A FOOD kitchen serving free meals for hundreds of people each week is at risk due to it falling foul of the Low Emission Zone, according to the charity that runs it.

Homeless Project Scotland said it has discovered the van for transporting food is not compliant and it asked for a time-limited exemption to allow it to raise funds to buy a new vehicle.

The charity base is under the Hielanman’s Umbrella bridge at Argyle Street in the city centre inside the LEZ.

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It said its volunteers need to travel in and out of the zone every day to collect food for its service.

The council’s reply to its exemption request stated: “Exemptions will only be applied in exceptional circumstances and where the organisation can clearly demonstrate that timely efforts are being made to comply with the LEZ requirements.

“Your application did not meet the above conditions and therefore a time-limited exemption cannot be granted in this instance.”

Colin McInnes, chair of HPS, said: “The council has basically told us that feeding people who are homeless or vulnerable people is not exceptional circumstances.”

Glasgow Times:

The charity said it is particularly affected by its refrigerated van not complying, which it needs to transport food from suppliers and donors to the base.

Mr McInnes said: “We have been faced with a crisis as Glasgow City Council will not allow our current fridge van to drive in the low emission zone.

“This means that we are unable to collect and deliver crucial food supplies to the homeless and vulnerable across Glasgow meaning our service will have to stop.”

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The organisation has set up a Just Giving page to raise funds towards a new van with a target of £15,000.

It stated: “The situation has become so urgent that we are now in need of a new fridge van that meets the low emission requirements.

“We know that times are tough for everyone right now but we are asking for your assistance in raising funds for this much-needed purchase.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "Glasgow's plan to phase in a city centre LEZ was announced in 2018 to address decades of harmful air pollution, and since then there has been extensive communications and engagement to raise awareness of the scheme, its timescale for introduction and the availability of funding to ease compliance.

"To maximise the effectiveness of Glasgow's LEZ, it is essential that compliance rates are as high as possible. This menas that exemptions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and where it can be shown that timeley efforts are being made to comly with LEZ requirements.

"While the vast majority - up to 90% -  of vehicles currently  entering the city centre will be unaffected, the LEZ standards will adress the most polluting vehicles which are disproportionately creating the harmful concentrations of air pollution in the city centre."

The HPS fundraising page is available at justgiving.com/campaign/homeless-fridge-van