No old cars in the centre of Sofia: How many broke the ban?

A new ban came into force in Sofia yesterday, December 1, affecting drivers of old cars. A Low Emission Zone is now in place in the central part of the capital to reduce air pollution during the winter months.

How will this ban affect the daily lives of the capitals' residents and how will offenders be monitored?

3,800 violations were detected within 24 hours in the city centre, said Dimitar Petrov, director of the Traffic Management and Analysis Directorate.

"Offenders will be sanctioned only once a day. If the next day they enter with the same car - they will be sanctioned again," Dimitar Petrov, who is director of the Traffic Management and Analysis Directorate, told BNT's breakfast show "The Day Begins" on December 2

The process is fully automated and run by software, he added. The cars are detected by cameras and accordingly a check is made (in the relevant databases to identify the environmental group and ownership of each car) so that the penalty can be imposed.

"It is important to say that if you have been issued a parking sticker in the zone as a resident you need do absolutely nothing. We will automatically take that data. But, if you are not issued with such a sticker, you need to make an application."

Penalties will be imposed under the Administrative Offences Act. For people coming from the countryside, the same rules apply, Dimitar Petrov said.

"Regardless of whether people who have a preferential sticker lives in Sofia or Plovdiv, they have to submit an application to enter this zone. Whether they come to visit or to use the administrative services in the centre at all - they must submit an application in advance. This is the order and the way not to be sanctioned".

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The Low Emission Zone for cars in Sofia came into force on December 1 in the so-called "small ring", which covers the area between "Vasil Levski" Blvd, "Patriarch Evtimiy" Blvd, "Gen. Skobelev” Blvd., "Opalchenska" street and "Slivnitsa" Blvd.

The ban on entry into the centre of the capital aims to improve air quality and will apply during the winter months - December 1 until February 28, 2025 - and was adopted by a decision of the Sofia City Council at the end of 2022.

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