The more polluting cars currently on the roads will have to pay twenty euros a day or 350 euros a year to enter the future low-emission traffic zone in Antwerp from February 1st, 2017, reveals daily Gazet van Antwerpen on Tuesday. 80% of Belgian vehicles will have unrestricted access to the country’s first low-emission traffic zone, according to the newspaper. Some 8,000 to 9,000 out of the 75,000 cars registered in the zone, which stretches from the Ring road to the Linkeroever neighbourhood, are too old and polluting.
People driving a diesel-engine vehicle which does not conform to conditions for access will need to buy a special permit. The fee will be twenty euros per day and up to 350 euros per year for diesel cars of the Euro 3 type in 2017. Discounts are planned for people on low income or who live inside the zone. Drivers of polluting vehicles without a permit and entering Antwerp’s low-emission traffic zone risk a fine of 125 euros in 2017 and of 150 euros from 2018 onwards.
The fine may reach 350 euros if the driver reoffends. These various fees are yet to be approved by the city council. Antwerp is the first Belgian city to establish a low emission traffic zone prohibiting access in particular to diesel cars over fifteen years old and to cars which are over ten years old and not fitted with particulate filters.
(Source: Belga)
