United Kingdom: 1 scheme to know about before you drive in.
Portsmouth has one driving restriction on our books: the Portsmouth Clean Air Zone (Class B) (low emission zone). What is a low emission zone?
Sources last read on 2026-09-11, from Cleaner Air Portsmouth (Portsmouth City Council) and Portsmouth City Council. The next scheduled check is 2026-12-10.
Portsmouth is the only Class B Clean Air Zone in England, and that one letter is the whole story: a Class B zone reaches buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles and heavy goods vehicles, and stops there. Private cars, motorcycles and vans are not charged — vans are charged in every other English zone and are not charged here.
The zone has run since 29 November 2021 and charges £10 a day for a non-compliant taxi or private hire vehicle and £50 a day for a non-compliant HGV, bus or coach. Some larger motorhomes are classed as HGVs by the DVLA, which is the one way a private journey can end up paying.