UK Clean Air Zones and ULEZ in 2026: Charges, Boundaries, and How to Check Your Vehicle

Key Takeaways

• Seven Clean Air Zones run in England in 2026: Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Bradford, Portsmouth, Sheffield, and Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead). London's ULEZ is a separate scheme under Transport for London, not a Clean Air Zone, and now covers all 32 London boroughs after the August 2023 expansion.
• The emission standards that decide if you pay are Euro 4 for petrol vehicles (most registered from 2006 onwards) and Euro 6 for diesel vehicles (most registered from September 2015 for cars and September 2016 for vans).
• Charges vary by class. Birmingham and Bristol are Class D (cars included); Bath is Class C (cars exempt, commercial vehicles charged). Daily charges range from £8 to £9 for non-compliant cars and vans up to £50 to £100 for non-compliant HGVs.
• London ULEZ is £12.50 per day for non-compliant cars and vans, 24 hours a day every day except Christmas Day. A missed payment attracts a £180 penalty charge notice (£90 if paid within 14 days).
• Missed Clean Air Zone payments attract penalties from £120 to £180. You have 6 days before, on the day, or 6 days after to pay; miss that window and the PCN lands.
• Check your vehicle in 30 seconds on the free GOV.UK service at drive-clean-air-zone.service.gov.uk. You need the number plate. The checker returns a clear "pay" or "no charge" for every zone in one search.

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If you run a van, a trades vehicle, or a fleet in the UK, Clean Air Zones have quietly become one of the biggest unplanned line items on a journey to a city centre. A trip to Birmingham in a 2014 diesel Transit is now £8 a day just to enter the ring road. A trip to Bath in a 2015 tipper is £100. A trip into London in the same van is £12.50 every day. Multiply across a small fleet and across a year, and a non-compliant vehicle becomes a £3,000 to £20,000 charge the operator did not see coming.

This is the 2026 UK guide to Clean Air Zones and ULEZ: where they are, what they charge, which vehicles pay, how the Euro standards work in plain terms, how to check any vehicle in under a minute, and what to do if the van you rely on is non-compliant.

It is written for UK tradespeople, delivery drivers, couriers, and fleet managers making the working decision of whether to drive into a city, pay the charge, reroute, or change the vehicle.

What a Clean Air Zone is (and what it is not)

A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is a defined area of a UK city where older, more polluting vehicles are charged a daily fee to enter. The charge only applies to non-compliant vehicles: if your vehicle meets the required emission standards, you can drive in every day without paying. The scheme is legally backed by the Environment Act 1995 and the Clean Air Zone Framework, and is run city by city by each local authority, with a shared national payment and checking service on GOV.UK.

Two things a CAZ is not:

It is not a low-emission or zero-emission zone. Compliant vehicles are not charged regardless of how much they emit. The CAZ target is older vehicles; a 2022 diesel Sprinter and a 2024 Tesla face the same (zero) charge.

It is not the same as ULEZ. London's Ultra Low Emission Zone is a separate scheme run by Transport for London, not a CAZ. The emission rules are similar, but the geography, the daily rate, the operating hours, and the penalty system are different. Do not assume a CAZ-compliant vehicle is ULEZ-compliant until you have checked.

The seven Clean Air Zones in England in 2026

Seven Clean Air Zones currently operate in England: Birmingham (launched 2021), Bath (2021), Bristol (2022), Portsmouth (2021), Sheffield (2023), Bradford (2022), and Tyneside covering Newcastle and Gateshead (2023). Each zone is classified A, B, C, or D based on which vehicle types are charged; Class D is the broadest (including cars), and Class C excludes cars.

The zones in full, as of April 2026:

• Birmingham CAZ (Class D). Cars, taxis, vans, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs all charged if non-compliant. Inside the A4540 Middleway ring road.
• Bath CAZ (Class C). Cars and motorcycles exempt. Vans, taxis, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs charged if non-compliant. Central Bath.
• Bristol CAZ (Class D). All vehicle types charged if non-compliant. Central Bristol.
• Portsmouth CAZ (Class B). Taxis, private hire vehicles, buses, coaches, HGVs. Cars and vans are exempt from this particular scheme.
• Sheffield CAZ (Class C). Vans, taxis, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs. Cars exempt.
• Bradford CAZ (Class C). Vans, taxis, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs. Cars exempt.
• Tyneside CAZ (Class C). Covers central Newcastle and Gateshead. Vans, taxis, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs. Cars exempt.

