Fines in the Glasgow Low Emissions Zone start at £60, go from £120, £240 to £480 per day for cars. and vans Photo: Gerard Ferry/Alamy Live News
Sadiq Khan's ulez is «soft» compared to Glasgow's «draconian» Scottish National Party clean air zone, the bus magnate said, urging Humza Yusuf to rein in his Green Coalition partners. in Holyrood.
Sandy Easdale told The Telegraph that the Mayor of London's decision to extend his scheme to all of London dealt a blow to workers during a cost-of-living crisis.
But the billionaire co-owner of McGill' ;s, the UK's largest independent bus company, said it was still better than Glasgow City Council's scheme as drivers in London were able to pay a daily toll to enter the city.
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By contrast, any older car drivers entering Glasgow's Low Emissions Zone (Lez) face a £60 fine, with the fine doubling for each subsequent violation of the rules.
Mr Easdale said this a «sledgehammer to crack a nut» that will force low-income families and businesses to take out loans at rising interest rates to buy a qualifying car.
A call for the introduction of the London Act. in the style of a daily fee, he said the scheme was «a vanity project, not a sanity project» by SNP-Green during a cost-of-living crisis.
Sandy Easdale (center) called Glasgow Lez SNP-Green's 'vanity project' Photo: David Cameron/Alamy Stock Photo
Speaking ahead of Mr. Yusuf's presentation of his government program next week, the tycoon urged the first minister to curb the Greens' «coffee house policy» and give struggling households a break.
Glasgow was first. A clean air zone will appear in a Scottish city. Dundee will introduce it on 30 May 2024, with Aberdeen and Edinburgh following suit two days later.
A total of 299 Glasgow streets lie within the perimeter, and license plate recognition cameras have been installed around the border to identify vehicles, entering the zone.
The minimum emission standards are Euro 6 for diesel vehicles (usually registered). after September 2015) and Euro 4 for gasoline (generally registered from 2006). Mopeds and motorcycles are exempt.
An old car entering the zone every day will face a fine of £60, then £120, £240 and up to a daily limit of £480 for cars and vans and £960 for buses and trucks. The daily fine resets to £60 if there are no violations for 90 days.
Last month, it emerged that the SNP-run city council was spending £100,000 on leasing replacement vehicles in its fleet those who broke the rules. do not comply with the new rules.
Business leaders have spoken out against the scheme after the council's own data showed it was already meeting air quality standards. Mr. Easdale predicted that this would have little impact on the environment.
Humza Yousaf attending the independence rally in Edinburgh, was intended to curb the influence of their Green Coalition partners. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
He called the Glasgow scheme «draconian», adding: «The bottom of the matter is that this is a punitive Lez, not the one in London where you can pay the toll.
“London has approached this a little more diplomatically and sympathetically, and Glasgow seems to be the only one doing it. it's in Europe. We should have gone the London route and given people a little more time.“Normal working people in London feel it because the mayor has gone too far. People moan in London, but it's softer than Glasgow.»
Mr Easdale said his company spent £28m on zero-emission buses in Glasgow after the council said that Lez will lead to more customers.
However, this did not happen, he said, as the scheme instead increased costs and put pressure on ticket prices. He said the city center was now quieter and predicted that the introduction of similar schemes in other Scottish cities threatened the economy.
This week's survey found that less than one in 10 companies in Scotland believe that SNP Mr. Yusaf -Green government understands the needs of business in the face of backlash against its environmental agenda.
Mr Easdale said: “If you look at the politics of the Greens, you will see that this is a cafe policy, carried out by people sitting in the western part of Glasgow. With utility bills and mortgages skyrocketing, people need to rein them in a bit. Green politics seems to be taking over.”
2907 Low Emission Zones, UK
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: «We have supported McGill's with more than £2.5 million of our emission reduction bus retrofit program to help their existing diesel fleet meet low emission zones.
In addition, we have committed approximately £20 million to McGill's through the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Support Fund and the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme to help the company transition to a greener fleet that will benefit their employees, customers and the community.»
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: «Scotland's low emission zones operate through a system of fines set by law rather than congestion fees to discourage entry of non-compliant vehicles and maximize possible air quality benefits.
“A brand new or electric vehicle is not required to enter Les in Glasgow, and up to 90 percent of vehicles entering the city center are already eligible.”
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