Clean Air Zone: 14,000 drivers fined in first three months as Sheffield City Council set to rake in £500,000

More than 14,000 motorists were fined for failing to pay in the Clean Air Zone in its first three months - helping Sheffield City Council rake in an estimated £500,000.

Some 39,178 drivers paid the charge up to the end of May, new figures show. A further 14,581 were fined for non-payment in the same period. 

Sheffield City Council did not reveal how much it raised. But in its first month - when a ‘soft enforcement’ period gave drivers an extra seven days to pay - income was £210,000, so the three-month total will be about £500,000. 

Meanwhile, 4,085 people had appealed against their fines by the end of May, but the authority did not say how many had been successful. The figures were disclosed in response to questions by Coun Shaffaq Mohammed of the Lib Dems.

The zone launched amid controversy on February 27. It charges older vans and cabs £10-a-day and buses and lorries £50. The boundary follows the inner ring road.

Coun Ben Miskell chair of the transport, regeneration and climate policy committee, also revealed that about £900,000 of £25m earmarked to support motorists had been ‘committed or spent’.

Some bus and coach companies have struggled with red tape, delays and access to funds. Last month, Ky Moynihan, of Ky’s Executive Travel, said he received 28 fines for entering the CAZ, but insisted they were trips taking children to school which are exempt. But all his appeals had been rejected “without explanation.” 

And letters from Sheffield City Council were taking up to two months to arrive, so a £50 charge came with an automatic £230 fine for 'non-payment'.

Taxi drivers have staged several protests to fight for support to upgrade their vehicles to avoid charges, with some waiting months for a reply from Sheffield Council, they claim.

The council says income from the CAZ will be used to run and maintain the zone and any surplus ‘has to be put towards other sustainable transport schemes in the city’.

Last week The Star revealed a new bus gate on Arundel Gate raked in £36,000 from drivers in June alone.