Tough new emission tests this year have doubled the failure rate for older cars, and vans have gone up over four times as much.
The DVSA reports that since May when the lower limits were set there have been 744,592 failed cars which have been fixed or scrapped compared to 350,472 in the same time last year.
This year, 238,971 diesel and 505,721 petrol models were recorded with this major fault and deeper analysis reveals the failure rate has actually jumped four times as much with diesels and almost doubled with petrol cars.
The rate of van bans has escalated almost 450% from 3,585 last year to 19,648 in 2018.
Gareth Llewellyn, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Chief Executive, said, “DVSA’s priority is to protect everyone from unsafe vehicles and drivers.
“We are committed to making a real difference to those in society whose lives and health are blighted by poor air quality.”
Overall test figures for 16 million vehicles tested since the tougher test came in last May shows the failure rate for petrol cars was 34.7%, diesels 33.2% and this is a very slight fall on last year.