Driving in Birmingham: Birmingham Clean Air Zone (Class D)

Birmingham, United Kingdom · Low emission zone

In force in Birmingham right nowTuesday, 13 October 2026 at 10:04 · Europe/London

The zone runs continuously; whether you actually pay depends on your vehicle's emission standard, which this does not check.

Motorcycles and mopeds are outside the charge entirely, at every hour.

Operating times only, read from the source below. It does not check your vehicle.

What applies

Birmingham's Clean Air Zone went live on 1 June 2021 and has charged since 14 June 2021: £8 a day for cars, taxis and vans that do not meet the standards, £50 for coaches, buses and HGVs, anywhere inside the A4540 Middleway ring road — but not on the Middleway itself. You pay the government's central service, not the council.

Nothing will tell you that you owe it: the council states there is no text or email, the onus is on the driver, and if the payment window closes the penalty is £120, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Daily charge
£8.00Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

When it operates

24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Area covered

An area of the city centre inside the A4540 Middleway. The Middleway itself is not in the zone, so the ring road can be driven without a charge.

Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Why there is no map here
Birmingham City Council publishes the zone polygon on data.gov.uk under a Creative Commons Attribution licence — the licence is not the problem. The only two links it offers are INSPIRE WFS and WMS endpoints on inspire.misoportal.com, and that host answers on plain HTTP only: an HTTPS connection times out. We do not cite or ingest a source over plain HTTP, so the geometry stays out of the corpus. The warning for this zone is city-level until the endpoint gets TLS or the council republishes the layer elsewhere.

The authority's own map: Birmingham City Council

Petrol standard

Euro 4 standard or better. A hybrid is judged on its petrol engine; fully electric and zero-emission vehicles are not charged.

Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Diesel standard

Euro 6 (VI) standard or better. Gas vehicles are held to the same Euro 6 (VI) standard as diesel, not to the petrol one.

Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Penalty if you do not comply
£120.00Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

How to comply
  • There is no exemption you can claim as a visitor, a resident or a worker. The worker exemption ended on 31 May 2022 and the resident exemption ended on 31 May 2023.
  • The only temporary exemption permits still open are for recovery vehicles, community transport vehicles and school transport vehicles.
  • The council lists a separate arrangement for specified hospitals inside the zone.
Source: Birmingham City Council, read 2026-09-10
Full citation

Birmingham City Council (Brum Breathes)

Sources

Next scheduled re-check: 2026-12-09.

Before you set off

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