Birmingham City Council has issued fines totalling more than £470,000 to itself. The penalties are for breaching the rules of the city’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ), introduced in 2021.
Reporting by BBC News Midlands Investigates, and made available through its Shared Data Unit, uncovered the scale of non-compliance by the council with its own CAZ.
Since the Birmingham CAZ entered operation, council-owned vehicles have triggered 3,262 daily charges for entering the emissions-controlled zone.
This has resulted in total fines issued by Birmingham City Council to itself for a staggering £472,253.
As the BBC notes, this figure is ‘around 20 times the number paid by any other UK council running a CAZ, Low Emission Zone (LEZ) or Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)‘ where data is available.
Money paid in fines does not go back into the council’s general funds, but must go towards operational costs and government charges.
Birmingham racks up CAZ fines
The Birmingham CAZ covers the main area of the city centre inside the A4540 Middleway, but does not incorporate the Middleway itself.
It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, and is classified as a ‘Category D’ CAZ.
This means the Birmingham CAZ applies to cars, buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles, HGVs, vans and minibuses. Vehicles which do not meet Euro 4 exhaust emissions regulations for petrol engines, or the Euro 6 rules for diesels, have to pay a daily charge.
The cost for cars, taxis and light goods vehicles (small vans) is £8 per day. For heavy goods vehicles and coaches, the charge is £50 per day – unless a valid exemption is in place.
Failure to pay results in a fixed penalty notice of £120, which is reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.
The BBC made use of the Environmental Information Regulations to establish the total cost of fines Birmingham City Council had paid since the CAZ went into operation.
However, this figure could not be broken down to demonstrate if it also included fines for late payment.
Non-compliant vehicles still on-fleet
Although Birmingham City Council has the ability to exempt certain vehicles from having to pay the CAZ, it noted that there were no exemptions ‘specifically for council vehicles or those used by its contractors’.
Figures supplied stated that one-in-eight vehicles used by the council still do not comply with the CAZ rules, despite the scheme being launched five years ago.
A council spokesperson told the BBC “only 142 (12 percent) of the 1,170 council-owned vehicles in its fleet, as of 31 March 2026, remained non-compliant with the CAZ requirements.”
The spokesperson added that a “large number of these vehicles were minibuses related to social services and education provision”, and that the council was now looking “to fast-track transition to a modernised, low emission fleet… driving efficiency, economy, safety and sustainability.”
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