Which vehicles are exempt from ULEZ? Full list of exclusions | UK News

The High Courts allowed the upcoming expansion to go ahead, and it’s got lots of Londoners asking the same thing – do I need to pay the ULEZ charge?

Plus it has some risk takers asking another question – what happens if I refuse?

While we do not condone such behaviour, before you make a whole song and dance about refusing to pay, why not check if you’re exempt in the first place?

Here are the vehicles that don’t have to pay the daily ULEZ charge…

Which vehicles are exempt from ULEZ?

The first part to answering this is understanding what is considered ULEZ-compliant.

You won’t have to pay the ULEZ charge if your vehicles meet the following Euro frameworks:

• Euro 3 for Motorbikes – engines must not produce more than 2.3g/km of carbon monoxide and 0.15g/km of nitrogen oxide
• Euro 4 for petrol cars, minibuses, vans – engines must not produce more than 1g/km of carbon monoxide or 0.08g/km of nitrogen oxide
• Euro 6 for diesel cars, minibuses, vans – engines must not produce more than 0.5g/km of carbon monoxide, 0.08g/km of nitrogen oxide or 0.005g/km of particulate matter.

But if your vehicle doesn’t meet these standards, there are still a few further exceptions to the 24/7 charge, including grace periods for disabled drivers and all electric cars (since they don’t produce any emissions).

The full list of exemptions include:

• Wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles (given a grace period until October 24, 2027)
• All vehicles constructed before January 1, 1973
• Specialist agricultural vehicles
• Military vehicles
• Non-road vehicles which are allowed to drive on the highway (for example, excavators)
• Certain types of mobile cranes
• London-licensed taxis.

Also included in the list are minibuses used for community transport.

Any minibuses that carry passengers on a not-for-profit basis – such as educational, religious, social welfare reasons, or other activities that benefit the community – are afforded a temporary 100% discount of the ULEZ charge until October 26, 2025.

The final exemption is quite a niche one, but if you are in possession of a showman’s vehicle, you might not have to pay.

Transport for London (TfL) explain that to be exempt a showman vehicle must be:

• Used during the performance, or
• Used for the purpose of providing the performance, or
• Used for carrying performance equipment, or
• Used for displaying animals to the public, or
• Below the chassis level, such that it isn’t possible to fit emission abatement equipment.

MORE : Is it worth selling my car ahead of the London ULEZ expansion? Find out ahead of August 2023 plans