In January there were 14,228 violations against the LEZ rules that apply in Antwerp.

This was evident from the oral response of Antwerp's ships of Environment Tom Meeuws (sp.a) to councillor Sam Van Rooy (Flemish Interest) on Monday. Mind you, this is only about violations with Belgian cars. In view of a fine of at least EUR 150 – that amount increases in repeated infringements – the Antwerp city council was therefore able to collect at least €2,134,200 fine income in January. "An undisguised bullying tax to fill budget wells", says Flemish MP Bart Claes (Flemish Interest). His party advocates the abolition of LEZ rules, even outside Antwerp.>In January of this year there were 14,228 violations against the Antwerp LEZ rules. That's a whopping seven times more than in January last year. And this concerns only the Belgian drivers, so the full number of violations is even higher anyway. "A simple math practice shows that at least 2.1 million euros were cashed last month, but most likely it is a lot more," says Bart Claes, who specializes in mobility for his party. "And we haven't even talked about the income from day and year passes. Cash register, so. Lez rules are mainly a pest tax to fill budget wells. They're not working on the environment. Time to finish with this LEZ mania." Earlier in September 2019 it was revealed that the City of Antwerp has received some 25.5 million LEZ fines since the start of emissions rules on 1 February 2017. This amounted to an average of around EUR 820,000 per month, far less than the 2.1 million collected last January. Remarkable, because Meeuws announced via Radio 1 on Tuesday morning that the latest infringement figures prove that "Antwerpers really adapt, that Antwerpers are aware that there is an LEZ, that there was also a stranding [and] the Antwerps also accept that this is good for air quality and are therefore prepared to make efforts."