London has two separate daily road charges. The Congestion Charge (£18 a day) applies to almost every car driven in the central zone during charging hours, and the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge (£12.50 a day) applies across all of Greater London, but only to vehicles that fail its emissions standards. Visiting drivers pay both the same way as Londoners, and foreign-registered cars usually need to be registered with TfL first.
Both schemes are run by Transport for London (TfL). There are no toll booths or barriers. Cameras read number plates, and TfL checks each plate against its records of payments, exemptions and vehicle data. If a charge was due and has not been paid in time, a penalty notice goes to the vehicle's registered keeper. For a hire car that is the hire company, and for a foreign car it is the owner abroad.
Still weighing up whether to drive on this trip? Our guide to car hire for a London visit covers the decision, the paperwork and the insurance; this page covers what the driving costs.
Congestion Charge and ULEZ side by side
- Congestion Charge
- £18 a day paid in advance or on the day; £21 if paid by midnight on the third day after travel
- Congestion Charge hours
- 07:00-18:00 Monday to Friday; 12:00-18:00 Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays; no charge from Christmas Day to the New Year's Day bank holiday
- ULEZ charge
- £12.50 a day, only for vehicles that don't meet the standards
- ULEZ hours and area
- 24 hours, every day except Christmas Day; all London boroughs and the City of London (not the M25)
- Penalty for not paying
- £180 for either scheme, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days
- Where to pay
- TfL's website, the TfL Pay to drive in London app, Auto Pay, or by phone on +44 343 222 2222
Two charges that answer different questions
Many visitors mix the two schemes up, because they are paid in the same place. The Congestion Charge asks where and when you drive: a brand-new petrol car pays the same £18 as an old one. The ULEZ asks what you drive: it covers all of Greater London around the clock, but most modern cars meet its standard and pay nothing.
| Congestion Charge | ULEZ | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Central London only | All London boroughs and the City of London |
| Hours | Daytime; shorter at weekends | 24 hours a day |
| Who pays | Almost all cars and vans | Only vehicles that fail the emissions standards |
| Daily charge | £18 (£21 if paid late) | £12.50 |
| Charging day | Pay once per day, however often you enter | Midnight to midnight |
If your car fails the ULEZ standard and you drive into the central zone during charging hours, you pay both: £18 plus £12.50, or £30.50 for the day.
The Congestion Charge figure is newer than most guidebooks say. It went up from £15 to £18 on 2 January 2026, and the late-payment rate rose from £17.50 to £21 on the same day. The Mayor's guidance now allows the charge to rise each year in line with Tube fares, although any increase still needs a decision of its own, so treat every printed price as a figure to check rather than a constant.
Where the Congestion Charge zone is
The Congestion Charge zone covers the heart of central London, including the City of London and the West End. Its boundary follows the Inner Ring Road, and signs on the street tell you when you are entering the zone. Most hotels in areas such as Covent Garden, Soho, Mayfair and Bloomsbury are inside it.
You cannot always tell from a map whether a hotel or car park is inside. TfL has a postcode and map checker on its Congestion Charge page. Put in your hotel's postcode before you book, and again for any car park you plan to use.
Charging hours are 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 12:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. Outside those hours you can drive in the zone without paying the Congestion Charge. That makes a Saturday or Sunday morning, or a weekday evening after 18:00, the cheapest time to drive into central London. There is no charge at all between Christmas Day and the New Year's Day bank holiday, which is useful if you are visiting over Christmas in London. Our guide to bank holidays in London lists the dates when the weekend hours apply.
Drive in on Sunday morning, pay nothing. The Congestion Charge only starts at 12:00 at weekends. If you arrive at a central hotel before noon on a Saturday or Sunday, park and leave the car there, and you never enter the zone during charging hours. A car that meets the ULEZ standard then pays no daily charge at all.
Does your car meet the ULEZ standard?
The ULEZ is based on the Euro emissions standard a vehicle was built to, not on its age. For cars, TfL's minimum standards are:
- Petrol cars: Euro 4 (for nitrogen oxides). TfL says these are generally cars first registered as new after 2005, although some cars from 2001 already meet it.
- Diesel cars: Euro 6 (for nitrogen oxides and particles). These are generally cars first registered as new after September 2015.
- Fully electric cars produce no exhaust emissions and meet the standard.
Vans up to 3.5 tonnes and minibuses up to 5 tonnes follow the same standards; motorcycles need Euro 3.
Most hire cars in Britain are recent models and will meet the ULEZ standard, but "most" is not "all". The simplest check is TfL's online vehicle checker on the ULEZ page: type in the number plate, and it tells you whether the vehicle must pay. Do it before you drive, not afterwards.
The ULEZ charging day runs from midnight to midnight. A non-compliant car that is driven at 23:30 and again at 00:30 pays for two days. A car that stays parked all day, without being driven, pays nothing for that day.
