Key Points

• £8 charge per day for non-compliant low emission cars
• £50 per day for heavier vehicles including bus, coaches and vehicles over 3.5 tonne
• Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year- including bank holidays
• Postponed from January 2020 to June 2021 due to COVID-19

Birmingham clean air zone (CAZ) will come into force on 1^st June 2021 meaning that drivers of high-polluting cars will be charged £8 a day to travel into Birmingham city centre.

In 2017 The European Commission warned Birmingham of a £60m fine if it didn’t clean the city’s air by 2020. The plans for the zone were approved in 2019 but due to technology issues and COVID-19 pandemic, the zone was delayed from January 2020 to June 2021.

Motorists driving into Birmingham clean air zone in the first 2 weeks of the zone going live won’t be charged, this is to give time to those going into the clean air zone time to adjust to registering their vehicles. Charges apply 14th June 2021.

How much will this cost?

The charges for the Birmingham clean air zone will be:

• £8 per day for non-compliant cars, taxis (hackney carriages and private hire), LGVs and minibuses (all vehicles up to and including 3.5 tonne)
• £50 per day for heavier vehicles such as HGV (vehicles over 3.5 tonnes), buses and coaches

If you are unsure if you need to pay the Birmingham clean air zone charges or unsure how much you should pay, click here to input your vehicles registration details to find out.

The scheme will be running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year including bank holidays. It means that if a driver enters the zone at 11pm and leaves after midnight, they will have to pay the charge twice.

Which vehicles will be affected by the Birmingham Clean Air Zone?

Any driver of a pre-Euro 4 petrol vehicle will have to pay the CAZ charges. Generally, those petrol vehicles registered with the DVLA after 1^st January 2006 will meet the CAZ.

Any driver of a diesel vehicle not compliant to pre-Euro 6 emission standards will have to pay the CAZ charges. Those diesel vehicles which meet the emission standards typically will be registered with the DVLA after 1^st September 2015.

Check the table below as a guide to showing which vehicles obey with the emission standards. Or click here for a quick check to see if your petrol or diesel vehicle complies with the emission standards.

Which vehicles are exempt of the zone’s charges?

There will be some vehicles exempt from paying the Birmingham clean air zone charges. Charges will not be applied to vans or minibuses registered to providing school and community transport, recovery vehicles, emergency service vehicles, historic and military vehicles and for vehicles with disabled tax class.

There are additional exemptions set out where charges will not be applied:

• for one year for commercial vehicles registered within the zone, up to a maximum of two vehicles per company
• for one year for commercial vehicles registered in Birmingham travelling into the zone with “existing finance agreement beyond 2020”
• For two years for private cars registered within the Birmingham clean air zone
• For one year for people travelling into the zone for work if they are earning less than £30,000 a year
• For one year for visitors travelling to Birmingham children’s hospital