Clean air zones in English cities

[Stan Christie]

Our van is a 2016 T6 California Ocean; we changed from an older van in 2019 to meet the London ULEZ requirements as we live within the ULEZ zone. So I know the van is definitely Euro 6 compliant.

However, when I looked on the gov.uk clean air zone vehicle check recently, it said we would need to pay for Bristol (where we were heading), also Manchester etc, though not Bath & some other places. I queried this with Bristol CAZ support, who very quickly replied that they relied on the DVLA database for this, so I should query it with them. On Friday I filled in the online Clean Air Zone support form via the gov.uk website, explaining the situation and attaching a photo of the relevant page of the V% document.

This morning (Monday) I got an email saying:


Checking the website again for our registration number, no charge is payable for any of the English cities. (I say English cities because apparently there are different arrangements for Scotland, which I haven't investigated; it also says London has separate arrangements.)

So, DVLA has clearly got something mixed up for some vehicles, but I would suggest that if you have a spare five minutes, it would be worth checking this and going through the process so you don't have to worry about it in future. They were very quick to respond and correct it. Presumably it would also enable you to get a refund on any charges you've already paid.

I recently received a penalty notice for driving my 2016 Cali in Dundee. Luckily I saw your post which prompted me to challenge the DVLA who have now correctly classified my vehicle enabling me to get the fixed penalty revoked.
I’d urge all Cali owners to double check the DVLA website to ensure your motors aren’t wrongly classified either.

 

[hirsty]

My thanks also for flagging this - I clicked on the links & saw the first two cities would've wanted to charge me (early T6 Beach on a '65 plate) so followed-up with the online enquiry form.

Based on the information available on your vehicle's DVLA record, I can confirm that your vehicle is compliant with the minimum emissions standards for Clean Air Zones, and your vehicle is not subject to Clean Air Zone charges.

I have requested for your record to be updated to reflect this.

This will be updated within 2 working days. Please check back on the Vehicle Checker before your next journey into or within the Clean Air Zone.