Bath, United Kingdom · Low emission zone
In force in Bath right nowTuesday, 13 October 2026 at 10:03 · Europe/London
The zone runs continuously, but whether you pay depends entirely on what you drive, which this does not check. A private car and a motorbike are outside the charge at every hour of every day.
A charge is only incurred by movement: a chargeable vehicle parked inside the zone and left there is not charged.
Operating times only, read from the source below. It does not check your vehicle.
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.
There is no charge for a private car or a motorbike in Bath, and that is the council's own statement rather than a gap in ours. Bath & North East Somerset Council writes that cars and motorbikes are not charged in Bath's Clean Air Zone "regardless of the emissions they produce", and its charge table puts "No charge" against M1 cars, SUVs, four-by-fours, campervans with a car tax class, and most motorcycles.
The zone does charge other vehicles: £9 a day for a non-compliant taxi, private hire vehicle, minibus, van, pick-up or light goods vehicle, and £100 a day for a non-compliant bus, coach or lorry — with a private heavy goods vehicle such as a horse transporter or motorhome charged £100, reduced to £9 if it is registered with the council. So an empty figure here means "not your vehicle", not "we could not find it".
Charges apply 24 hours a day, midnight to midnight, 7 days a week, all year round. One calendar day is one charge, so you can enter and leave as often as you like on a day you have paid for; driving in the zone either side of midnight counts as two days and costs two charges. A vehicle parked inside the zone that does not move is not charged.
The zone covers Bath city centre. The council does not describe the boundary in words — it publishes it as an interactive map and as a printable PDF — so check the map if your destination or your route is near the edge.
The authority's own map: Bath & North East Somerset Council
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.
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.
Next scheduled re-check: 2026-12-10.