Scottish Low Emission Zone (LEZ) vehicle compliance: EIR release

Information requested

1, You state in your response that "Scottish Low Emission Zones (LEZs) are administered separately from Clean Air Zones (CAZs) in England and London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)." Please advise at what date the acceptable vehicle entrance criteria for the Scottish LEZ diverged
from the London ULEZ?

2, Please advise when (date) the Low emissions Zone Scotland web site started referring individuals wanting to check vehicle compliance to the UK Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) Website and when (date) this advice was rescinded and the Scottish specific vehicle checker introduced.

3, Given as you stated the "Scottish Low Emission Zones (LEZs) are administered separately from Clean Air Zones (CAZs) in England and London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).", why was the decision made to utilise the UK Government’s VCA vehicle checker as a source of information to motorists when due to the zones being administered separately there were always going to be differences in the vehicles that would comply with each legislation?

4, Who (Position & Department, not name) made the decision to publish on the Scottish LEZ website a reference to the UK VCA vehicle checker?

5, Who (Position & department, not name) gave final approval for the reference to the UK Governments VCA vehicle check to be published on the Scottish LEZ website?

6, What consideration was given, by the groups or individuals referenced in questions 4 & 5, to motorists who in good faith had attempted to research vehicle compliance by following, in detail, the guidance provided through the LEZ Scotland website or hosted links and been given misleading information then used this information to purchase a vehicle that they believed to be compliant with the Scottish LEZ requirements only to find out that the purchased vehicle cannot actually enter the LEZ due to a mistake or negligence of those tasked with publishing the information?

Response

The answer to your request is:

1) Scotland’s Low Emission Zones (LEZs) have always been administered separately from Clean Air Zones (CAZs) in England and London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). LEZ emission standards are based on the Euro emission engine classification standards – the minimum criteria for cars is
Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel. The compliance criteria for Scotland’s LEZs is detailed in the documents available here: Legislation & Governance (lowemissionzones.scot).

2) Scotland’s LEZ Vehicle checker went live in April 2023, allowing drivers to enter their registration details and receive confirmation of their vehicle’s compliance (or non-compliance) with the LEZ standards. Scotland’s LEZ website (www.lowemissionzones.scot) did not refer or redirect to the “UK
Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) Website” or publish advice on the LEZ website regarding this. If you would like to enquire directly with the VCA their website is: Homepage - Vehicle Certification Agency (vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk).

3) We are unable to provide this information as we have no record of the Scottish LEZ website referencing or utilising the “UK Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency’s vehicle checker”.

4) We are unable to provide this information as we have no record of the Scottish LEZ website referencing the “UK Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency’s vehicle checker” or publishing this reference.

5) We are unable to provide this information as we have no record of the Scottish LEZ website referencing the “UK Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency’s vehicle checker” or publishing this reference.

6) We are unable to provide this information as we have no record of the Scottish LEZ website referencing the “UK Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency’s vehicle checker” or publishing this reference. The LEZ vehicle checker located here: (lowemissionzones.scot/vehicle-registrationchecker) directly queries the vehicle data held by and provided from the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which supplies a result indicating compliance or non-compliance.

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