicles.

The emission-zone rules will affect vehicles weighing more than 12 tons when the system goes into operation on Feb. 4, and will be extended to trucks and buses of 3.5 tons or more starting July 8. The freight association said 50,000 trucks are used for deliveries in Greater London each day and that as many as 10,000 of them aren't compliant.

The Campaign for Clean Air, an anti-pollution group, said that the zone is ``much needed,'' though more should be done to improve the city's air.

``London needs to reduce the most hazardous vehicle emissions much further, much faster,'' said Simon Birkett, chairman of the campaign, in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Lysaght in London at blysaght@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 1, 2008 09:41 EST