Clean Air Zone Checker: ULEZ, CAZ and LEZ

Clean air zone charges, zone by zone

What each zone means for the vehicle you picked, what it costs, when it runs and when to pay. A zone covers set streets, not the whole city.

Zone	Rule	Cost	Paying	Checked
London
ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone)All London boroughsDaily charge below the standard	Charged below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	£12.50 a day Fine if unpaid: £180, £90 if paid within 14 days of PCN service.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days except Christmas Day	PayingBy midnight on the third day after, or up to 90 days ahead	Checked8 October 2026TfL page TfL checker Where it applies
Congestion ChargeCentral LondonDaily charge, no emissions test	Charged in its hours	£18 a day (£21 if paid late) Fine if unpaid: £180, £90 if paid within 14 days of PCN service.	When it runs07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday; 12:00 to 18:00 weekends and bank holidays; none from Christmas Day to the New Year's Day bank holiday	Paying£18 in advance or on the day; £21 by midnight on the third day after	Checked8 October 2026TfL page TfL checker Where it applies
Low Emission Zone (LEZ)Most of Greater LondonDaily charge for larger vans and heavier vehicles	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingBy midnight on the third day after, or up to 90 days ahead	Checked8 October 2026TfL page TfL checker Where it applies
England outside London
BathClean Air Zone, class CDaily charge below the standard	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
BirminghamClean Air Zone, class DDaily charge below the standard	Charged below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	£8 a day Fine if unpaid: £120, £60 if paid within 14 days of PCN service.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
BradfordClean Air Zone, class CDaily charge below the standard	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
BristolClean Air Zone, class DDaily charge below the standard	Charged below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	£9 a day Fine if unpaid: £120, £60 if paid within 14 days of PCN service, plus the charge.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
PortsmouthClean Air Zone, class BDaily charge below the standard	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
SheffieldClean Air Zone, class CDaily charge below the standard	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead)Clean Air Zone, class CDaily charge below the standard	Doesn't charge cars	No charge	When it runs24 hours, 365 days	PayingFrom 6 days before until 11:59pm on the sixth day after	Checked8 October 2026Council page GOV.UK checker
Oxford Zero Emission ZoneOxfordshire County CouncilRules not worked out	Not worked out Oxford isn't worked out here: its charge also depends on CO2 emissions. Use the council's checker before you drive in.		When it runs	Paying	Checked8 October 2026Council page Council checker
Scotland
AberdeenLow Emission Zone, city centreNot allowed in below the standard	Not allowed in below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	First fine £60, £30 if paid within 14 days of PCN service Repeats for the same person in the same vehicle and zone within 90 days double the fine, up to £480 for cars and vans. It resets after 90 days without another liable contravention. One fine per zone per day.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days, Christmas Day included	PayingNothing to pay. You can't prepay to avoid a fine.	Checked8 October 2026Council page Scottish checker
DundeeLow Emission Zone, city centreNot allowed in below the standard	Not allowed in below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	First fine £60, £30 if paid within 14 days of PCN service Repeats for the same person in the same vehicle and zone within 90 days double the fine, up to £480 for cars and vans. It resets after 90 days without another liable contravention. One fine per zone per day.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days, Christmas Day included	PayingNothing to pay. You can't prepay to avoid a fine.	Checked8 October 2026Council page Scottish checker
EdinburghLow Emission Zone, city centreNot allowed in below the standard	Not allowed in below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	First fine £60, £30 if paid within 14 days of PCN service Repeats for the same person in the same vehicle and zone within 90 days double the fine, up to £480 for cars and vans. It resets after 90 days without another liable contravention. One fine per zone per day.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days, Christmas Day included	PayingNothing to pay. You can't prepay to avoid a fine.	Checked8 October 2026Council page Scottish checker
GlasgowLow Emission Zone, city centreNot allowed in below the standard	Not allowed in below Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel	First fine £60, £30 if paid within 14 days of PCN service Repeats for the same person in the same vehicle and zone within 90 days double the fine, up to £480 for cars and vans. It resets after 90 days without another liable contravention. One fine per zone per day.	When it runs24 hours, 365 days, Christmas Day included	PayingNothing to pay. You can't prepay to avoid a fine.	Checked8 October 2026Council page Scottish checker

Not in this table: the Dartford Crossing, the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels and other tolls, which charge for a crossing rather than a zone. Greater Manchester agreed a plan without a charging zone, and Leeds decided not to have one. Wales and Northern Ireland: no zone listed.