Driving a foreign-registered car into London
If you bring your own car from abroad, you face the same charges as a UK driver, but with one extra step. TfL's systems do not automatically know the emissions standard of every foreign vehicle, so TfL says non-UK vehicles "need to be registered with us, even if they meet the emissions standards".
- Check first. Put your number plate into TfL's vehicle checker. It holds data on many vehicles registered outside the UK. If it shows that your car meets the standard, you don't need to do more for the ULEZ.
- Register if TfL has no data, or the wrong data. Create a London Road User Charging account and use the registration service for non-UK vehicles. You upload a copy of your registration document, plus a Certificate of Conformity or a letter from the manufacturer showing the car's Euro standard.
- Allow time. TfL says processing can take up to 10 working days. Until your car is accepted, you must pay the ULEZ charge or risk a penalty. You can apply for a refund once the car has been accepted.
- Pay the Congestion Charge as normal if you drive in the central zone during charging hours. Registration for the ULEZ does not cover it.
Electric cars get a 25% Cleaner Vehicle Discount on the Congestion Charge (£13.50 instead of £18), but only on Auto Pay. For a foreign-registered electric car, TfL will not know the vehicle type unless you register it, so you need both the registration and an Auto Pay account to get the discount. Registration is free.
Penalties apply to foreign vehicles too. TfL states plainly that both UK and non-UK registered vehicles can receive penalty notices, so an unpaid charge can follow you home.
Register a foreign car two weeks before the ferry. Because TfL can take up to 10 working days to accept a non-UK vehicle, start the registration as soon as your trip is booked. If it is not ready in time, pay the daily ULEZ charge while you wait, keep the receipts and claim a refund afterwards.
Hire cars: who pays, and who gets the penalty
With a hire car, the registered keeper is the hire company, so any penalty notice goes to the company first. TfL's rules let a keeper challenge a Congestion Charge penalty on the ground that the vehicle was on hire to someone else, which is how a penalty can be passed on to the person named in the hire agreement. In other words, you should expect to be responsible for the charges while the car is in your hands.
What each hire company does beyond that varies, and TfL does not publish their policies. Some cars may already be on an Auto Pay account run by the company, while others are not, and a company may add its own admin fee if it has to deal with a penalty on your behalf. Ask these questions at the desk, and get the answers in writing:
- Is this car already registered for Auto Pay, and if so, how will the charges be passed on to me?
- If it is not, should I pay the Congestion Charge myself using the number plate?
- Does this car meet the ULEZ standard? (You can confirm this yourself with TfL's checker.)
- What admin fee do you charge if a penalty notice arrives?
If you pay yourself, make sure you enter the exact number plate of the car you are driving. If the company swaps your car during the hire, pay for the new plate from that day on.
How to pay, step by step
TfL offers four official ways to pay both charges. You can pay the Congestion Charge, ULEZ and the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charge online in a single transaction.
- Auto Pay. You register the vehicle and a payment card with TfL, and it records each charging day and takes payment monthly. There are no registration or renewal fees. It is the only way to get the discount for electric cars, and the safest way to avoid a missed payment on a long stay.
- Online on tfl.gov.uk. Pay in advance (up to 90 days ahead) or on the day for £18. If you forget, you can still pay £21 by midnight on the third day after you drove in the zone.
- The TfL Pay to drive in London app, free on the Apple App Store and Google Play. It can also check whether a postcode is inside a charging zone.
- By phone: +44 343 222 2222 from abroad, or 0343 222 2222 from a UK phone. The lines are open 08:00-20:00 Monday to Friday and closed at weekends and on bank holidays, so don't rely on the phone if you drive on a Saturday.
There is no paper ticket or sticker: the payment is linked to the number plate.
Watch out for unofficial payment websites
Search engines show websites that offer to pay the Congestion Charge or ULEZ for you and add a fee on top. TfL warns drivers not to use them and says they may mislead you. Start from the official TfL Congestion Charge page, and check that the address in your browser is tfl.gov.uk. Be wary of text messages that ask you to pay a penalty through a link; Westminster City Council, for example, has warned about fake messages demanding payment of parking penalties. For more on scams aimed at visitors, see our page on staying safe in London.
What a day of driving costs: worked examples
These examples use the September 2026 charges. They leave out fuel and parking, which can easily cost more than the charges themselves. Our guide to parking in London covers those costs.
| Situation | Congestion Charge | ULEZ | Total for the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern petrol hire car, weekday trip into the West End | £18 | £0 | £18 |
| Same car, driven only in outer London | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Older diesel (pre-Euro 6), weekday trip into the centre | £18 | £12.50 | £30.50 |
| Older diesel, driven only in outer London | £0 | £12.50 | £12.50 |
| Electric car on Auto Pay, weekday in the centre | £13.50 | £0 | £13.50 |
| Modern petrol car, forgot to pay, paid on day three | £21 | £0 | £21 |
Compare those figures with public transport. A whole day of pay as you go travel in Zones 1-2 is capped at £8.90 per adult, and children aged 5-10 travel free with a paying adult. Even for a family of four, the Tube is often cheaper than the Congestion Charge alone. Our guide to daily caps with contactless and Oyster explains how that works.
