Birmingham City Council Clean Air Zone-CAZ
At Bailiff Advice Online, we receive a significant number of enquiries via our helpline and online Enquiry Form regarding the enforcement of an unpaid PCN’s issued for non payment of the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ).
How does the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) work?
Birmingham introduced the Clean Air Zones (CAZ) in June 2021. A Clean Air Zone is an area where action is taken to improve air quality by discouraging the most air polluting vehicles from entering the zone. No vehicles are banned, but certain vehicles which do not meet the Euro emissions standard will need to pay a daily charge of £8 if they travel within it. It works by using ANPR cameras to read the numberplate of vehicles driving into the Clean Air Zone.
How can I check if my vehicle is compliant?
Motorists should visit the GOV.UK Vehicle Checker to see if their vehicle emissions will face a charge when driving into the Birmingham Clean Air zone.
About the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ)
- Charges apply 365 days of the year.
- A ‘day’ is classified as midnight to midnight, not 24 hours from when you enter the zone. During that midnight to midnight timeframe, you can enter and leave the zone numerous times and only incur a single charge.
- You can either pay 6 days before the day of your visit, on the day of your visit, or; up to 6 days after the day of your visit.
- Payment for the Birmingham Clean Air Zone is NOT paid to Birmingham Council. Instead, payment of the charge must be made to the central GOV.UK service.
- Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) of £120 will be issued if payment is not received for a non-compliant vehicle used in the zone.
How to pay the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge.
The charge to enter the Birmingham Clean Air Zone is £8. Payment can be made as follows:
Online by visiting the official central GOV.UK service.
By calling the National Contact Centre payment line and help-desk on 0300 029 8888 (lines open Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm and Saturday, 8am to 2.30pm).
For enquiries, an online contact form is also available.
What happens if I fail to pay the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge?
If you do not pay the Birmingham Clean Air zone charge by midnight on the 6th day after driving into the zone, a Penalty Charge Notice requesting £120 will be issued by Birmingham City Council. The PCN number will start with the letters KW and be followed by 8 numbers (or sometimes; 7 numbers followed by the letter A).
The PCN will be sent to the Registered Keeper of the car and most importantly, it will be sent to the address that the vehicle was registered to on the day of the offence.
The PCN is discounted to £60 on condition that payment is made within 14 days. If you do not pay or appeal the PCN within 28 days, a charge certificate will be issued. The penalty charge of £120 will then increase by 50% to £180.
Will an unpaid Birmingham Clean Air (CAZ) PCN involve bailiffs?
Yes it can. If the Charge Certificate remains unpaid, Birmingham City Council will register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre. At this stage, you will be sent a third notice called an Order for Recovery (OfR). At this point, an additional charge of £9 is added bringing the total amount due to £189.
If payment is not received within 21 days of the Order for Recovery (form TE3), Birmingham City Council will request permission to issue a warrant of control.
Bailiffs and Birmingham Clean Air (CAZ) enforcement.
The bailiff companies enforcing unpaid Birmingham Clean Air Zone PCN’s are Bristow & Sutor and Equita Ltd. Legislation only provides for the enforcement company to send one letter entitled Notice of Enforcement. The amount requested will be £264 to include the enforcement companies ‘compliance fee’ of £75. If you fail to make payment within the time specified in the Notice of Enforcement, a bailiff will make a personal visit.
At the time of the visit, the amount payable increases significantly to £499 to include the statutory enforcement fee of £235. It is important to stress that if at the time of the visit, the enforcement company have more that one Clean Air Zone penalty in your name, they can only charge one ‘enforcement fee’ (of £235). They cannot charge multiple fees. If your vehicle is outside of your property, it is likely to be clamped or worse still, removed. A removal fee of £110 plus additional storage costs will also become payable. Bailiff fees are outlined on this page.
I only became aware of a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) PCN when contacted by bailiffs.
Many motorists only become aware that a Penalty Charge Notice had been issued when they receive a Notice of Enforcement, text message or personal visit from either Bristow & Sutor or Equita Ltd. This is almost always because all previous correspondence had been sent to a previous address (due to the V5C (Log Book) not being updated when moving address. In such cases, bailiff enforcement will be suspended by completing an Out of Time Witness Statement (forms TE7 and TE9). We have an entire page dedicated to this subject here.
Commentary from Bailiff Advice Online:
If you have received a letter or a visit from either Bristow & Sutor or Equita Ltd or or have any queries about enforcement of a Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) penalty, you can email a question to us using our online Enquiry Form. Alternatively, you can contact our free Bailiff helpline line on 01643 841886. Please refer to our Contact page for further details.