Before you drive in

Put the number plate into the official checker for each place you'll drive in: TfL for London, GOV.UK for the English Clean Air Zones, the Scottish Government's checker for the Scottish LEZs.
Check the boundary. A zone covers set streets, not the whole city, so being in Birmingham doesn't mean being in its zone.
Exemptions exist: Blue Badge holders, disabled tax class vehicles, historic vehicles and local schemes. Each scheme decides who qualifies. None is applied here.

How the clean air zone checker works

Most of these zones judge one thing: the Euro emissions standard the vehicle was built to. For cars and vans the line sits at Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel, in London, in the English Clean Air Zones and in Scotland alike. Motorcycles need Euro 3 for London's ULEZ. Oxford has separate charges: use its checker. Pick the fuel and the number, and each row checks it against that zone's minimum.

Then comes who a zone covers, and that's where the cities part company. Birmingham and Bristol charge cars. Bath, Bradford, Sheffield and Tyneside charge vans but not private cars. Portsmouth charges neither. Scotland's four zones don't charge anyone: a car or van below the standard isn't allowed in, and the council sends the keeper a penalty notice.

The Congestion Charge is the odd one out. It has no emissions test, so a brand-new petrol car pays the same £18 as a tired old diesel. That's why it gets a panel of its own, hours and all.

Don't know the Euro standard? Give the year it was first registered. The checker compares it with the dates the law made each standard compulsory for every new car or van, and says "likely meets" or "can't tell". It never says yes. Some cars met a standard years early, and the odd one was registered after the cut-off.

Every amount carries the date it was checked against the official page. Let a row go more than three months without a fresh check and its amount disappears, while the rule and the link stay. Charges change, and we'd rather show you no figure than a stale one.

Charged below the standardULEZ, Clean Air Zones
Charged whatever the engineCongestion Charge
Larger vans and heavier vehiclesLondon LEZ
Not allowed in, finedScottish LEZs

Four kinds of zone, four different rules.

Who this is for

You're driving into a city you don't know well and want to know if the car will cost you, and how much.
You're looking at a used car or van in an advert, with no number plate to hand.
You've got a hire car or a borrowed van and only know what's on the paperwork.
You drive a van for work and cross more than one city's zone in a week.

It covers UK-registered cars, vans up to 3.5 tonnes and motorcycles in London, seven English cities and four Scottish ones. Lorries, buses, coaches, minibuses, taxis and motorhomes have their own rules, and the official checkers handle those.

Driver questions about ULEZ and clean air zones

Is my car ULEZ compliant?

It is if it meets Euro 4 as a petrol car or Euro 6 as a diesel. TfL goes by the declared emissions, not the age. TfL's rule of thumb: petrol cars that meet it are generally those first registered after 2005, and diesels after September 2015. Pick your fuel and standard above to see London and every other zone at once. For your own plate, TfL's checker has the final word.

Do I have to pay the ULEZ and the Congestion Charge?

Yes, if both apply. They're separate charges and they add up. Drive a car below the ULEZ standard into central London in charging hours and you owe £18 for the Congestion Charge plus £12.50 for the ULEZ: £30.50 for the day. A car that meets the ULEZ standard still pays the £18. The ULEZ runs all day, the Congestion Charge only in its hours.

Is there a Congestion Charge on Sundays and bank holidays?

Yes, from midday. The charge runs 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. There's no charge at all from Christmas Day to the New Year's Day bank holiday, both days included. The ULEZ works differently: it runs 24 hours a day, every day except Christmas Day.

Do electric cars pay the Congestion Charge?

Yes. The old 100% discount has ended. Since 2 January 2026 an electric car on TfL's Auto Pay pays £13.50 a day instead of £18, and an electric van £9. Without Auto Pay it's the full £18. TfL says the discount shrinks again from 4 March 2030. Electric cars don't pay the ULEZ, and Scotland's zones don't restrict them.

