Scottish Government cracks down of diesel fuel
It looks like the end of the road for diesel cars as Scottish Government cracks down on air-polluting motors.
Hundreds of thousands of drivers will be forced to avoid low emissions zones in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee from 2020.
Dirty diesel and air-polluting petrol cars will no longer be allowed to go into city centres, towns and villages under vehicle emissions plans set out by the Scottish Government.
A consultation period on what has been called, low emission zones (LEZ) in Scotland has been completed and hundreds of thousands of vehicles that fail to meet standards will be prevented from driving in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee city centres from 2020.
Offending vehicles will also be banned from dozens of other designated “air quality management areas” by 2023. This again means more expense for drivers of diesel cars.
In total, 38 different areas have been designated Low Emission Zones LEZ around Scotland. As well as the larger cities, other towns also have been earmarked for the ban, such as Falkirk, Grangemouth, East Kilbride, Motherwell, Linlithgow and Paisley.
Suburbs such as Bearsden and Bishopbriggs on the edge of Glasgow, and Musselburgh High Street, near Edinburgh, will also be affected. Transport Scotland released their Corporate Plan for 2017 to 2020 last week, confirming the strategy.
Petrol and diesel cars will be phased out by 2032 to encourage drivers to switch to electric and hybrid cars. As of yet, the Scottish Government has given no indications of a scrappage scheme for old cars.
The Government has indicated there will be a significant increase in the number of electrical charging points for vehicles, there have been no
Motoring groups have estimated three-quarters of all diesel cars currently on the road would fail to meet the new emissions test. An AA spokesman said:
“Around 10 per cent of vehicles are responsible for half of the pollution, these are the vehicles they should be targeting first. Much of the pollution is caused by ageing bus and taxi fleets.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We’re working hard to improve Scotland’s air quality but pollution caused by road traffic is still a significant threat to health.”
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