Clean air zones · England
Portsmouth Clean Air Zone: does your car pay?
No. Portsmouth's zone is Class B, so private cars, motorcycles and vans don't pay. It only charges taxis, private hire vehicles, buses, coaches and lorries that miss the standard.
The Portsmouth zone at a glance
| Private cars | Don't pay |
|---|---|
| Class | Class B |
| Who it affects | Taxis and private hire vehicles, buses, coaches and lorries, including some larger motorhomes classed as lorries. Private cars, motorcycles and vans aren't charged. |
| Standard | Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel, the same as London's ULEZ. Motorcycles and mopeds aren't charged. It only matters here if you drive a taxi, private hire vehicle or heavier vehicle. |
| In force | Charging started on 29 November 2021. |
| Where | About 3 square kilometres in the south-west of Portsmouth. The council publishes maps and a postcode list. |
| Run by | Cleaner Air Portsmouth (Portsmouth City Council) |
How it’s enforced
It's a daily charge, midnight to midnight. You can pay on GOV.UK up to 6 days before, on the day, or by 23:59 on the 6th day after; there's no automatic bill, so an unpaid charge becomes a penalty charge notice. Portsmouth doesn't send reminders.
Portsmouth City Council listed £10 a day for taxis and private hire vehicles and £50 for buses, coaches and lorries on 25 September 2026, with a penalty of up to £120 plus the charge. Amounts change, so check Cleaner Air Portsmouth (Portsmouth City Council) before you rely on them.
What our check tells you
Enter a registration above and the report gives a ULEZ and clean air zone verdict. The Portsmouth zone uses the same bar as London’s ULEZ, so one verdict covers both. The check works from the vehicle’s first registration date, using the rule of thumb that petrol cars from January 2006 and diesel cars from September 2015 generally meet the standard. Some older petrol cars comply too, and the V5C is the final word. Before you drive in, confirm on the GOV.UK clean air zone vehicle checker.
Private cars don’t pay in Portsmouth, so for a car the verdict only matters elsewhere; here it applies to vans, taxis and larger vehicles. Motorcycles aren’t charged in any zone outside London, so ignore the Euro 3 line on a motorbike’s result.
How many local vehicles fall before the cut-off dates
Of the 422,279 cars and light vans that took an MOT in the PO (Portsmouth) postcode area in 2025, 31.6% were petrol vehicles first registered before 2006 or diesels first registered before September 2015. Across Great Britain the figure was 26.7%.
Measured from DVSA’s anonymised MOT test results for 2025, one count per vehicle, by the postcode area of the test station. A postcode area is bigger than the zone itself, and a vehicle before the cut-off date is likely, though not certain, to miss the standard. Cars under 3 years old don’t take an MOT, so they aren’t in the count, and all of them meet the standard.
Exemptions and discounts
- Emergency service vehicles and some specialist heavy vehicles
- Non-commercial vintage buses aged 20 to 39 years
- Horse transporters of lorry size, up to 10 days a year
Summarised from the operator’s pages. Most exemptions need an application before you travel.
What’s changing
The council says there are no plans to extend the zone. Central government decides when it can end, based on air quality.
Questions
Do cars pay the Portsmouth Clean Air Zone?
No. Portsmouth's zone is Class B, so private cars, motorcycles and vans don't pay. It only charges taxis, private hire vehicles, buses, coaches and lorries that miss the standard.
Which vehicles does the Portsmouth zone affect?
Taxis and private hire vehicles, buses, coaches and lorries, including some larger motorhomes classed as lorries. Private cars, motorcycles and vans aren't charged.
What standard does my vehicle need to meet in Portsmouth?
Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel, the same as London's ULEZ. Motorcycles and mopeds aren't charged. It only matters here if you drive a taxi, private hire vehicle or heavier vehicle.
When did the Portsmouth zone start?
Charging started on 29 November 2021.
How is the Portsmouth zone enforced?
It's a daily charge, midnight to midnight. You can pay on GOV.UK up to 6 days before, on the day, or by 23:59 on the 6th day after; there's no automatic bill, so an unpaid charge becomes a penalty charge notice. Portsmouth doesn't send reminders. Portsmouth City Council listed £10 a day for taxis and private hire vehicles and £50 for buses, coaches and lorries on 25 September 2026, with a penalty of up to £120 plus the charge.
Sources
- Cleaner Air Portsmouth: charges
- Cleaner Air Portsmouth: the clean air zone
- Cleaner Air Portsmouth: exemptions
- GOV.UK: driving in a clean air zone
Rules checked against these pages on 25 Sep 2026. This site isn’t connected to Cleaner Air Portsmouth (Portsmouth City Council); their site is the final word on who pays.