Clean air zone charges called ‘absolute nightmare’ by coach firm boss amid second protest

Facebook-based group Campaign against chargeable clean air zone Sheffield (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1801903783494447) has announced the protest, which will take place at noon on Saturday, February 25 at noon on Pinstone Street. The group now has 5,900 members.

The Clean Air Zone being introduced by Sheffield City Council will come into force the following Monday, February 27. Some heavy and light goods vehicles, vans, buses, coaches and taxis that drive within the inner ring road and city centre will be charged if the vehicle does not meet emissions standards.

Charges for bigger vehicles are £50 a day and smaller vans and taxis will be charged £10 a day.

Ky Moynihan, the owner of Sheffield coach companies Ky’s Executive Travel and Rivelin Travel, based in Middlewood Road, Hillsborough, has a fleet of seven coaches and minibuses that he runs for a range of jobs including party bus trips, airport runs, excursions and school transport.

He fears that the extra charges will lose him much of his business: “I’m having an absolute nightmare. I’ve got to charge schools £50 a trip – some schools can’t afford school dinners, let alone £50. I just think it’s so unfair.”

He said: “The charge for minibuses under 3.5 tons is £10 a day but eight out of 10 bus companies run 16-seater minibuses which are 4 to 5 tons. The charge for these is £50 a day.

“If for example I drop a party off from Leeds to Sheffield at 8pm but collect after midnight we are being charged again, another £50. Customers will not pay this and it will make Sheffield into a ghost town.

“I have purchased two wheelchair front-entry buses that cost me £18,000. The city council are not not allowing front wheelchair buses and charging me £50 a day per bus.

“A coach with a wheelchair lift is allowed free of charge yet the emissions are the same as my buses.

“They are offering a grant of £3,000 but the minibus has to be bought new – the average price of a Euro6 engine minibus is £80,000-plus. If the minibus is secondhand they are only allowing you 30% of the £3,000.

“My company can simply not afford this – I have seven buses and will be looking at £300,000 to £500,000. The council will only allow the £3,000 grant on three buses or coaches.

“I have already sold three of my coaches and made a loss of over £30,000. Yet one of these buses was 0% emission but as it wasn’t a Euro5 engine the council said it cannot enter Sheffield, even though there is no emission coming from this vehicle.”

Ky said that the council are also offering new exhaust systems for Euro5 emission compliant buses and coaches. “The cost of a Ford Transit minibus exhaust is £6,700 plus VAT and vehicles must be taken all the way down south.”

He said costs are far higher for some minibuses and coaches.

“Companies can simply not afford this and many are going to close down. The council are saying it’s the government bringing this into force yet the emissions after Covid are lower than they have ever been, according to the lord mayor of Sheffield.”

Ky monitors air quality through phone apps and says that city centre air quality is rated as good or excellent, including on the inner ring road.

He said: “If they want to make some money, put some speed cameras on there, then they’d make some money.”

*To find out what types of vehicles aren’t CAZ compliant, go to the Sheffield City Council website at https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/campaigns/clean-air-zone-sheffield#VehicleCharged

To find out about financial support packages on offer from the council, head to https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/campaigns/clean-air-zone-sheffield#FinancialSupport