London’s Ulez is softer than Glasgow’s draconian clean air zone, says billionaire

Sadiq Khan’s Ulez is “soft” compared to the SNP’s “draconian” clean air zone in Glasgow, a bus tycoon has said as he urged Humza Yousaf to rein in his Green coalition partners at Holyrood.

Sandy Easdale told The Telegraph that the Mayor of London’s decision to extend his scheme to cover all of London was hammering working people during the cost of living crisis.

However, the billionaire co-owner of McGill’s, the UK’s largest independent bus firm, said this was still better than the Glasgow City Council scheme as drivers in London have the option of paying a daily fee to enter the city.

In contrast, any drivers in older vehicles who enter Glasgow’s low emission zone (Lez) face a £60 fine, a penalty that doubles with each subsequent breach of the rules.

Mr Easdale said this was a “sledgehammer to crack a nut” that would force hard-up families and businesses to obtain a loan at surging interest rates to buy a compliant vehicle.

Calling for the introduction of a London-style daily charge, he said that the scheme was an SNP-Green “vanity project rather than a sanity project” during a cost of living crisis.

Speaking ahead of Mr Yousaf unveiling his programme for government next week, the tycoon urged the First Minister to rein in the Greens’ “coffee shop politics” and give households feeling the squeeze a break.

Glasgow was the first Scottish city to introduce a clean air zone. Dundee will introduce one on May 30 2024, while Aberdeen and Edinburgh will follow suit two days later.

A total of 299 of Glasgow’s streets are within the perimeter, with number plate recognition cameras installed around the boundary to identify the vehicles entering the zone.

The minimum emission standards are Euro 6 for diesel vehicles (generally those registered after September 2015) and Euro 4 for petrol (typically those registered from 2006). Mopeds and motorcycles are exempt.

An older car entering the zone each day would face penalties of £60, then £120, £240 and up to a daily cap of £480 for cars and vans, and £960 for buses and HGVs. The daily fine is reset to £60 if there have been no breaches for 90 days.

It emerged last month that the SNP-run city council was spending £100,000 renting vehicles to replace those within its fleet that did not comply with the new rules.

Business leaders have led a backlash against the scheme after the council’s own data suggested it already met air quality standards. Mr Easdale predicted it would have little environmental impact.

He said the Glasgow scheme was “draconian”, adding: “The bottom line is it is a penalising Lez rather than the one in London, where you can pay a fee.

“London went about it in a bit more diplomatic and sympathetic way and Glasgow seems to be the only one doing this in Europe. We should have gone down the London route and given people a bit more time.

“The normal, working people in London are feeling it because the mayor has put it out too far. People are moaning in London, but it’s soft compared to Glasgow.”

Mr Easdale said his company had spent £28 million on zero-emissions buses in Glasgow after being told by the council that the Lez would lead to more customers.

However, he said it had not, with the scheme instead increasing costs and putting pressure on ticket prices. He claimed the city centre was quieter now and predicted that the rollout of similar schemes in other Scottish cities threatened the economy.

This week, a survey found fewer than one in 10 companies in Scotland think that Mr Yousaf’s SNP-Green government understands the needs of business amid a backlash over its environmental agenda.

Mr Easdale said: “If you look at the Greens’ policies, it’s coffee shop politics by people sat in the west end of Glasgow. With people’s utility bills and mortgages going through the roof, they need to rein some of it in. Green politics seems to be taking over.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We’ve supported McGill’s with over £2.5 million through our Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit Programme to help their existing diesel fleet comply with low emission zones.

“In addition, we have awarded close to £20 million to McGill’s through Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund and Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme to help the company transition to a greener fleet – benefitting their staff, customers and communities.”

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “Scottish low emission zones operate by way of a penalty system set in legislation – rather than through an entry fee so as to discourage non-compliant vehicle entry and to maximise the air quality benefits that can be delivered

“A brand new or electric vehicle is not required in order to enter Glasgow’s Lez, with up to 90 per cent of vehicles entering the city centre zone area already compliant.”