Theresa May accused of abandoning diesel drivers by ditching scrappage scheme

Theresa May has come under fire from environmental groups for ditching a scheme to help diesel drivers get rid of their highly polluting vehicles.



The Prime Minister was accused of a "tyre-burning U-turn" after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said it would not be launching a nationwide scrappage scheme.

Diesel has again become a toxic fuel after it emerged car companies were fiddling the results of environmental tests in order to sell their vehicles.

The car industry had been lobbying the Government to introduce a scrappage scheme in order to get highly polluting cars off the road.

However, DEFRA said a scheme would be "difficult to deliver, potentially open to abuse and could disrupt the existing car market."

Local authorities have been invited to set up their own schemes using funding from the Clean Air Fund.

"Not having a scrappage scheme is a betrayal of those people who bought diesel cars in good faith, thinking they were cutting CO2 emissions and saving the planet," an AA spokesman said.