If you forget to pay: penalties and challenges
For the Congestion Charge, you have until midnight on the third day after travel to pay the higher £21 charge. After that TfL issues a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to the registered keeper. The ULEZ has the same payment deadline.
| Stage | Congestion Charge | ULEZ |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty charge | £180 | £180 |
| If paid within 14 days | £90 | £90 |
For the Congestion Charge, an unpaid penalty rises to £270 after 28 days, when TfL sends a Charge Certificate. The ULEZ also has later enforcement stages; check the current amounts on the ULEZ penalty page. Because the ULEZ day runs from midnight to midnight, you can receive a separate penalty for each day you drove. TfL also issues penalties when a driver paid for the wrong number plate or the wrong date, so check both carefully before you confirm a payment.
You have 28 days from the date the PCN is served to pay it or to challenge it. TfL accepts challenges on grounds such as: you had already paid, the vehicle was exempt, the vehicle was used without your consent, or the vehicle was on hire to someone else. Do not ignore a PCN, even if you believe it is wrong; if you don't respond, the amount rises and the debt can be passed to enforcement agents.
Discounts, exemptions and other road charges
Electric cars are the change that surprises returning visitors most. Until 25 December 2025 a fully electric car paid nothing at all under the Cleaner Vehicle Discount. That full exemption has gone. From 2 January 2026 an electric car gets 25% off (£13.50 instead of £18) and an electric van or HGV gets 50% off, in both cases only while the vehicle is registered on Auto Pay. The discount narrows again on 4 March 2030, to 12.5% for cars. Registering for it is free, but it is not automatic: an electric car that is not on Auto Pay pays the full £18.
A few groups pay less or nothing. Blue Badge holders can register for a 100% discount on the Congestion Charge, for up to two vehicles, but they must register in advance; see our guide to accessible London for more on the Blue Badge. Whether a disabled parking card from another country qualifies was not something we could confirm, so contact TfL before you rely on it.
London's black taxis are exempt from the Congestion Charge, but minicabs and app-based private hire cars, including Uber, are not. If you are comparing a taxi with driving yourself, our guide to black cabs, minicabs and Uber will help.
East London has one more charge to know about. Drivers pay to use the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels under the Thames, near Greenwich, each time they cross in either direction between 06:00 and 22:00, every day except Christmas Day. Charges rose on 21 September 2026. A car or small van pays £1.55 off-peak with Auto Pay and £4.20 at peak times, which are 06:00 to 10:00 northbound and 16:00 to 19:00 southbound on weekdays only. Without Auto Pay you pay £4.20 at any charging hour, so registering is worth it even for one crossing. Motorcycles pay £1.55 or £2.60, large vans £2.60 or £6.80. Current rates are on the TfL tunnels page.
The cheapest option: leave the car outside the zone
For many visitors, the best answer is to avoid both charges by not driving in central London at all. Park a ULEZ-compliant car near a station in outer London and take the Underground into the centre; you pay no daily charge, and the Tube reaches the sights faster. Keep the car for day trips out of London, and read our guide to UK road rules for foreign drivers before your first drive.
Frequently asked questions
Do tourists have to pay the London Congestion Charge?
Yes. The Congestion Charge applies to vehicles, not to residents, so visitors pay £18 a day for driving in the central zone during charging hours. It makes no difference whether the car is your own, a hire car or registered abroad.
Does my hire car have to pay the ULEZ?
Only if it fails the emissions standards: Euro 4 for petrol cars and Euro 6 for diesel cars. Most recent hire cars meet them. Check the number plate on TfL's online vehicle checker before you drive, and ask the hire company how it handles any charges.
Do foreign cars get fined for the Congestion Charge and ULEZ?
Yes. TfL says both UK and non-UK registered vehicles can receive penalty notices. Owners of foreign cars should check their vehicle with TfL and register it if TfL has no data, because until it is accepted the ULEZ charge must be paid.
Can I pay the Congestion Charge after I have driven in the zone?
Yes. You can pay £18 up to midnight on the day you drove in the zone, or £21 up to midnight on the third day after. After that TfL issues a £180 penalty, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.
Is there a Congestion Charge at weekends?
Yes, but for shorter hours: from 12:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. On weekdays it runs from 07:00 to 18:00. There is no charge between Christmas Day and the New Year's Day bank holiday.
Sources
- Transport for London - Congestion Charge payments (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Congestion Charge penalties and enforcement (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - ULEZ standards for cars (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - ULEZ: where and when (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Non-UK vehicles driving in London (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charge (checked September 2026)
- Mayor of London - MD3442 Changes to the Congestion Charging scheme (checked September 2026)
- London Councils - Parking penalties (checked September 2026)