Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) Info

[Guigsy]

Hi all,

I live inside the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) which goes live next week, 01 June 2021. The intention is to reduce particulates and NOx inside the zone. Whether it'll be effective and whether it's fair is a different matter.

Area:
The zone is quite small. It only comprises of everything INSIDE the Middleway ring road (A4540). The ring road itself is not part of the zone. You are nowhere near it if you stay on the M5, M6, or M42. The only major gotcha is if you follow the A38(M) Aston Expressway into the city and don't turn off at the ring road, it'll take you through the zone and you will be charged.
Google Maps

Vehicles:

• Diesels, regardless of vehicle type, have to be Euro6. So motorhomes have to be roughly 2017 or newer, but check as Euro6 didn't kick in on a hard registration date as it was dependent on when the chassis was built, not the registration date. Use the checker below.
• Petrol vehicles have to be Euro4, which takes you back to about 2006.
• Except motorcycles, which only have to be Euro3.
• Check whether your vehicle will be charged here: https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Costs:
£8 per day
You get charged each day your vehicle is seen. So drive inside the ring road with a non-compliant vehicle one evening and leave after midnight and you pay for 2 days.

Official Information:

Brum Breathes Homepage

Brum Breathes supports the Clean Air Zone for Birmingham. The website has details of charging, exemptions and financial support.

www.brumbreathes.co.uk

 

[sonny]

I wonder if it covers canal boats

 

[Guigsy]

I wonder if it covers canal boats

Lol. No. But I literally live next to the canal and I have a Raspberry Pi air quality monitor. I can frequently see when canal boats pass (if the wind is blowing the right way) because they kick out so much crud and I see a spike in the readings.

 

[sonny]

Yippee I’m exempt they think my van is coal fired

 

[sedge]

Pete has an OP appointment at the QE main hospital next week hence since neither of us are familiar with Brum geography any more (and I shan't even go with him as no point these days) he'll be having to follow the SatNav and just have to go where that tells him to basically - so only him navigating and no helpful/unhelpful, Try down here instead love! from the passenger seat.

Coming from Bedworth and Jct 3 of the M6 is really handy for us, so where do you reckon he ought to come off the M6 - or is it better to come the old way up the A45 (Cov Rd etc) and hang a left somewhere before where the old Digbeth coach station was (that last time we went years since somehow took us past the county ground and up to the traffic lights at Lea Bank as used to be (ie opposite the site of the Gaumont!) and left onto Bristol Road)

Bristol Rd itself wasn't that much help either cos if you overshot the QE there'd be 'H' signs to go straight on which would firstly arrive at The Woodlands and a while after that at Selly Oak hospitals .... or vice versa .....

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Guigsy]

Pete has an OP appointment at the QE main hospital next week hence since neither of us are familiar with Brum geography any more (and I shan't even go with him as no point these days) he'll be having to follow the SatNav and just have to go where that tells him to basically - so only him navigating and no helpful/unhelpful, Try down here instead love! from the passenger seat.

Coming from Bedworth and Jct 3 of the M6 is really handy for us, so where do you reckon he ought to come off the M6 - or is it better to come the old way up the A45 (Cov Rd etc) and hang a left somewhere before where the old Digbeth coach station was (that last time we went years since somehow took us past the county ground and up to the traffic lights at Lea Bank as used to be (ie opposite the site of the Gaumont!) and left onto Bristol Road)

Bristol Rd itself wasn't that much help either cos if you overshot the QE there'd be 'H' signs to go straight on which would firstly arrive at The Woodlands and a while after that at Selly Oak hospitals .... or vice versa .....

If your vehicle is compliant, then just follow the satnav. Which will probably take you down the Aston Express Way and through the centre.

If you do need to avoid the zone, the lowest stress way of coming in is probably to use the A45. Then if you follow the satnav, there's little chance of going inside the CAZ.

 

[deleted79651]

Hi all,

I live inside the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) which goes live next week, 01 June 2021. The intention is to reduce particulates and NOx inside the zone. Whether it'll be effective and whether it's fair is a different matter.

Area:
The zone is quite small. It only comprises of everything INSIDE the Middleway ring road (A4540). The ring road itself is not part of the zone. You are nowhere near it if you stay on the M5, M6, or M42. The only major gotcha is if you follow the A38(M) Aston Expressway into the city and don't turn off at the ring road, it'll take you through the zone and you will be charged.
Google Maps

Vehicles:

• Diesels, regardless of vehicle type, have to be Euro6. So motorhomes have to be roughly 2017 or newer, but check as Euro6 didn't kick in on a hard registration date as it was dependent on when the chassis was built, not the registration date. Use the checker below.
• Petrol vehicles have to be Euro4, which takes you back to about 2006.
• Except motorcycles, which only have to be Euro3.
• Check whether your vehicle will be charged here: https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Costs:
£8 per day
You get charged each day your vehicle is seen. So drive inside the ring road with a non-compliant vehicle one evening and leave after midnight and you pay for 2 days.

