FTA calls for national scrappage scheme

According to the Freight Transport Association, improvements to UK air quality should be assisted through a national scrappage scheme of polluting vehicles.

Ahead of the Government’s Air Quality Plan announcement, FTA believes that national level fiscal measures should be announced to enable small business and vehicle owners to meet the costs of operating in new Clean Air Zones (CAZs).

The association believes that a national scrappage scheme would support efforts to achieve air quality improvements whilst “preventing an unsustainable burden falling on small businesses who fail to comply with CAZs, especially small and medium-sized operators and those utilising vans or specialist HGVs”.

FTA’s head of National and Regional Policy, Christopher Snelling, commented: “There is no question that we all have to continue to improve air quality – but it should be recognised that our air is getting cleaner all the time.

“The government should be pursuing measures that will provide the most health benefit for the least economic disruption. The proposed CAZs pose a serious risk to the viability of many small businesses based in these zones, and a real risk to jobs and local prosperity.”