Taxi drivers in Dundee say they’ve been ‘hit hard’ by the Low Emission Zone, but health experts believe it’s the right move to improve air quality.
Some have been forced to pay thousands of pounds to upgrade their vehicles, while others have left the industry all together.
Drivers of diesel wheelchair accessible taxis have been worst effected as some of their vehicles didn’t meet LEZ requirements.
Graeme Stephen, chairman of Dundee Taxi Association told STV News: “Those vehicles are very, very expensive and some of them had cars that didn’t meet requirements.
“[They] were still working very well but they had to take them off and go and order other ones which were very, very hard to get hold of.
“You don’t get an electric wheelchair accessible vehicle. There was one, but Nissan is no longer doing that, and you were only getting 80 to 90 miles with that, which is no use.
“I’m led to believe that some just threw the towel in and put their licence away and gave it up.”
STV NewsGraeme has been driving taxis in Dundee for more than 40 years.
He says there are now fewer cab drivers in the city compared to 2023.
“Taxi drivers are getting on a wee bit but [are] still willing to work on. If they try and go and get a loan for a new vehicle, it’s very difficult because what taxi drivers are earning and what they’re needing to put on a new vehicle, especially the wheelchair vehicles; the price they are.
“A lot of people are not willing to lend that kind of money.”
More than 5,500 fines have been issued in the first three months of Dundee’s LEZ.
Enforcement began on May 30, preventing the most pollutant diesel and petrol vehicles from entering the city centre.
STV NewsLatest figures from Dundee City Council show the total value of fines issued up to August 25, 2024 amounted to £454,320, but only £95,550 has been paid so far.
Professor Jill Belch from Dundee University has led research on the health implications of poor air quality.
She says the city’s landscape and geography exacerbates pollution, compared to windier places, adding: “We have a lot of tall buildings with narrow streets and in fact, we’re standing in one now. That prevents the air from circulating and so the air pollution just hangs around.
“The second element is Dundee itself lives in a sort of basin. We’ve got this big hill, The Law at the top, and of course the wind blows over it and we have air pollution in this basin which isn’t removed by wind.
“So, if you look at Aberdeen, if you look at Edinburgh, much windier, but Dundee, it’s very static and that’s why we get air pollution remaining around.”
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