ULEZ charge in London: who pays and how to pay

You pay the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) charge when you drive a vehicle inside the zone that does not meet the ULEZ emissions standards and is not exempt. The charge is £12.50 a day. The zone takes in every London borough and the City of London. It operates 24 hours a day on every day of the year apart from Christmas Day.

Who has to pay the ULEZ charge

The charge applies to most smaller vehicles. TfL lists these groups:

• cars
• motorcycles
• vans and specialist vehicles weighing no more than 3.5 tonnes
• minibuses weighing no more than 5 tonnes

Heavier vehicles do not pay the ULEZ charge. For lorries, vans and specialist vehicles the cut-off is 3.5 tonnes. For buses and coaches it is 5 tonnes, and heavier minibuses fall in the same group. These vehicles may still owe the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) charge if they fall short of the LEZ emissions standard.

Living inside the zone does not get you out of paying. Residents pay the same £12.50 when they drive a vehicle that does not meet the standards, and even a short trip counts. If the vehicle stays parked in the zone all day and nobody drives it, there is no charge for that day.

Some groups and vehicles can get temporary discounts or exemptions. TfL says these are not applied to a vehicle unless you sign in to your account.

How to check your car for ULEZ

TfL’s vehicle checker tells you whether you need to pay. TfL also publishes the emissions standard that each vehicle type has to reach. Separately, it says a vehicle’s number plate is what tells it which London road charges apply.

To find out whether an address is inside the zone, use TfL’s postcode checker. A small number of postcodes cross the boundary. For those, use the map search or look for the ULEZ boundary signs on the street. The M25 is not part of the zone.

ULEZ hours and how the daily charge works

The ULEZ only stops on 25 December. A charging day starts and ends at midnight. So a journey in the zone that begins late in the evening and carries on into the early hours costs two daily charges, not one.

The Congestion Charge works differently. It applies from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, and from 12pm to 6pm at weekends and on bank holidays. There is no Congestion Charge from Christmas Day to the New Year’s Day bank holiday, inclusive. TfL says a driver may owe more than one London road charge, and the number plate decides which.

How to pay the ULEZ charge

You can pay on the day of the journey or a day in advance. Late payment is allowed too, up to 3 days after you drove. A custom range of dates is another option. The Congestion Charge uses the same payment window.

Once you set up Auto Pay, your ULEZ charges are paid automatically. TfL also lets you amend a charge or ask for a refund, and it warns drivers about payment fraud.

If you get a penalty charge notice (PCN), you can pay it or challenge it.

Driving a non-UK registered vehicle

Vehicles registered abroad follow the same rule: meet the ULEZ standards or pay £12.50 a day. They must also be registered with TfL, even if they already meet the standards. TfL’s vehicle checker has details of many foreign vehicles. If yours is missing, you can send a copy of its registration document showing the Euro standard it was built to.

Other London schemes in the same area

The LEZ and the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) cover the same area as the ULEZ, but each one is a separate scheme. The LEZ runs around the clock on every day of the year. DVS applies at all times to lorries over 12 tonnes gross vehicle weight, and those lorries need an HGV safety permit.

The Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charge applies from 6am to 10pm every day except Christmas Day. Tunnel charges go up from 21 September 2026, but the charging hours stay the same.

TfL suggests walking, cycling or public transport as ways to avoid the ULEZ charge. Its TfL Go app plans journeys and gives live travel updates. It can also show quieter times to travel.

Sources

Facts in this guide were checked against these official pages on 18 September 2026. Fares, times and rules can change, so check them before you travel.

• Ultra Low Emission Zone (tfl.gov.uk)
• Pay to drive in London (tfl.gov.uk)
• ULEZ: where and when (tfl.gov.uk)