ULEZ and the Congestion Charge: £12.50, £18 a day and £180 for forgetting

Two London charges can hit the same journey, and they are counted differently. ULEZ charges you for what the vehicle emits. The Congestion Charge charges you for being in the centre. A car that fails the emissions standard and drives into the centre on a weekday pays both. Here is what each costs in 2026, where they apply, and what lands in the post if you forget.

What does the Congestion Charge cost in 2026?

Eighteen pounds a day if you pay on the day of travel or in advance. Leave it, and the charge rises to £21 — that is what Transport for London takes if you pay by midnight of the third day after travel. This is the change drivers noticed this year: the daily charge used to be lower.

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You pay if you drive within the zone 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. There is no charge at all between Christmas Day and the New Year's Day bank holiday, inclusive.

The simplest route is Auto Pay: it bills you for the days cameras recorded your vehicle in the zone, so there is no midnight deadline to remember.

What is ULEZ and what does it cost?

The Ultra Low Emission Zone charges £12.50 for each day a non-compliant, non-exempt vehicle is driven inside it.

ULEZ has no weekends and no overnight break. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year, with one exception: Christmas Day, 25 December. The zone covers all London boroughs and does not include the M25 itself.

It applies to cars, motorcycles, vans and specialist vehicles up to and including 3.5 tonnes, and minibuses up to and including 5 tonnes. Lorries and buses above those weights do not pay ULEZ — they fall under the separate Low Emission Zone charge instead.

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One detail that saves money: the charge is for driving, not for owning. A non-compliant vehicle parked inside the zone and not driven does not trigger the daily charge.

Which vehicles meet the ULEZ standard?

The standards are set by European emissions classes. For cars, vans, specialist vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes and minibuses up to 5 tonnes, it is Euro 4 for petrol (nitrogen oxides) and Euro 6 for diesel (nitrogen oxides and particulate matter). For motorcycles, motor tricycles and quadricycles it is Euro 3.

You cannot tell by looking, and guessing from the registration year is a poor guide. TfL runs a check by number plate, and that is the only answer worth acting on. Most vehicles do pass: TfL's own figures put compliance inside the zone at around 97%.

Non-UK registered vehicles are a separate case. Even one that fully meets the standards has to be registered with TfL's partner, or the cameras will not recognise it as compliant.

What happens if you do not pay?

A Penalty Charge Notice goes to the registered keeper: £180. Pay within 14 days and it halves to £90. You have 28 days in total.

Ignore that and a Charge Certificate follows, taking the debt to £270. After that come an Order for Recovery and enforcement agents, so the cost of forgetting grows at every stage.

A PCN can be challenged. You first make representations to TfL itself, and if they are rejected you can appeal to London Tribunals, an independent body. The notice itself explains how.

Who gets a discount?

Several discounts apply to the Congestion Charge. Residents of the residents' discount zone pay 10% of the charge — a 90% discount, but only for those living inside that specially drawn area. Blue Badge holders pay nothing at all. Vehicles with nine or more seats, and motor tricycles up to one metre wide and two metres long, are also on 100%.

The 100% Cleaner Vehicle Discount has ended. In its place is a 25–50% discount, and for electric vehicles registered for Auto Pay it is applied automatically, with no application needed.

The trap to avoid: Congestion Charge discounts do not carry over to ULEZ. They are two separate lists, and each entitlement is applied for on its own.

What should you check before driving into London?

Three things. Whether the vehicle meets the ULEZ standard — by number plate on the TfL site. Whether the address you are heading to sits inside the Congestion Charge zone — there is a postcode check for that. And whether your journey falls inside the charging hours in the centre: after 18:00 and overnight the Congestion Charge does not apply, while ULEZ never sleeps.