Aberdeen LEZ: Half of appeals upheld, but £2.7m in fines issued

While more than £2.7m fines have been sent to drivers caught out by Aberdeen’s LEZ, almost half of the appeals made have been upheld.

Aiming to improve air quality, the low emission zone has been enforced since June 1, 2024.

Any drivers caught entering the designated area in a non-compliant vehicle will be issued a £60 fine — reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.

In the weeks following the cameras going live, residents and visitors slammed the scheme, with many suggesting it would “drive people away” from the city centre.

Some have slammed the area the zone covers, including its close proximity to the harbour. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

Others thought the signage wasn’t clear enough, leaving “no possibility of escape”.

The Press and Journal can now reveal that more than 24,800 fines were dished out over the first seven months of the controversial clean air measure.

But, almost half of all the appeals made were upheld — meaning those fines were scrapped.

Read on to find out:

How many fines have been dished out and what this could equate to in cash
Why there’s been so many successful appeals
Why there’s still so many appeals that haven’t been decided yet
And how you can appeal if you’ve been hit with a fine

How many fines have been issued over 7 months of Aberdeen LEZ?

According to the Aberdeen City Council data, a whopping 24,874 fines have been issued between June 1, 2024, and January 31, 2025.

Not all the cameras were turned on from the get-go, meaning there could have been even more fines sent out in the first month.

Meanwhile, our sister paper The Courier reported in the first six months of the LEZ being enforced, 9,100 fines were issued in Dundee.

If we don’t include January, 23,073 fines were sent to motorists in Aberdeen over the six months. This means 13,973 more fines were dished out to drivers in the Granite City in that same period.

But how many are repeat offenders?

The initial penalty charge notice (PCN 1) for all non-compliant vehicles is £60, reduced by 50% if paid within 14 days.

The penalty amount doubles with each subsequent breach of the rules detected in the same LEZ. The penalty charges (PCN 5) are capped at £480 for cars and light goods vehicles and £960 for minibuses, coaches and HGVs.

If there’s not another breach of the rules detected within 90 days following a previous violation, the rate will reset to the initial penalty charge.

Got all that? Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the fines…

From June 2024 until the end of January this year, 18,761 PCN 1s have been sent to drivers caught out for the first time. This equates to £1,125,660 in fines for first-time offenders.

During that same time, 6,113 repeat offenders have been caught breaking the road rules.

A screenshot of Aberdeen City Council’s list of LEZ charges.

However, 1,469 have received a PCN 5, the highest number of penalty charges where fines are capped at between £480 and £960 depending on the vehicle type — and it means the vehicle was spotted entering the LEZ at least five times.

The P&J asked what the vehicles with the highest number of fines were (including the vehicle type, model and year), however the council could not provide this information.

That means just shy of 6% of the total fines are PCN 5s.

And it also means at least £2,731,020 in fines have been dished out between June and January.

Have you been caught out by the LEZ in Aberdeen? Let us know in our comments section below

Almost half the appeals lodged have been successful…

Data obtained by the P&J through a freedom of information request shows 2,343 appeals were made since the zone went live until January 15, 2025.

That means almost 10% of people who were snapped by the LEZ cameras tried to appeal their fine.

Of those appeals, 1,099 were successful — potentially saving drivers in Aberdeen £65,940 worth of fines.

That’s just under half of the amount of fines.

A further 449 cases have not been decided yet, with some dating back to the first few months of the scheme running.

Why were so many LEZ appeals upheld?

A spokeswoman for the local authority said most of the successful appeals are due to drivers or their passengers having a blue badge at the time.

She went on to explain that the second most common reason is that the vehicle is compliant but has a private number plate that the DVLA does not have a record of.

“These two scenarios account for approximately 65% of successful appeals,” the spokeswoman added. “Another common reason for cancellation is that the vehicle is exempt — unmarked police cars or other unmarked emergency vehicles are issued with PCNs but these are cancelled on appeal once evidence is provided.

“It should be noted that the number of successful appeals is only 4% of all PCNs that have been issued.”

LEZ signage. Holburn Street, Aberdeen — It was estimated that 14% of vehicles would be impacted by the road rules. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

But why are some of these appeals taking so long to decide?

The spokeswoman explained the council is currently dealing with appeals received in mid-January, and some are for much older contraventions.

If Aberdeen City Council rejected an appeal, the driver could lodge a case with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service. This means the appeals can take longer to deal with, and the timescale for final decisions on those cases is out of the council’s control.

Another reason appeals might be submitted several months later is because the liability has been transferred to a new owner following an initial appeal, who also has the right to appeal.

She added that some people contact the council following the issue of a charge certificate, or once the case has been passed to the Sheriff Officer, months later.

If you want to appeal your fine you can do so here.