The number of people who have applied for financial help to switch vehicles ahead of the introduction of the Clean Air Zone is only a few thousand - even though almost 100,000 drivers will have to pay the charges that are introduced on Monday.
Bristol City Council has revealed the scale of exemptions and applications for financial support, and they reveal that only a small proportion of people affected by the Clean Air Zone have asked for financial help or for an exemption.
There are various schemes available from the council as part of a £42 million package, with loans to help people buy new vehicles. But critics of the schemes say they don’t go far enough, don’t provide enough support to get a new scheme and the loan scheme on offer is too restrictive an onerous to be a viable option.
