From time to time I read our London-based sister publication Motor Transport, which covers trucking and logistics in the United Kingdom. This past summer, MT reported on a number of developments in the British Isles that were almost as "hot" as the country's record-breaking temperatures. Let me share a few of them with you.

• Remember when Webvan and similar online grocers were going to revolutionize the way people bought food and other staples? Online grocers have floundered here, but in England, at least one such company appears to be flourishing. The company, called Ocado, serves Southeast England. It charges £5 per household delivery but waives that charge on orders costing in excess of £75. Ocado competes with supermarket chains such as Tesco, which also offer home delivery. It looks like U.K. delivery services might succeed where U.S. providers have consistently failed.
• Here in the United States, customer demand has driven the development of reverse logistics, but in Europe, it's the government that's pushing that practice. E.U. consumers already may return durable goods such as refrigerators to a store for recycling. The latest such mandate, set to take effect in 2005, would allow consumers to return used electronic equipment to stores. The manufacturers are responsible for the disposition of returned goods. With those rules in place, demand for reverse logistics services will soar. "For logistics, it's good news," says Motor Transport Editor Andrew Brown. "They have to bring goods from shop to consumer and bring them back to the manufacturer at the end of the day."
• Although truckers complain about highway-use taxes in the United States, they're lucky they don't operate in London. Last February, the city government began imposing a congestion tax on cars and trucks that enter the city center. Cameras on the approaches to downtown record license plate numbers to monitor compliance. Motor carriers must register their trucks and make monthly payments to cover their downtown trips. Failure to pay results in a fine. "It's reduced traffic levels in London by 20 percent," says Brown.
• Just as is the case here, new government rules regarding truck drivers' hours of service are creating controversy in Europe. A new E.U. directive prescribes a maximum of 48 hours per week of total working time, including driving and unloading. It also restricts nighttime truck operations. Brown notes that the new rules come on top of existing ones that already regulate hours behind the wheel. "We reckon that we will need 20 percent more drivers to cope with fewer hours," he says.
• Enforcement against highway scofflaws just got tougher in the U.K., where a special police agency called the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is charged with road safety. Recently, VOSA equipped squad cars with infrared video cameras that take digital pictures of all license plates. Those plates then are checked against a computer database for any outstanding violations. Sounds like "Big Bobbie to" me.

I, for one, like some British imports, such as their music. And although I wouldn't mind the British showing us how to make online groceries work, I hope that ideas about expanded police powers and congestion tolls stay put in Merrie Olde England.