Driving in Bath

United Kingdom: 1 scheme to know about before you drive in.

The short answer for Bath

Bath has one driving restriction on our books: the Bath Clean Air Zone (Class C) (low emission zone). What is a low emission zone?

What it means for your car

Petrol or LPG. Euro 4/IV petrol or newer is compliant and pays nothing. Pre-Euro 4/IV petrol — Euro 1 to 3 or earlier — is charged, but only if it is one of the chargeable vehicle types: a private petrol car is never charged in Bath whatever its standard. Fully electric, hydrogen fuel cell and all hybrid vehicles are compliant, as are vehicles retrofitted under the Energy Saving Trust's CVRAS scheme.
Diesel. Euro 6/VI diesel or newer is compliant and pays nothing. Pre-Euro 6/VI diesel — Euro 1 to 5/V or earlier — is charged, but again only if it is a chargeable vehicle type: a private diesel car is never charged in Bath.

Sources last read on 2026-09-11, from Bath & North East Somerset Council. The next scheduled check is 2026-12-10.

The schemes, one by one

Bath Clean Air Zone (Class C) Low emission zone
Bath has charged higher-emission vehicles to drive in the city centre since 15 March 2021, and it is a Class C zone, which means private cars and motorcycles are not charged at all — whatever they emit. What is charged is £9 a day for a non-compliant taxi, private hire vehicle, minibus, van or light goods vehicle, and £100 a day for a non-compliant bus, coach or lorry.

The council is explicit that this was a deliberate choice: it introduced traffic management at Queen Square as the compromise that let it avoid charging private cars.

Driving to Bath?

Before you set off

Other cities in United Kingdom

Bristolabout 17 km away, 1 verified scheme
Portsmouthabout 110 km away, 1 verified scheme
Birminghamabout 126 km away, 1 verified scheme
Londonabout 155 km away, 2 verified schemes
Sheffieldabout 230 km away, 1 verified scheme
Bradfordabout 273 km away, 1 verified scheme

And 4 more in United Kingdom