Motorists to be hit with large fines if they break June’s new driving laws. Find out what they are

Lots of new driving laws came into effect this week, with motorists who get caught breaking them set to be fined up to £980.

These are the key changes motorists need to be aware of:

£980.

Council fines

In May all councils were able to apply for the power to issue penalty charge notices. Those who have done could start issuing fines for minor traffic offences, such as entering a yellow box when the exit isn’t clear, making an illegal turn, or driving the wrong way down a one-way street, from 1 June.

Moving responsibility for policing minor traffic offences to local authorities is designed to make roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians. However, motoring groups, including the RAC have claimed drivers will be unfairly penalised for making genuine mistakes.

Clean air zones

Designed to improve air quality, Clear Air Zones (CAZ) and Low Emission Zones (LEZ) are areas where vehicles have to meet minimum emission standards.

Following the lead of cities such as London, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Sheffield, and Bradford, drivers in four major Scottish cities- Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee - will face fines if their vehicle is non-compliant from 1 June.

People driving non-compliant cars into these cities will be fined £60, with the rate doubling for each subsequent breach, capped at £480 for cars and LGVs. Minibuses, buses, coaches and HGVs could see maximum fines of £980.

E-scooter trials

The Department for Transport (DfT) changed its rules for e-scooter trials to give local authorities more power from 1 June.

Councils that are running e-scooter trails are now able to expand where they can offer e-scooters and increase the number they have.

More than 30 councils have signed up for the e-scooter scheme including Newcastle, Bristol and Bournemouth. They are also available to rent in 10 London boroughs.

Hire charges vary, but it typically costs £1 to unlock an e-scooter (using a smartphone app) plus a fee of 14p-20p per minute. Council-backed hire scooters are the only scooters that can be used on public roads.

A price drop in filling up?

Finally, in better news, filling up could become cheaper this month after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was given new powers to investigate and report trumped-up fuel prices.

The new powers come after it was revealed that drivers in the UK pay the most for diesel in Europe. The average price of a litre of diesel at British petrol stations is 155p – 5p more than in Ireland and Belgium, which have the next most expensive diesel in Europe. The research also found the average profit margin for UK fuel retail on diesel is 18p per litre – 10p more than normal. And the margin for petrol is also high at 13p a litre.

With the new powers now in place, experts are predicting that prices should start to drop from June onwards.