A city council spent £2million on hiring vehicles that didn’t fit the standard of its own low emission zone.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Birmingham City Council spent £2.1million in the financial year 2022-23 on hiring vehicles that did not comply with the standards of its own ULEZ.

Birmingham was the first city outside of London to adopt the scheme, which aims to reduce air pollution.

Since the city introduced its own version of it in June 2021, over 110,000 drivers have been fined.

The council declared bankruptcy back in September, although the clean air zone has brought in £79million since coming into force.

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A TaxPayers’ Alliance spokesman said: “As Birmingham residents prepare for huge cuts to services and council tax rises, news of this waste will only compound their misery.”

The authority has also written off close to 70,000 clean air fines. Birmingham is one of seven cities other than London to have introduced the scheme.

Non-compliant cars in Birmingham are charged £8 per day, rising to £50 for heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches.

But the council is in the throes of a financial crisis.

Last month a report revealed the huge scale of the problems it faced, with an expected budget shortfall of £164.8 million in 2024-25 and £177.1 million in 2025-26. It must make £165 million of savings in the next financial year.

Local councils have seen a huge reduction in their government grants in recent years.

Central government grants to local authorities fell from £46.5bn in 2009/10 to £28bn by 2019/20 adjusted for inflation, according to the Institute for Government.

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Birmingham Council has also lost a reported £100million on a botched IT upgrade scheme. Back in September it filed a section 112 notice of bankruptcy.

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “Vehicles owned or leased by the council often need to be replaced or upgraded due to operational needs.

“When the time arises to add to our fleet, we always seek where possible to ensure that new additions are compliant with the city’s clean air zone.”

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