Driving in Bristol: Bristol Clean Air Zone (Small CAZ D)

Bristol, United Kingdom · Low emission zone

In force in Bristol 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.

Motorbikes are outside the charge entirely, at every hour.

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

What applies

Bristol's Clean Air Zone started on Monday 28 November 2022 and charges £9 a day for a private petrol or diesel car that does not meet the standards — the same £9 for taxis and vans under 3.5 tonnes, and £100 for HGVs, buses and coaches. Motorbikes are not charged at all.

The council says more than 88% of vehicles going into Bristol already meet the rules, so the charge is aimed at older vehicles rather than at everyone.

Source: Bristol City Council, read 2026-09-10
Daily charge
£9.00Source: Bristol City Council, read 2026-09-10
When it operates

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. The charge period runs from midnight to midnight, so one calendar day is one charge.

Source: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, read 2026-09-10
Area covered

Neither publisher we read on 2026-09-10 describes the boundary in words. DEFRA's national register gives its size — 1.18 square miles, the second smallest of England's seven Clean Air Zones — and Bristol City Council calls it a "Small CAZ D" and then shows it only as a map.

A size is not an area a driver can act on, and we do not restate street names from general knowledge, so this stays empty and the council's own map is linked instead.

Why there is no map here
Bristol City Council publishes the extent of the zone as a map to look at — an embedded viewer and a PDF on its Clean Air For Bristol site — and not as geometry. It is not in data.gov.uk either: a search of the national catalogue on 2026-09-10 returned Clean Air Zone boundaries for Sheffield, Birmingham and Bradford and none for Bristol. Nothing here is a licence problem; there is simply no vector layer to take. The warning for this zone is city-level until one is published.

The authority's own map: Bristol City Council

Petrol standard

Euro 4, 5 and 6 petrol vehicles — about 2006 or newer — are not charged. Nor are fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Source: Bristol City Council, read 2026-09-10
Diesel standard

Euro 6 diesel vehicles — about the end of 2015 or newer — are not charged. An older diesel car pays £9 a day.

Source: Bristol City Council, read 2026-09-10
Penalty if you do not comply

Bristol City Council publishes the penalty process in full on its Clean Air Zone PCN page read on 2026-09-10 — 28 days to pay, a 50% discount inside the first 14 days, a Charge Certificate adding 50% after that, and a £9 court registration fee at the Traffic Enforcement Centre — but nowhere on that page does it state the amount of the Penalty Charge Notice itself.

Birmingham's £120 is Birmingham's figure and is not carried across. Not estimated.

How to comply
  • Pay on the government's central service, not to Bristol City Council: up to 6 days before the journey, on the day, or in the following 6 days.
  • A foreign plate is not a way out. The council states it will issue fines to non-UK vehicles for non-payment of the charge.
  • If you do get a Penalty Charge Notice you have 28 days, and half of it is discounted if you pay within the first 14 days from the date of service — the discount applies to the penalty only, and the original daily charge is still owed on top.
  • Motorbikes, fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and vehicles retrofitted under the Energy Saving Trust's CVRAS scheme are not charged.
Source: Bristol City Council, read 2026-09-10

Sources

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

Before you set off

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