To legally avoid the £12.50 daily ULEZ charge in London, use a compliant vehicle (generally petrol cars registered after 2006, diesel after 2015), check eligibility on the TfL website, or switch to public transport, cycling, or walking. Alternative options include using navigation apps to route around the zone, or parking outside the zone and commuting in.
How to avoid ULEZ zones. WAZE is an app available on both Android and iPhone devices that maps routes, in a similar way to Google Maps does. The benefit of WAZE is that it utilises user-submitted data to monitor where traffic, roadworks, speed cameras and ULEZ cameras are situated.
Waze is great at giving you routes that avoid toll roads, which is amazing for avoiding the ULEZ, but it also avoids the suspension bridge. This will sometimes give you weird and super long routes (depending on where you live) because it's trying to avoid both.
Petrol cars that meet Euro 5 and Euro 6 standards can drive into and around the ULEZ without paying charges. All petrol vehicles that have a historic vehicle tax class (non-commercial) are ULEZ exempt, along with some disabled tax class vehicles.
Retrofitting is a way to modify a vehicle's emissions system so it meets ULEZ compliance regulations. However, this is only an option for certain diesel vans and HGVs.
When driving in the outer suburbs of Greater London, Apple Maps constantly issues warnings about the Greater London ULEZ and highlights its boundaries on the map itself.
Select Settings > Navigation > Environmental Zones. Select an option: To be asked each time before routing through an environmental zone, select Always Ask. To always avoid environmental zones, select Avoid.
The real cause of concern regarding ULEZ for many communities and for human rights activists is its use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and the free access to this data given to the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met).
As of 21 March 2023, there had been 31 instances of vandalism or theft to ULEZ cameras within the expansion zone. Within the existing zone, there had been 12 instances of vandalism or theft. Due to commercial and confidentiality reasons, TfL cannot share the unit cost of cameras, or for repair of cameras.
For many people, the answer is simple: use both. Google Maps for planning and exploring, Waze for the daily commute. Both apps integrate well with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so whichever you choose, you'll get a safe, hands-free experience.
A car is exempt from the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) if it's registered in the Historic tax class, meaning it's over 40 years old on a rolling basis (e.g., in 2026, vehicles built before 1986 qualify), or if it was built before 1 January 1973, with both exemptions generally applying if the vehicle isn't used commercially. For vehicles older than 40 years, you must apply to the DVLA to change their tax class to "Historic" to receive the exemption.
Yes, you do need to pay the £12.50 ULEZ charge for Heathrow Airport if your vehicle isn't compliant with the emissions standards, as the airport is within the expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for Greater London, effective from August 2023, and the charge applies for driving in the zone 24/7 (except Christmas Day). You'll pay this fee in addition to any other airport drop-off/pick-up charges if your vehicle doesn't meet the ULEZ criteria.
The London Congestion Charge zone covers eight square miles in the centre of the city, bounded by Euston Road and Marylebone Road in the north, Tower Bridge Road and Commercial Street in the east, Elephant and Castle and New Kent Road in the south, and Park Lane and Edgware Road in the west.
Cameras read vehicle number plates driven through the zone, which are checked against our database to see if they meet ULEZ emissions standards. Advance information signs appear on major roads, indicating the distance to the boundary.
No, the UK is not the most surveilled country. Recent data places it 5th in the world, with around 618 cameras for every 10,000 people. Even so, the UK still has one of the highest levels of surveillance coverage globally, especially in major cities like London.
No, legally produced 4D number plates do not avoid ULEZ cameras because they are designed to be road legal and fully readable by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems, which use infrared and character recognition to read compliant plates regardless of raised letters; attempting to evade charges with non-compliant plates (e.g., tinted, unreadable) can lead to fines and MOT failure.
To avoid London's Congestion Charge, travel outside charging hours (weekdays 7am-6pm, weekends & bank holidays 12pm-6pm, no charge Christmas-New Year), use public transport/cycle/walk, drive a fully electric vehicle (registered), or use route planners (like Google Maps) to steer clear of the zone boundary; exemptions and discounts exist for some residents and disabled drivers.
