How Much Is a ULEZ Fine? £180 in 2026, £90 Within 14 Days
A ULEZ fine is £180, halved to £90 if paid within 14 days; the daily charge it replaces is £12.50. The central Congestion Charge adds £18, with the same penalty.
A non-compliant car pays £12.50 a day for the ULEZ and £18 for the central Congestion Charge; forget either and the penalty is £180, halved to £90 if you pay within 14 days.
London can charge you twice for one drive. The Ultra Low Emission Zone costs £12.50 a day across every borough, almost around the clock, for petrol cars below Euro 4 and diesels below Euro 6. The Congestion Charge adds £18 a day in the centre on top of that. Miss either one and you get a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) of £180, halved to £90 if you pay within 14 days. This PCN is the “ULEZ fine” most drivers search for. If you ignore it for 28 days it rises to £270. Cameras read foreign plates as well as British ones, and a hire company will pass the notice on to you with an admin fee added.
ULEZ fine cost at each stage
A ULEZ fine costs £180, or £90 if you pay the PCN within 14 days of it being served. Before that point the same journey costs only the £12.50 daily charge. You can pay it in advance, on the day, or up to midnight on the third day after you drove. If you don’t, TfL sends a PCN to the registered keeper. You then have 28 days to pay or challenge it. After that the penalty goes up by half to £270 and a charge certificate follows. From then on you can no longer challenge it by making a representation.
| Stage | What you pay |
|---|---|
| Daily charge, paid in advance, on the day or by midnight on the third day | £12.50 |
| PCN paid within 14 days | £90 |
| PCN paid between day 15 and day 28 | £180 |
| Not paid or challenged within 28 days (charge certificate) | £270 |
If the charge certificate goes unpaid, TfL can register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre, which adds a registration fee. After that, enforcement agents take over and charge their own fees for every letter and visit.
Two charges, one trip
| Charge | Cost | Where | When | Penalty if missed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ULEZ | £12.50/day | All London boroughs | ~24/7 (not Christmas Day) | £180 (£90 if paid in 14 days) |
| Congestion Charge | £18/day (£21 if paid late) | Central London only | Mon–Fri 07:00–18:00; Sat, Sun and bank holidays 12:00–18:00 | £180 (£90 if paid in 14 days) |
The ULEZ applies to non-compliant vehicles: petrol cars below Euro 4 (roughly pre-2006) and diesels below Euro 6 (roughly pre-2015). If your car is newer, hybrid or electric, you pay nothing. Still, check your exact plate against the zone first, because guessing wrong costs £90–180.
The Congestion Charge is a separate scheme. It applies to almost every vehicle in the central zone during charging hours, whatever its emissions. That includes electric cars, which lost their exemption when the charge rose to £18 a day on 2 January 2026. If you pay after the day of travel, the rate is £21, and the deadline is midnight on the third charging day afterwards (tfl.gov.uk). A pre-2015 diesel crossing central London on a Tuesday morning owes both charges: £30.50 for the day.
The hire-car admin-fee trap
In a rental car, TfL sends the PCN to the rental company, because it is the registered keeper. The company either pays and recharges you or hands over your details. Either way, it adds an administration fee set in your rental agreement. A £12.50 charge you forgot can turn up months later as a £90 penalty plus the rental firm’s fee. If you pick up a non-compliant car, pay the daily charge online before you drive off. Before you book, check how the agreement handles road charges; the car rental guide covers what to look for. The same trap catches drivers across Europe, as explained in who pays a driving fine abroad.
Foreign number plates are chased
The cameras capture every plate, British or not. TfL uses a Europe-wide debt-recovery partner to collect unpaid charges and penalties from non-UK vehicles. If your foreign car is compliant, register it with TfL so it is recognised. If it isn’t compliant, pay the daily charge through TfL’s official website or Auto Pay.
Insurance won’t pay it
ULEZ and Congestion Charge penalties are road-use charges, not damage. No motor, travel or hire-car excess policy covers them.
How to appeal
If a penalty looks wrong, for example because your car was compliant, you had already paid, or you weren’t the driver of a hire car:
- Check the PCN is real. Go to TfL’s official site directly. Scam ULEZ “fine” texts and emails are common.
- Make a representation within 28 days with evidence: your V5C log book, payment confirmation or rental agreement. Once the £270 charge certificate is issued, you can no longer make a representation.
- Escalate to London Tribunals if TfL rejects your representation. The independent Road User Charging Adjudicators there decide ULEZ and Congestion Charge appeals.
- Don’t ignore it. Unpaid PCNs increase and end up with enforcement agents, who do pursue foreign drivers.
Check your plate before driving in
Before you drive into London, run your registration through the emission-zone checker to see whether you’re ULEZ-compliant. A compliant car owes no ULEZ charge, though it still pays the Congestion Charge in the centre during charging hours. Driving on to Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford or Scotland? The guide to UK emission zones shows which ones charge a car and which only fine.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A ULEZ Penalty Charge Notice is £180. It drops to £90 if you pay within 14 days. If you neither pay nor challenge it within 28 days, it rises to £270. The fine replaces a £12.50 daily charge that you could have paid up to midnight on the third day after your journey.
After 28 days the £180 penalty goes up by 50% to £270 and TfL sends a charge certificate. After that you can no longer make a representation. If it is still unpaid, TfL can register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre, which adds a fee, and then pass it to enforcement agents, who add their own fees.
No. They are separate schemes and both can apply on the same trip. The Congestion Charge is £18 a day in central London (£21 if paid late), from 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 12:00 to 18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays. The ULEZ is £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles across all London boroughs. Each has its own £180 penalty, reduced to £90 within 14 days.
TfL sends the Penalty Charge Notice to the rental company as registered keeper. The company recharges you or passes your details to TfL, and usually adds an administration fee set in the rental agreement. If the car is non-compliant, pay the £12.50 daily charge yourself before driving.
Yes. TfL's cameras read foreign plates, and TfL uses a Europe-wide debt-recovery partner to pursue unpaid charges and penalties on non-UK vehicles. Register a compliant foreign car with TfL so it is recognised. If it isn't compliant, pay the daily charge online or through Auto Pay.