Analysis: How much cash is the Aberdeen LEZ generating, one year on?

Press and Journal

6 days ago

It's hard to believe that Aberdeen's LEZ has been enforced for a whole year now.
The Scottish Government rolled out low emission zones across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen to tackle air pollution.
And on June 1, 2024, the automatic number plate recognition cameras monitoring the boundary in Aberdeen were turned on.
Since then, anyone caught entering the zone in a vehicle that does not meet the strict requirements has been snapped by those cameras and slapped with a fine.
In the weeks following the cameras going live, residents and visitors slammed the scheme, with many suggesting it would 'drive people away' from the city centre.
However, the council argued that only 14% of vehicles would be impacted by the new road rules.
And officers also thought that fines would start to decrease once drivers and visitors got used to the new signage.
But even recently, I've had friends and family visiting Aberdeen ask me how they can avoid the LEZ (as well as the bus gates) and where's safe to park their car.
And I know plenty of people still claim they'd rather drive out to Aberdeenshire for their shopping instead of chancing the city centre.
So, we wanted to find out how many fines have actually been sent out in the first year of the low emission zone, and how much money the cameras are generating for the council.
According to Aberdeen City Council's data, a massive fines have been sent out to drivers between June 2024 and April 2025.
Not all the cameras were turned on from the get-go, meaning there could have been even more fines sent out in the first month.
And, the council website states fines can take 'several weeks' before the penalty charge notice (PCN) is issued.
Interestingly, there were more than sent each month since the low emission zone was launched until October, when it dropped to.
The lowest number of fines sent out was in January at – meaning that even at its lowest month, almost motorists were potentially stung.
But, we do see the number of fines increase again, with more than being dished out in both months of March and April.
Which could indicate more people are trying to access the city centre and getting caught out.
This is where things start to get a bit confusing.
The initial penalty charge notice (PCN 1) for all non-compliant vehicles is , reduced to if paid within 14 days.
The penalty amount doubles with each subsequent breach of the rules detected in the same LEZ. The penalty charges (PCN 5) are capped at for cars and light goods vehicles and for minibuses, coaches and HGVs.
If there's not another breach of the rules detected within 90 days following a previous violation, the rate will reset to the initial penalty charge.
But, the council confirmed that a 50% discount applies to all PCN charge bands for the first 14 days.
Meaning, if someone receives a PCN 2, which is , they could only have to pay if they do so quickly enough.
See what I meant by things getting a bit confusing?
Considering the above, it's a little bit tricky to really pin a number on it.
The council would not provide us with the total amount generated for the fines either.
So I've done my best to work it out, but I will caveat this by saying they don't make it easy.
From June 2024 until April 2025, a were dished out to drivers caught out for the first time (or at least, within a 90-day period).
This equates to in fines. But as I mentioned, if everyone paid their fine straight away, therefore, slashing it down to , that is still added to the council coffers.
During that same time, have been caught breaking the road rules.
And, what's even more surprising is were sent out.
This is the highest charge, and is capped at between and depending on the vehicle type. It also means the non-compliant vehicle was snapped entering the LEZ at least five times.
In context, that means just shy of 7% of the fines were of the highest possible charge.
Taking all this into account, it means at least worth of low emission zone fines have been sent out in 11(ish) months.
Transport Scotland paid for the implementation for the clean air zone in Aberdeen.
Because of the tight legislation around the LEZ, money generated through fines must be used to cover the ongoing and operational costs of the scheme.
To put it simply, the money gained from fines will be ringfenced for camera maintenance, staffing, replacements, and repairs.
However, Aberdeen City Council previously confirmed that once the running costs are covered, any remaining money will be used on more projects aimed at improving air quality.
I asked the local authority if any money had been spent so far (and if possible, how much), but a spokeswoman was unable to tell us.
In February, we reported were made between June 1, 2024 and January 15, 2025.
At that point, it meant almost 10% of people snapped by the LEZ cameras tried to appeal their fine.
Of those appeals, at the time of reporting, and a further 449 had not been decided by then.
It would be safe to assume that this number has probably increased, however, the local authority was unable to tell us when asked.
A spokeswoman previously said most of the successful appeals were due to drivers or their passengers having a blue badge at the time.
She went on to explain that the second most common reason was that compliant vehicles were being picked up because of their private number plates.
Additionally, some unmarked police cars or emergency vehicles were being snapped by the cameras. But they are exempt and any charges were dropped once evidence was provided.
Last year, we also reported that although motorbikes and mopeds were exempt from the road rules, bikers were wrongly charged for entering the LEZ. However, the council could not say how many fines were sent out in error at the time.
The spokeswoman stressed that only 4% of all PCNs issued were successfully appealed.
Taxi drivers were given a year's grace period to ensure their vehicles met the strict requirements.
In September 2023, a report highlighted that 32% of taxis (189 vehicles at the time) and 8% of hire cars (19 at the time) did not meet the requirements.
But, taxi drivers in the city will now need to be compliant with the road rules by June 1, 2025, if they want to accept any fares.
As I previously mentioned, Aberdeen City Council originally estimated 14% if cars in the city would not meet the strict requirements.
Not long after the clean air zone was introduced I surveyed the LEZ boundary between the Denburn and Woolmanhill Roundabout during rush hour.
Our findings from that morning undercut the initial prediction.
After manually imputing every registration plate of 873 vehicles into the official checker, we found only 23 were non-compliant, which equates to 2.6%.
During a committee meeting, planning chief David Dunne used our report to vindicate the LEZ, and argue that it is not a 'cash cow'.
He also stressed that the number of non-compliant cars in the city will get 'smaller and smaller, year on year'.
At the time, Mr Dunne suggested there was evidence to show the numbers of non-compliant cars were not as high as expected.
And he pointed out that 10 of the 14 car parks are outwith the clean air boundary, arguing the city centre has not been closed off to some drivers.
However, we later reported that Aberdeen's LEZ generated more fines than Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow in the first month of operation.
Aberdeen's LEZ is also quite a small area, covering less than half the ground of Glasgows low emission zone.
And from looking at the latest figures, they are arguably still quite high, with online data showing fines increasing in March and April above 2,000 once more.
We approached the council for a comment.
The low emission zones were introduced across Scotland with the intention of improving air quality in the four city centres.
But one year on, have the zones actually improved the air that we breathe?
Why have majority of LEZ fines been clocked on these 3 Aberdeen roads? We find out
We count how many drivers get caught out on Denburn during rush hour