A man has told of how he won his battle with Transport Scotland to have his car recognised as LEZ compliant.

Angus Allan, 63, purchased a secondhand Audi in February after checking to see if the car would be suitable to drive into Glasgow's Low Emission Zone.

At the time, Transport Scotland had not yet released its online registration checker tool and advised people to check the UK Government's Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) website.

Glasgow Times:

The Audi T3, first registered in March 2015, has a Euro 5B diesel engine and appeared as compliant in the London ULEZ zone.

Mr Allan told the Glasgow Times: “We bought the car in February this year. Before we bought it, we checked the advice on the Glasgow City Council website.

"At that time they didn’t have a data set. We checked on the UK database, which showed it was compliant with ULEZ zones in place.

“We thought that was great, and bought the car. It was a model registered in March 2015.

"A few months after that, a database was published to check if your car was compliant in Glasgow."

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Glasgow Times:

Mr Allan, who lives in Strathaven, checked the newly published Transport Scotland registration checker and was shocked when it revealed his car was non-compliant in Glasgow's LEZ.

He said: “I thought it was really weird that I could drive into London with this car but can’t drive into our local city, Glasgow.

“I thought, is that true and accurate, or is there a problem here?”

In April, Mr Allan contacted Transport Scotland to clarify why his car was now non-compliant.

Glasgow Times:

He said: “I got back a very blunt response which I didn’t think was very helpful. That prompted me to send in a Freedom of Information request.

“Surprisingly, about six weeks later, I got an email back from them. It was slightly contradictory to the first email, but it said that my car was now compliant and they had updated the records.

“So then I thought, well, that’s interesting. Is this just my car they’ve updated the records for? Or have they done this for all cars in this marginal area?

“I don’t know if this is a widespread problem or just a problem with a few vehicles.”

Transport Scotland's LEZ vehicle checker uses data provided by the DVLA from its vehicle records.

In response to Mr Allan's query, the details of his car were updated by the DVLA. The experience has inspired him to offer advice to other drivers who might have a car that's caught in the grey area.

He said: “I would say to someone if you’re on the margins and not compliant then contact Transport Scotland and ask them to double-check your registration number.”

Glasgow Times:

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware that on a small number of occasions there are anomalies with vehicles returning an incorrect compliance status on the LEZ vehicle checker.

"Some vehicle manufacturers produced vehicles that met the LEZ emission standards before it was legally required, meaning there are a small number of vehicles that may be compliant based on emission limit values rather than their Euro emission status.

“We are unable to comment on individual cases, however vehicle information from the LEZ Vehicle Checker, including compliance status, is provided by the DVLA.

"This is a legal requirement within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 whereby a record certifying the compliance status of a vehicle must be obtained from the Secretary of State.

“As the Vehicle Checker is linked to the DVLA database, the only way for this to be rectified is for a query to be raised with the DVLA. This can either be done by the enquirer contacting the DVLA directly, or we will do so on their behalf.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council added: “Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone only allows access to vehicles which meet the minimum emission standards or are exempt.

“Transport Scotland’s vehicle registration checker allows you to see if your vehicle can or cannot drive within a LEZ in Scotland, based on whether it is considered compliant or non-compliant with the emission standards.

“Full details about the requirements of Glasgow’s LEZ and a link to the registration checking tool can be found on the council website at www.glasgow.gov.uk/LEZ.”