Greater Manchester was scheduled to have a CAZ; the scheme was replaced with a non-charging clean air plan backed by central government, so there is no daily charge there. Other local authorities have announced plans that have not reached "go live" in 2026.

The 2026 charges at a glance (per vehicle class, per zone)

Charges are per day, per zone. If you enter multiple zones in the same day, you pay each zone separately. The numbers below are correct as of April 2026; check the GOV.UK payment service at the time of travel, because local authorities can and do revise them.

By vehicle class, for non-compliant vehicles only:

• Car or light van (up to 3.5 tonnes), Birmingham: £8 per day.
• Car or light van, Bristol: £9 per day.
• Van (Class C zones, Bath, Bradford, Sheffield, Tyneside): £9 per day (Bath), £10 to £12.50 per day in the others (check the zone on the day).
• HGV (over 3.5 tonnes), Bath and Bristol: £100 per day.
• HGV, Birmingham: £50 per day.
• HGV, Sheffield, Bradford, Portsmouth, Tyneside: £50 per day.
• Coach or bus, most zones: £50 per day.
• Taxi (non-compliant), most zones: typically the van or car rate depending on the zone.
• London ULEZ: £12.50 per day for non-compliant cars, motorcycles, and vans (up to 3.5 tonnes).

Worked example. A builder drives a 2013 diesel Transit from Birmingham to Bristol and back in the same day on a compliant 2024 HGV route stop. The Transit is non-compliant on Euro 6 diesel; both the Birmingham and Bristol trip legs are chargeable. Bill for the day: £8 (Birmingham) + £9 (Bristol) = £17, just for driving through, plus any parking.

The Euro standards that decide if you pay

The single factor that decides whether your vehicle is charged is its Euro emission standard, recorded against its DVLA registration. In short, a CAZ charge applies to petrol vehicles below Euro 4 and diesel vehicles below Euro 6. You do not need to know the exact figures off by heart; the GOV.UK checker tells you in one lookup.

A plain-English summary of where the lines fall:

Petrol: Euro 4 or better. Most petrol cars and vans registered from January 2006 onwards meet Euro 4. Older petrol vehicles usually do not.

Diesel: Euro 6 or better. Most diesel cars registered from September 2015 meet Euro 6. Most diesel vans registered from September 2016 meet Euro 6. Diesel vehicles first registered before those dates will often (not always) fail the standard.

Euro 3 motorcycles or better. Motorcycle Euro standards are less commonly relevant because only a few zones charge motorcycles.

Electric, hydrogen, hybrid: typically compliant by design, but still check; a plug-in hybrid's engine Euro rating is what counts, and some early hybrids do not meet Euro 6.

If the Euro rating is not on the V5C logbook, the GOV.UK vehicle checker cross-references the registration against DVLA's record. For most fleets the simplest audit is to run every vehicle through the checker once and record the result on the asset list.

How to check your vehicle in 30 seconds

The fastest way to check whether your vehicle is charged in any UK Clean Air Zone or in London's ULEZ is the free GOV.UK service at drive-clean-air-zone.service.gov.uk (Clean Air Zones) and tfl.gov.uk (ULEZ). Enter the number plate, pick the zone, and the service returns a clear "no charge" or "pay to drive" for every city, for every day. No account is needed, and you can check multiple registrations in the same session.

Three practical tips:

Check before each new route. Especially for vans that have changed hands; the previous operator may have already paid a charge that resets daily, so the compliance status is the only reliable signal.

Record the status on the asset list. For a fleet of 5 to 20 vehicles, maintain a one-line-per-vehicle record: registration, Euro standard, CAZ compliance status, ULEZ compliance status. Reviewing this every 6 months catches any vehicle that has been reclassified or any driver who has been unaware.

Do not assume "new enough" is compliant. A 2015 diesel van is right on the Euro 6 cusp. Some variants are compliant; others are not. The checker is the decisive source; the "year" is a guide.

