Glasgow's largest bus company has left "the public to bear the health costs of air pollution", according to environmental campaigners.

Information on the Energy Savings Trust's website shows First Glasgow did not put forward any successful bids for funding to improve pollution levels from their fleet of around 950 buses.

Last year the Scottish Government made almost £7.9million available to bus operators to clean up their vehicles as part of the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit (BEAR) programme.

Only around £1.1m of this was allocated, with 18 of the 84 vehicles receiving funding travelling in Glasgow.

Under the scheme, smaller providers are given full funding while larger operators, are expected to cover 60 per cent of the cost of retrofitting vehicles to meet low emission standards in Scottish cities.

Bus companies claim a funding gap means customers would be left to pick up the price of any improvement.

But Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) have hit out at First for 'refusing' to clean up their fleet, claiming "companies are putting profit before human health".

FoES' air pollution campaigner, Gavin Thomson, said: "Many of the grants given out in this fund clearly cover the cost of retrofitting, so it’s hard to understand what why some firms are demanding significantly greater sums.

“Lothian Buses in Edinburgh, who will be presumably be under similar financial constraints as Glasgow companies, were happy to apply at the current level of funding and will have 36 cleaner vehicles as a result.

"The air quality in Edinburgh will improve as a result of this funding; people in Glasgow will breathe the same toxic fumes.

“Some bus companies clearly fail to grasp the urgency of the pollution problem, seemingly happy to wait another year and use public health as a bargaining chip as they demand more money from the Scottish Government.

“First Bus made £50.2m profit in 2018. They have refused to clean up their bus fleet over a dispute for a few thousand pounds, leaving the public to bear the health costs of air pollution.”

Glasgow's low emission zone, introduced in January, is restricted to vehicles with only the cleanest engines.

The money available was designed to fund retrofitting to help vehicles meet current Euro VI emission standard, with 100 per cent of buses needing to meet this requirement by 2022.

First's managing director, Andrew Jarvis, said: "The uncertainty and gap in funding has undoubtedly impacted on our retrofit programme.

"If we have to pay the difference between the 40 per cent of BEAR 2 and 100 per cent of the actual cost, then our only choice is for customers to pay for them as part of the prices they pay for fares. This is a scenario we are reluctant to put into reality.

“We applied for funding through BEAR 2 to retrofit 10 major engine system reworks and were bitterly disappointed that we were unsuccessful in securing funding for these retrofits.

“We have just completed a £30m investment programme to introduce 150 brand new Euro VI ultra-low emission vehicles for Greater Glasgow, so we have shown our clear commitment to improving air quality within the towns and cities in which we operate."

Read more of today's top Glasgow stories.