New scrappage scheme to take Scotland’s most polluting vehicles off the road

The most polluting cars could be taken off the road under a scheme to help Scotland’s poorer families switch to more “sustainable” transport.

Ministers have announced the vehicle scrappage scheme, which will be piloted in parts of Scotland, in a move exclusively first reported by The Scotsman in September.

It comes as the Scottish Government seeks to both cut emissions and meet an ambitious target of reducing traffic by 20 per cent by 2030.

The £900,000 Mobility and Scrappage fund is to be piloted in lower-income areas, including the islands, where orders concerning air quality are in place.

Car-sharing club membership is offered as an option under the low emission zone scrappage scheme. Picture: Enterprise/Malcolm McCurrach

Those taking part will be given a cash grant of £2,000 for disposing of more heavily polluting vehicles.

In addition, they will be offered up to two £500 grants that can be used to buy a bike, e-bike or public transport vouchers, in a bid to encourage more people to move away from cars.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth said “Aimed at those that need help most, this funding is helping people remove the most polluting cars, as well as encouraging a shift towards active travel and sustainable public transport options.”

She stressed the Scottish Government’s desire to “protect public health and improve air quality”, saying initiatives such as this are “supporting people to move to new travel patterns and achieve our climate change ambitions at the same time”.

The planned scrappage scheme could offer incentives for drivers to switch to cycling or public transport. Picture: Thomas/adobe.com

The scheme builds on a policy offering low-income households up to £3,000 to scrap older vehicles whose engines do not comply with new low emission zones (LEZ) in Scotland’s four biggest cites.

The LEZ initiative includes up to £1,000 per household towards alternative travel, such as buying a bike or cycle hire scheme membership, multi-trip bus and rail tickets, and membership of a car-sharing club.

The Scottish Government’s 2022/23 Programme for Government, published in September last year, had pledged it would "test a new mobility and scrappage scheme to help low-income households to replace a polluting vehicle with the means to travel sustainably".

The news had been welcomed by environmental campaigners, but with scepticism from motoring groups, when first reported by The Scotsman.

Gavin Thomson, transport campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Transport is our biggest source of climate emissions and cars are the biggest chunk of that, so tackling the climate crisis has to mean reducing car use.

"Around Europe, we have seen successful scrappage schemes that replace people’s old, polluting cars with free public transport or credits that can be used to buy other household items.

“People on the lowest incomes mainly walk or use the bus, but for families that have a car and are struggling to make ends meet, a scheme like this could make a big difference.”

Colin Howden, director of sustainable transport campaigners Transform Scotland, said: “Now would be a good time to refocus scrappage grants around bike purchases, public transport season tickets, and memberships of car clubs.

"This would be a more complete sustainable transport response than providing grants for one car to be replaced by another, however low emission the new car might be."

But Neil Greig, policy and research director of IAM RoadSmart, doubted the scheme would work across Scotland and called instead for support to cut rural fuel prices to be increased and extended.

He said: “A new scheme linked to cheaper bus fares or free bikes might have some attraction in larger urban areas where viable alternatives exist, but once you get outside the city it would have very limited appeal as an incentive to get rid of a car.

"There is little point in giving someone a free bus pass if there are no services to get them to work early in the morning or late at night.

"Giving people a bike when we still don’t have enough segregated infrastructure to make them feel safe when using it is also likely to have little impact.”

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “In theory, scrappage could be part of the solution, but we shouldn’t underestimate how tricky it is to design a scheme that carefully targets those vehicles which are not only old, but also rack up the most miles in Scottish towns and cities.

“Get that wrong and the costs could balloon out of all proportion to the actual air quality improvements delivered.”