Pay a Clean Air Zone fine

You may receive a £120 fine if you drive in Bath’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ), and fail to pay any charges you owe within the 'payment window'. Use this page to find out how you can pay both your Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and the outstanding CAZ charge.

The payment window for Clean Air Zone charges

There is a payment window of 13 days when you can pay a charge for entering a Clean Air Zone:

• up to 6 days before your journey
• on the day your vehicle enters the zone
• up to 6 days after your journey (23.59 deadline on the 6th day)

When we issue fines

We will send you a PCN if you have driven a chargeable, non-compliant vehicle in Bath’s Clean Air Zone and not paid the charge (or discounted charge) within the payment window.

You could also receive a PCN if you hold a valid local exemption which requires that you log your journey, but you have failed to log your journey within the payment window.

Your deadline for payment

You will need to pay both your fine, and the outstanding CAZ charge (which will be either £9 or £100, depending on your vehicle type). 

You have 28 days to pay. We measure these 28 days from the ‘date of service’ of your fine. This date is two working days after the post date on the front of the PCN, excluding weekends and Bank Holidays. 

If you pay the fine within 14 days of the date of service, we will accept 50% of the £120 penalty charge, which is £60. You will still have to pay the outstanding CAZ charge.

How to make your payment

To pay for the fine and the outstanding charge, you will need to provide the following information:

• the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) number (for example, BN12345678)
• your vehicle registration number

Other ways of paying

By phone

Please call our automated payment line on 0300 456 0632 to pay over the phone with a debit or credit card (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

Calls to this number cost 3p per minute plus your telephone providers access charge.

By post

• You should make cheques or postal order payable to B&NES Council.
• You must ensure that your Clean Air Zone Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) number is clearly written on the back of your enclosed cheque or postal order.
• Send it to: 
  Bath Clean Air Zone, PO Box 5475, Bath, BA1 OAH
• Do not send cash or credit / debit card details through the post

WarningWe cannot accept post-dated cheques and we do not issue receipts for cheque or postal order payments.

It can take several days for cheque or postal orders to arrive and be processed, so allow plenty of time if paying by this method.

If you disagree with the penalty charge

If you think that you have received a PCN in error (for example, you believe that you paid the daily charge, or logged your journey within the 13-day payment window), you can choose to challenge your fine.

You will find a list of ‘compelling reasons for challenging a fine’ published on the PCN. Please consider these carefully before deciding what to do.

Warning If you are intending to challenge the Penalty Charge Notice, DO NOT make any payment. We will treat any payment received as an acceptance of liability, and will close the case. We cannot issue refunds for paid penalties.

If you fail to pay the charges

If you do not challenge the fine, and you fail to pay the outstanding charge and the PCN within 28 days, we may issue you with a Charge Certificate. This will increase the penalty charge by 50%, to £180. You will also have to pay the outstanding CAZ charge.

If your vehicle is not UK-registered

If you are driving into a Clean Air Zone in Bath or another UK city, please ensure you pay the required charge using the GOV.UK Central Clean Air Zone Service. See the section above about the payment window, if you're not sure how long you have, before you need to pay.

We will enforce charges and penalties for non-UK vehicles.