Glasgow garage owner vows to continue fight against Low Emission Zone

The scheme effectively bans older vehicles from entering the city

Glasgow garage owner vows to continue fight against Low Emission Zone
Photo: Bigstock

A garage owner in Glasgow says the city’s new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) will have a “monumental” impact on his business.

William Paton runs Patons Accident Repair Centre, which is located 500m inside the zone.

Having failed in a bid to delay the introduction of the scheme, Mr Paton says he plans to take the case to judicial review. In response, Glasgow City Council said it would ”vigorously defend any legal challenge”.

The LEZ came into force on 1 June 2023, with drivers facing fines if their vehicles do not meet the emissions standards. The scheme effectively bans older vehicles from entering Scotland’s largest city, with the initial penalty charge for all non-compliant vehicles set at £60.

“The council haven’t mitigated for my loss, they’ve never said what about a business that doesn’t rely on the person making the journey, we rely on the actual vehicle itself coming into us,” Mr Paton told the BBC.

”We’ve had any diesel pre-2015, any petrol vehicle pre-2006 completely removed from us a potential customer.”

”It’s not just us there’s other dealerships up here at Townhead that face similar problems.”

In response, Glasgow City Council’s climate and transport convenor, councillor Angus Millar, said: ”It’s important to stress that around 85-90 percent of vehicles that currently enter the city centre have already been meeting the standards of the LEZ,” he told the BBC.

”There will definitely be some impacts on certain businesses who might have to change the way they operate.

”What I would say is there have been around 500 LEZs or similar initiatives in operation across Europe and we’ve seen that city centre businesses by and large have actually benefitted from the improvements in air quality.”

Source: BBC

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