Mail Online

11th-hour legal bid to stop LEZ

Firm stages challenge on eve of scheme going live

By Krissy Storrar

A LAST-DITCH bid to put the brakes on Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone is to be made in the courts today.

Lawyers will ask the Court of Session to issue an order to stop the scheme – just hours before penalty charges are due to come into force.

Car and commercial drivers in Glasgow will face financial penalties from tomorrow if they drive into the city centre zone – known as the LEZ – in a non-compliant vehicle.

Charges start at £60, halved to £30 if paid in 14 days. The fine doubles on each subsequent occasion the vehicle is driven into the zone in a 90-day period, up to a maximum of £480 for cars and vans and £960 for buses and lorries.

But a motor trade repair company is asking for an interim order against Glasgow City Council to halt the enforcement of the scheme, so a judicial review can be heard.

Patons Accident Repair Centre launched a legal challenge after calculating the LEZ could cost it more than a third of its business.

Phase one of the LEZ has been in place since 2018 and focused on city centre buses, but phase two will affect drivers of older petrol and diesel cars and vans.

Patons, which is 1,600ft inside the zone, has said that will affect around 35 per cent of its customers, based on trade over the past two years.

The firm commissioned a report by the Hilson Moran Institute, which concluded the council’s aims for improving air quality have already been met as a result of the phase one restrictions. Company director William Paton told the Glasgow Times: ‘The evidence shows there is no need for phase two. The city has met the targets. The council knows the impact this will have but is pressing on regardless.’

Glasgow is the first city in Scotland to introduce the Scottish Government’s LEZ laws, with Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee due to follow next year.

Last year, the Mail revealed the changes could see drivers of 730,000 older cars face a combined bill of more than £8billion to avoid being banned from the four cities.

DVLA figures show there are 513,914 diesel cars in Scotland which were registered before 2015 and 218,481 petrol cars registered before 2006. All would face a ban.

According to research by analysts NimbleFins, the starting price of a new small car in the UK is £12,000. Similarly, the median price of a used car is also £12,000.

Based on this figure, the 732,395 with cars that do not meet the legislation would have to fork out a combined £8,789,000,000.

Last week, charity St Andrew’s First Aid said it was facing a bill of £300,000 to replace its non-LEZ compliant vehicles. It uses eight vans which will need to be replaced.

Stuart Callison, its chief executive, said: ‘We would welcome the sponsorship or support of any organisation that is able to help us continue to carry out our vital work.’

Last night the city council confirmed it had received notice of the company’s intention to seek a judicial review.

A council spokesman said: ‘We will vigorously defend any legal challenge. It is a surprise this has been lodged now, rather than when the LEZ was introduced in May 2022.’

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2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

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