United Kingdom: 1 scheme to know about before you drive in.
Newcastle upon Tyne has one driving restriction on our books: the Tyneside Clean Air Zone (Newcastle and Gateshead, Class C) (low emission zone). What is a low emission zone?
Sources last read on 2026-09-11, from Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council (Breathe Clean Air), Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Newcastle City Council (Breathe Clean Air). The next scheduled check is 2026-12-10.
Newcastle and Gateshead run one Clean Air Zone between them, and it has charged non-compliant taxis, buses, coaches and HGVs since 30 January 2023, with vans and light goods vehicles added on 17 July 2023 after a delay for vehicle supply shortages. Private cars are not charged.
A non-compliant taxi, private hire vehicle, van or light goods vehicle pays £12.50 a day — the highest van rate of any English zone — and a non-compliant bus, coach or HGV pays £50. A taxi or private hire vehicle licensed by Newcastle, Gateshead or North Tyneside can instead buy a £50 permit covering seven consecutive days, which is the only discount of its kind in the corpus.