Clean air zones

ULEZ and clean air zones: which cars pay

Name: UK clean air zone rules for private cars and the MOT-tested fleet by fuel
Creator: VetTheCar
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

London’s ULEZ and the clean air and low emission zones in England and Scotland charge or fine some older petrol and diesel cars. Here are all 14 zones in our data: whether private cars pay, the Euro standard they need, and what a car below it costs.

MOT data updated 28 September 2026 · Zone rules checked 22 September 2026

Zones that charge or fine cars

8 zones where a private car below the standard pays or is fined.
Zone	Petrol	Diesel	Below the standard
London ULEZ	Euro 4	Euro 6	£12.50 a day
Birmingham Clean Air Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	£8 a day
Bristol Clean Air Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	£9 a day
Oxford Zero Emission Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	Every car pays except zero emission: £4 a day if it meets the standard, £10 if not
Glasgow Low Emission Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	No charge to pay: a fine of £60 (£30 if paid within 14 days)
Edinburgh Low Emission Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	No charge to pay: a fine of £60 (£30 if paid within 14 days)
Dundee Low Emission Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	No charge to pay: a fine of £60 (£30 if paid within 14 days)
Aberdeen Low Emission Zone	Euro 4	Euro 6	No charge to pay: a fine of £60 (£30 if paid within 14 days)

Electric cars meet the standard in every zone. Oxford’s Zero Emission Zone is different: every car that is not zero emission pays something.

Zones where private cars do not pay

These zones charge some commercial vehicles, such as taxis, buses or lorries. A private car can drive in them without a charge.

Which cars generally meet the standard

Every zone that charges or fines cars below a standard uses Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel; Oxford charges every car that is not zero emission. A car’s Euro standard is set when it is built, so its first-use date is a good guide, but only a guide.

The Euro standard every new car had to meet, by first registration date. A car may have met it earlier.
Fuel	Zone standard	Generally met by cars first used
Petrol	Euro 4	from 1 January 2006
Diesel	Euro 6	from 1 September 2015
Hybrid	Follows its engine	petrol hybrid from 2006, diesel hybrid from September 2015. Our MOT counts use 2016 for every hybrid, because the data does not say which engine it has.
Electric	Meets it	any year: no tailpipe emissions

The MOT-tested fleet by fuel

Share of class 4 MOT tests from 2022 to 2025 by fuel, and the share on vehicles first used late enough to meet the car standard by date alone. Class 4 includes light vans, which these national figures cannot separate from cars; many light vans reached Euro 6 later than cars. The rest depend on the vehicle.

Class 4 MOT tests on vehicles aged 3 to 25 at test, with a recorded fuel, cars and light vans (n=130,095,802). Vehicles older than 25 are not in the data.
Fuel	Tests (n)	Share	Meet it by date
Petrol	68,986,636	53.0%	at least 85.4%
Diesel	54,882,144	42.2%	at least 22.4%
Hybrid	4,870,927	3.7%	at least 66.8%
Electric	1,356,095	1.0%	all

We count a test as meeting the standard by date only when every car of that age at test was first used after the cut-off, so these shares are lower bounds. Hybrids are counted from 2016, because the data does not say whether the engine is petrol or diesel.

Is your model ULEZ compliant?

660 car models with enough MOT tests, by make. Each page shows which fuels and first-use years of that model generally meet the zone standards. Vans and pickups are not listed.

Abarth

Alfa Romeo

Aston Martin

Audi

Bentley

BMW

Caterham

Seven

Chevrolet

Chrysler

Citroen

Cupra

Dacia

Daewoo

Daihatsu

Dodge

DS

Ferrari

Fiat

Ford

Great Wall

Steed

Honda

Hyundai

Infiniti

Isuzu

Trooper

Jaguar

Jeep

Kia

Lamborghini

Land Rover

LEVC

Lexus

London Taxis International

Lotus

Maserati

Mazda

Mclaren

Mercedes-Benz

MG

MINI

Mitsubishi

Morgan

Nissan

Perodua

Peugeot

Piaggio

Porter

Polestar

Porsche

Proton

Renault

Rolls-Royce

Rover

Saab

SEAT

Skoda

Smart

SsangYong

Subaru

Suzuki

Tesla

Toyota

TVR

Vauxhall

Volkswagen

Volvo

Compliance is decided for each car, not for a model. A zone checks the Euro emissions standard the car was built to, which is on the V5C log book or the maker’s certificate of conformity. The years here are a guide: many cars first used before a cut-off still meet it. Check one car with our ULEZ checker or TfL’s vehicle checker. Exemptions such as the disabled tax class or historic vehicles depend on the car and its keeper.

Check one car

Enter the fuel and the month the car was first registered, or the Euro standard from its V5C, and see each zone’s answer for that car.

Use the ULEZ checker See an example VetTheCar Buying Report

Found one you might buy? Vet the specific car.

Sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data, class 4 normal MOT tests, 2022 to 2025, on vehicles aged 3 to 25 at test. MOT data updated 28 September 2026.

Zone rules from Transport for London, GOV.UK, lowemissionzones.scot, mygov.scot and council websites, checked 22 September 2026. London rules powered by TfL Open Data. Council figures come from each council’s website, linked on each zone page.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by DVSA, TfL or any council. How we calculate these figures · Data sources