Government launches delayed Clean Air Zone vehicle checking tool

The government has launched its delayed Clean Air Zone (CAZ) online vehicle checking tool today (February 5), which was blamed for the postponement of the Leeds and Birmingham CAZs.

The vehicle checker tool will allow drivers to find out if they will be affected by the change which will charge the most polluting vehicles to drive in the cities. Motorists can input their vehicle’s registration number to find out if it is compliant or not.

Leeds and Birmingham were due to get England’s first Clean Air Zones in January 2020 which was postponed due to the government not delivering the digital vehicle checking tool in time, which is needed to make the zones operational.

This week, Leeds City Council said it will update its ‘go live’ date for the CAZ next month, and hasn’t ruled out delaying it past the current launch date of July 2020.

Leeds’ Class B CAZ will cover over half of Leeds city centre, with HGVs, buses and coaches set to be charged £50 per day for travelling in the zone if they fail to meet the minimum emissions standards.

Taxis and private hire vehicles will be charged £12.50 per day, or a reduced rate of £50 per week if the vehicles are licensed in Leeds.

Birmingham will implement a Class D CAZ, which will charge high polluting private vehicles and taxis to enter the city centre, as well as HGVs, buses and coaches.

The CAZ, which will cover all roads within the A4540 Middleway ring road. Private cars, taxis and vans are set to pay £8 per day and HGVs, coaches and buses charged £50 per day to enter.

The next city set to bring in a CAZ is Bath, which will come in November subject to final approval from the government.

Polluting buses, coaches and HGVs will be charged £100 per day to enter the zone and polluting taxis, private hire vehicles, minibuses, LGVs and vans will be charged £9.

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