Clean air zones come in classes, and the class decides which vehicles are charged. That is why two cities can both have a zone and only one of them charges you.
| Zone | Class | Cars charged? | Typical daily charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | D | Yes | £8 cars, taxis, private hire and vans. £50 HGVs, coaches and buses. |
| Bristol | D | Yes | All non-compliant vehicle types charged. |
| Bath | C | No | Cars and motorcycles exempt. Vans, taxis, minibuses, coaches, buses and HGVs charged. |
| Bradford | C | No | Private cars exempt. Most other vehicles charged. |
| Sheffield | C | No | Cars exempt. Taxis, vans and buses charged. |
| Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead) | C | No | Cars exempt. Most commercial vehicles charged. |
| Portsmouth | B | No | Only non-compliant taxis, buses, coaches and HGVs. Cars and light goods vehicles not charged. |
Positions as at August 2026. Zones are set by individual councils and can change, so confirm with the council before travelling if the charge would be significant.
London is separate and stricter. ULEZ covers all London boroughs and charges non-compliant cars, vans and motorcycles daily. The Congestion Charge is a different scheme again, in a smaller central area, and you can be liable for both on the same day.
The threshold is the emissions standard, not the age on the logbook, though age is a good proxy.
| Fuel | Standard needed | Roughly means |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol car or van | Euro 4 | Registered from about January 2006 |
| Diesel car or van | Euro 6 | Registered from about September 2015 |
| Motorcycle | Euro 3 | Registered from about July 2007 |
| Electric or hydrogen | Exempt | Any age |
Two things people get wrong. First, a diesel is judged far more harshly than a petrol, so a 2014 diesel is non-compliant while a 2007 petrol is fine. Second, these are guides, not guarantees. A vehicle registered close to the cut-off may or may not meet the standard depending on the exact engine. Check the registration rather than assuming.
Vehicles over 40 years old are generally exempt as historic vehicles, and there are local exemptions and discounts in most zones for residents, blue badge holders and some commercial operators. Those are set locally and you have to apply.
This catches people out badly, because the money involved is much larger.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee run low emission zones. A non-compliant vehicle is not charged a daily fee. It is prohibited from entering, and if it does, a penalty charge applies. The penalty starts at a set amount and doubles for each repeat offence within a period, up to a capped maximum.
So an English driver who is used to paying £8 and thinking nothing of it can take a diesel into Glasgow and get a penalty instead. There is no "pay to enter" option. Check before you drive north.
Look back at the table. In four of the seven English zones a private car pays nothing while a van pays. That is deliberate: commercial vehicles do more miles in city centres and older diesel vans are among the dirtiest things on the road.
For a working van this stops being a curiosity and becomes a real operating cost. A tradesperson driving into Birmingham five days a week in a pre-2015 diesel van is looking at roughly £40 a week, about £2,000 a year, purely to keep working the same patch.
That number should change what you buy. Our guide on buying a used van covers the rest of the checks, but on emissions the rule is simple: for a diesel van used in cities, Euro 6 is not a nice-to-have.
If you drive a petrol car from 2006 or later, or any diesel from late 2015, you are almost certainly fine everywhere in England. If you drive a diesel van, you are the vehicle these schemes were designed around and you should check every city you work in. And if you are heading to Scotland, remember that there is no daily charge to pay, only a penalty to avoid.
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