{"id":676988,"date":"2026-07-06T16:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/676988\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:44:12","slug":"british-drivers-could-face-1000-fine-if-they-own-a-petrol-or-diesel-car-under-new-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/676988\/","title":{"rendered":"British drivers could face \u00a31,000 fine if they own a petrol or diesel car under new plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Motorists could face new \u00a31,000 fines as Labour consults on new emissions rules designed to crack down on harmful vehicles and protect human health.<\/p>\n

A new consultation from the Department for Transport is seeking views on proposals to strengthen the law around emissions from road vehicles used in Great Britain.<\/p>\n

It aims to promote vehicle maintenance and enable stronger enforcement to improve air quality, in addition to protecting human health.<\/p>\n

The consultation outlines that once vehicles are on the road, there are limited tools to ensure that vehicle emissions control systems (ECS) remain functioning as intended.<\/p>\n

Labour’s consultation aims to address these issues to ensure that vehicles on the road do not emit higher emissions of pollutants than they did when they were first launched on roads.<\/p>\n

Evidence suggests that stronger legal measures are required to ensure emissions remain properly controlled during the lifecycle of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

The consultation outlines suggestions to make it a legal requirement that all road vehicles in use in GB must have their ECS maintained.<\/p>\n

This would be aligned with the maximum level of emissions and other requirements of the control system, which continue to operate as set by law at the time of manufacture.<\/p>\n

\"Smoke<\/p>\n

The new rules could see drivers fined \u00a31,000 over emissions concerns <\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Potential changes would include changes to regulations impacting certain sections of the Road Traffic Act 1988.<\/p>\n

This would include use of a vehicle that does not comply with construction and use requirements (section 42), alterations to vehicles (section 75) and fitting or supply of unsuitable vehicle parts (section 76).<\/p>\n

Breaches of these changes could result in fines of between \u00a31,000 and an “unlimited amount” following successful prosecution in the magistrates’ court. <\/p>\n

This would make it illegal to use a vehicle on the road which has been modified in a way that means it no longer meets the emissions standards it was approved to.<\/p>\n

\"MOT<\/p>\n

The consultation on vehicle emissions rules will end in September <\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

Drivers would also be prohibited from allowing a vehicle to be used on the road which has been maintained or modified in a way that it no longer meets emissions standards.<\/p>\n

Motorists would also be restricted from modifying a vehicle themselves if it fails to meet standards.<\/p>\n

The Government said it had chosen not to distinguish between excess emissions caused by poor maintenance of a vehicle and those caused by modifications.<\/p>\n

It added: “Similarly, we do not propose to distinguish unintentional and deliberate modifications made to the ECS, nor whether these are through hardware or software alterations. <\/p>\n

“The environmental and health impacts of excess emissions are the same, regardless of the reason. <\/p>\n

“Such distinctions can also be difficult to evidence and would make enforcement unreasonably difficult.”<\/p>\n

Certain exemptions to regulation 61A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 would be included for certain situations, including when the vehicle is used off-road, or the reason for excess emissions is out of the control of the owner.<\/p>\n

The consultation will run until 11.59pm on September 6, 2026, although the Government has not given a timetable on when responses will be published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Motorists could face new \u00a31,000 fines as Labour consults on new emissions rules designed to crack down on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,7816,682,48916,59,655,681,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-676988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cars","tag-diesel","tag-driving-laws","tag-gb","tag-lifestyle","tag-petrol","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}