Over half a million fines issued to drivers for misusing Birmingham’s controversial Clean Air Zone over the last two years have not been paid, it has been revealed.
Tens of thousands of motorists have been hit with penalties every month for failing to pay the daily fee required for non-compliant motors – giving the bankrupt city council millions of pounds.
The bankrupt city council intends to raise council tax by 21 per cent over the next two years as part of £300m budget savings. But it could be losing tens of millions of pounds in unpaid CAZ fines.
The cash-strapped authority was one of several in the country, and the first outside London, to introduce a scheme which charges drivers if their vehicles did not meet certain emissions standards.
It was introduced in June 2021 to help tackle traffic pollution and brought in £79 million since then.
Excluding those that may still be being processed, the city council confirmed a total of 536,552 penalty charge notices had not been paid and had either been cancelled, written off or were outstanding since February 2022.
Labour-run Birmingham Council spent a staggering £2.1million on hiring vehicles which did not comply with its own clean air zone just before being declared bankrupt
They did not provide a breakdown of how many fitted into each of those categories, although 13,391 cases were successfully appealed at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
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It means, other than fines which are outstanding and still could be paid, hundreds of thousands have either been ignored by motorists refusing to pay or cancelled following an appeal or for other reasons.
And if they fail to recover the cash the council could have a shortfall of at least £35 million – although it could still make up some of the money owed.
The authority said it was unable to provide a figure for how many penalties had been written off, meaning it has given up on recovering money.
It said it ‘does not hold information on the monetary amount of penalty charge notices written off, as the value of a penalty charge notice written off depends on what stage of the statutory process a case has reached.’
An average of around 45,000 motorists are still being fined every month in the city.
Owners of vehicles which don’t comply with emissions limits must pay the £8 daily charge to pass through the zone. Those who fail to pay are hit with fines of £120, cut to £60 if paid within 14 days.
In November revealed this included vehicles hired by Birmingham City Council itself – as the Labour-run council spent a staggering £2.1 million on automobiles that did not meet their own air zone standards.
Figures show that the authority owns 146 vehicles which do not meet the requirements for its clean air zone.
Money spent hiring clean air zone compliant and non-compliant vehicles by Birmingham City Council
In total, £4,054,699.94 was spent in 2022 and £3,524,473.32 so far in 2023 hiring vehicles which do comply with the charge. This in total is £7,579,173.26.
Birmingham City Council has made tens of millions of pounds from CAZ fines over the last three years.
Figures show more than £2.1million was spent on hiring vehicles that do not comply with the clean air rules.
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: ‘The Clean Air Zone was introduced to reduce the levels of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide in the city centre.
‘The percentage of the most polluting vehicles entering the zone has reduced from 15.2 per cnet in June 2021 to 4.9 per cent in January 2024, which means a significant number of people have changed their behaviours as a result of its introduction and the overall levels of nitrogen dioxide have reduced.
‘All revenue generated by the Clean Air Zone is reinvested back into projects that promote greener travel and cleaner air.’