A sign warning of Clean Air Zone tolls in Newcastle City Centre. (Image: Iain Buist/Newcastle Chronicle)

Taxi drivers have called for a U-turn on plans to end a grant scheme designed to help people buy cleaner vehicles and avoid tolls in Newcastle’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ), with millions of pounds still unspent. Newcastle City Council recently announced that it will stop taking applications for CAZ upgrade grants, worth up to £16,000, on January 30.

The money is intended to help individuals and businesses swap high-polluting vehicles that don’t comply with the CAZ’s regulations for newer models. Despite more than 1,100 grants being issued since 2022, around £8 million of an original £15 million provided by the Government for the scheme remains unused and is now expected to be handed ov

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