Do hybrid cars pay the ULEZ?

A hybrid is judged on its petrol or diesel engine, so pick the engine's fuel above. The Scottish Government says hybrids face the same restrictions as petrol or diesel vehicles, and Birmingham says the engine has to meet the standard. TfL's scheme order also includes vehicles partly powered by those engines. For a particular car, TfL's checker settles it.

What year cars meet the ULEZ standard?

There's no cut-off year, because TfL charges by the standard, not the age. Dates still help. Euro 4 became compulsory for new cars registered from 1 January 2006 (big ones over 2,500 kg a year later), and Euro 6 from 1 September 2015. Larger vans got a year longer each time. Give the year above and the checker tells you what it suggests: "likely meets" or "can't tell", never a yes.

Where do I find my car's Euro standard?

Start with the V5C log book. TfL says newer ones may show it in section D.2, and the date of first registration is in section B. Adverts and handbooks often state it too. Euro 6b, 6c and 6d all count as Euro 6. If you can't find it anywhere, the manufacturer can tell you, and the official checkers look it up from the plate.

Do motorbikes pay the ULEZ?

Only if they're below Euro 3. The ULEZ covers motorcycles and mopeds, and one below the standard pays the same £12.50 a day as a car. TfL says Euro 3 bikes are generally those registered after July 2007. Mopeds are less clear-cut. When we checked on 8 October 2026, Regulation 168/2013 allowed a Euro 4 moped up to 170 mg/km of NOx, above the 150 in TfL's scheme order, so put a moped's plate into TfL's checker. Motorcycles and mopeds don't pay the Congestion Charge, the English Clean Air Zones don't charge them and Scotland's zones don't restrict them. Oxford's ZEZ can charge motorcycles, and has its own checker.

How much is the fine in a Scottish low emission zone?

The first fine is £60, cut to £30 if you pay within 14 days of the penalty notice being served. If you're liable again in the same vehicle and zone within 90 days, it doubles each time, up to £480 for a car or van. A gap of 90 days since the last contravention you were liable for resets it to £60. There's no daily charge to pay instead, and you can't pay in advance to avoid it.

Which cities have clean air zones?

England has seven: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead), each with its own rules on who pays. London has the ULEZ instead, which GOV.UK says isn't a Clean Air Zone, plus the Congestion Charge and the LEZ. Scotland has low emission zones in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Greater Manchester agreed a plan without charges.

ULEZ, Congestion Charge, CAZ and LEZ: what's the difference?

Four names and four different sets of rules, so it's no wonder drivers mix them up.

The ULEZ covers the whole of London. A vehicle below its standard pays £12.50 for each day it's driven there, around the clock. The Congestion Charge covers central London only, in daytime hours, and charges most cars and vans £18 whatever the engine. London's LEZ is a third scheme over almost the same ground, aimed at lorries, buses, coaches and larger vans.

Outside London, a Clean Air Zone is England's local version, run by the council, with a class letter that decides who pays. Class D zones charge cars. Class C zones charge vans but not private cars, and class B zones charge neither.

Scotland's zones share the LEZ name but work differently. There's no charge to pay. A car or van below the standard isn't allowed in, and the council fines the keeper.

So "is my car ULEZ compliant?" is really four questions, depending on where you're going. The checker answers all four at once.

Sources and last checked

Rules and amounts last checked 8 October 2026 (version uk-driving-zones 2026-10-07). If a row isn't checked again within three months, its amounts are held back.

TfL: Ultra Low Emission Zone, ULEZ standards, Congestion Charge payments, Changes to the Congestion Charge and Low Emission Zone for vans.
GOV.UK: Clean Air Zones (updated 12 February 2026) and the Clean Air Zone framework, Annex A.
The councils' charge pages: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Newcastle and Gateshead.
mygov.scot: Low Emission Zones in Scotland and Fines for Low Emission Zones (updated 26 June 2026).
The dates each standard became compulsory: Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, article 10, and Directive 98/69/EC, article 2.

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