A SCOTTISH transport giant has been rapped by the advertising watchdog for making "misleading" claims about its bus emissions.
The Advertising Standards Authority stepped in after a TV promotion for FirstGroup, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, sparked a complaint over its environmental message.
While it stated "we love low emissions" and "our buses produce 4.97% less carbon than conventional diesel buses", the watchdog found its fleet did not meet Government criteria for "low-emission" vehicles. The advert, broadcast on TV and online, has now been banned.
It was brought to the watchdog's attention by a complainant who referred to the UK Government's position that "green" buses should produce 30% less carbon than conventional diesel vehicles.
The ASA said: "We considered most viewers would expect the definition of "low emissions" in a transport ad to be in line with the DfT's definition.
"The Government had recently announced that 542 new low-carbon buses would be put on roads across England.
"We considered that in stating, 'We love low emissions' in the ads, some viewers might have been misled into believing that FirstGroup's buses were comparable to those low-emissions buses, when they only produced 4.97% less CO2 not 30%."
The authority said FirstGroup believed the complainant had misinterpreted its promotion and it did not believe the definition of low-emission buses was widely known.
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