Update: Bradford’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) will go live on Monday 26 Sept 2022. Click here for more details.
Clean Air zones are a thing! Three city centres now have them: Bath, Birmingham, Portsmouth. They are planned for Bradford and Bristol before the end of 2022. Greater Manchester is currently under review. Other cities may also decide to add Clean Air Zones in the near future.
- Portsmouth is charging for: Buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, heavy goods vehicles
- Bath is charging for: the above plus vans & minibuses
- Birmingham is charging for: all the above plus cars and the local authority has the option to include motorcycles
What can companies do about this?
For each type of vehicle, there is an exemption for vehicles that meet a minimum emission standard. Follow this link for more information and click-through to see whether your fleet will be exempt: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/driving-in-a-clean-air-zone#check-and-pay-a-charge
Fore-warned is fore-armed. My hybrid Toyota is exempt in all zones, but not very good if you need to deliver a pallet load of goods.