What to do if your vehicle is non-compliant

If you discover your van or HGV is non-compliant, you have four reasonable options, each with a different cost profile:

1. Pay the daily charge. For occasional trips (a handful of days a year), paying is cheaper than changing vehicle.

2. Route around the zone. Many CAZs cover a small central area. A detour of a few miles can avoid the charge entirely. The TomTom, Google, and fleet routing tools now include the zones by default.

3. Replace the vehicle. For fleets running vans daily into Birmingham, London or Bristol, a £3,000 to £4,000 annual charge per van changes the economics of buying a Euro 6 replacement. Grant schemes for replacing non-compliant vehicles existed in some zones in earlier years; most have closed by 2026, so replacement is now generally on the operator's own balance sheet.

4. Retrofit. Some HGVs can be retrofitted to meet Euro VI standards via CVRAS-approved kits. The cost is typically in the £10,000 to £20,000 range. Worth considering for heavy vehicles with several years of service left; rarely worth it for light vans.

For any of the four choices, the decision is grounded in running cost. A proper cost-per-mile view across the fleet, with and without the CAZ charge, is the right starting point; see How to Calculate Cost Per Mile for Your Fleet (UK, 2026) for the calculation. And CAZ charges are one of the expense categories that otherwise disappear into "fuel and miscellaneous"; see The 14 Vehicle Expense Categories Every UK Fleet Should Track for how to keep this line visible.

Penalty charge notices: what happens if you do not pay

If you enter a Clean Air Zone or ULEZ in a non-compliant vehicle and do not pay the daily charge, the local authority or Transport for London issues a penalty charge notice. The PCN is set by the scheme, not the driver's circumstances, and the amounts as of April 2026 are:

• CAZ (Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, and the others): typically £120 PCN, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.
• London ULEZ: £180 PCN, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.
• Payment window for the daily charge itself: 6 days before the day of travel, on the day, or up to 6 days after (13-day window in total). Miss that window and the PCN follows automatically via ANPR.

Three patterns that drivers report:

• Hire cars. A hire car driven into a CAZ without payment triggers a PCN that is passed to the hirer, often with an admin fee of £30 to £60 on top.
• Fleets with shared vehicles. A van used by three drivers across two weeks can rack up multiple PCNs before the office notices. Centralised payment (and a compliance dashboard) is the only defence.
• Breakdowns or detours. A vehicle entering a CAZ while being towed is exempt; a vehicle entering while following a diverted route is not. Check the zone's specific exemption rules (breakdown recovery, military, emergency) on the local authority site.

Exemptions and discounts: the short list

Each zone publishes its own list of exemptions and discounts. The commonly available categories are:

• Disabled passenger vehicles (classed DPT on the V5C). Exempt in most zones.
• Vehicles of historical interest. Exempt in most zones under the same rule that applies for MOT exemption.
• Military and emergency service vehicles. Exempt in all zones.
• Agricultural and forestry vehicles. Exempt in most zones.
• Local resident or business discounts (time-limited). Some zones (notably Bath and Bristol) offered temporary discounts for local residents and traders; these were time-limited and many have now ended. Check each zone before assuming.

For a current list, use the local authority's own page; the exemptions list on the GOV.UK service is the national default, but individual zones publish variants.

The bottom line

Clean Air Zones now cover seven English cities plus all of London, and the effective tax on a non-compliant van is £8 to £12.50 per day, per zone. The daily charge is trivial for occasional trips and significant for a daily commute; the penalty for missing the payment is three to twenty times the charge itself. The decisive inputs are the vehicle's Euro standard and the route's zones, and both are checkable in under a minute on the government service.

For a small UK fleet, the rule of thumb is straightforward: run every vehicle through the checker, mark each one compliant or not, and route non-compliant vehicles around the zones they would touch. That one-hour exercise is usually worth a four-figure saving over 12 months.

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Keep every van's compliance status and charges visible on one dashboard. Autodue records each vehicle's MOT, road tax, service dates, and expense categories (including Clean Air Zone charges) so a non-compliant van does not quietly drain a month of margin before you notice. First van free.

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Sources: GOV.UK: Drive in a clean air zone · GOV.UK: Driving in a clean air zone · GOV.UK: Clean air zone vehicle checker and payment · Bristol City Council: Bristol Clean Air Zone charges and vehicle checker · Bath and North East Somerset Council: Bath's Clean Air Zone · Environment Act 1995