Official Information:

Brum Breathes Homepage

Brum Breathes supports the Clean Air Zone for Birmingham. The website has details of charging, exemptions and financial support.

www.brumbreathes.co.uk

Will the Council use the revenues to spray the mud parking piles that used to be grass verges green again s that the residents can picnic on them, looking like startled Martians as the colour transfers to human skin? [Recycled Jasper Carrott c 1993]

Steve

 

[Wack]

If they want cleaner air in Birmingham they could do it overnight by nationalising the M6 toll and removing the charges.

Most of the traffic is passing through Birmingham , it'd just cruise past at a low emissions 70mph rather than the stop start from 6am every weekday there is now, the most polluting kind of driving, the M6 is at roof height through some Birmingham which can only make it worse

It's the same price to use the toll road in a van as an artic, £23 for the return trip which is why nobody uses it .

 

[Guigsy]

If they want cleaner air in Birmingham they could do it overnight by nationalising the M6 toll and removing the charges.

Most of the traffic is passing through Birmingham , it'd just cruise past at a low emissions 70mph rather than the stop start from 6am every weekday there is now, the most polluting kind of driving, the M6 is at roof height through some Birmingham which can only make it worse

It's the same price to use the toll road in a van as an artic, £23 for the return trip which is why nobody uses it .

There's definitely a case for nationalising the M6 toll and downgrading the existing M6.

Two things though. Lots of air pollution is actually quite localised, especially particulates. The particulates that plume off the M6 won't really affect the Clean Air Zone. Although as you pointed out, the elevated sections run through lots of populated areas, so there's still a lot of people that are affected. Secondly, NOx pollution is caused by engines under sustained load. The bits of West Midlands with the worst NOx levels are indeed around the M5/M6 overhead viaducts, but it's often at its worst mid-morning when the traffic is heavy but moving at higher speeds.

 

[Wack]

It'll only really affect people on low wages who are running older diesel cars , they'll be driven off the road and on to public transport if they work in the city centre

Just put my 1997 MX5 into the checker , Bath is free but Birmingham is £8 a day , £40 a week to get to work and probably the same on public transport , not great if you're on £9 an hour

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ivory55]

We should have an automatic calculator on here that adds up everything that people think money should be spent on be it a yacht or a motorway or aid etc. Would be interesting to see the total reached .

 

[Guigsy]

It'll only really affect people on low wages who are running older diesel cars , they'll be driven off the road and on to public transport if they work in the city centre

Just put my 1997 MX5 into the checker , Bath is free but Birmingham is £8 a day , £40 a week to get to work and probably the same on public transport , not great if you're on £9 an hour

£119 per month gets you a Network pass that allows you to use bus, train or tram any time anywhere (zones 1-5). It's less if you stick to buses or if you're coming in from closer. Far from free. But if you're driving into the centre, you're unlikely to be getting free parking either.

 

[Howard B]

My van is Euro 5 and comes up exempt. First registered Jan 2016.

 

[domf]

My van is Euro 5 and comes up exempt. First registered Jan 2016.

Shhhhhh!

 

[Guigsy]

My van is Euro 5 and comes up exempt. First registered Jan 2016.

Yeah. I don't think their database is actually very good. If your car was compliant before the date, there's the facility to correct them.

And for motorhomes, the date of registration alone doesn't tell you whether it's Euro6 or not. The base chassis that was built before the cut-off could continue to be converted and sold for a while after. So like yours, some 2016 vans are Euro5.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wack]

My van is Euro 5 and comes up exempt. First registered Jan 2016.

Keep that quiet,unless it's a petrol it's supposed to be Euro 6 for diesels , euro 4 for petrol

I'd also screenshot the checker if you're going into Birmingham so you've got proof it's been checked

Anyone running a business with an older van, builders, plumbers etc is just going to add the £8 a day on the job price so ultimately it'll be the residents/businesses that end up paying it

 

[Detnor]

 

[Puddleduck]

My van is Euro 5 and comes up exempt. First registered Jan 2016.

Our van also coming up as exempt but in the car we would have to pay.

Not that I have any intention of visiting Birmingham in the near future

 

[deleted79651]

Our van also coming up as exempt but in the car we would have to pay.

Not that I have any intention of visiting Birmingham in the near future

There are some nice roads out of Birmingham ... Especially the M6 North But if you fancy something a wee bit Continental, try a visit to 'Le Dudlay' [Dudley], as a French student we were hosting many years ago, did. Every time I pass the Dudley exit, I chuckle to myself and say 'Le Dudlay' in best Amy Turtle accent ...

Steve

 

[Detnor]

Just drove through it, taking a friend for their vaccination. Signs up saying that the charging doesn't start for 2 weeks over the top of the ones saying starts today. Confused....not sure now when it starts. Then again, driving through Birmingham centre is always confusing.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Puddleduck]

There are some nice roads out of Birmingham ... Especially the M6 North But if you fancy something a wee bit Continental, try a visit to 'Le Dudlay' [Dudley], as a French student we were hosting many years ago, did. Every time I pass the Dudley exit, I chuckle to myself and say 'Le Dudlay' in best Amy Turtle accent ...

Steve

Martin used to work in Bilston (not the one near Edinburgh, the one in the West Midlands.

Just drove through it, taking a friend for their vaccination. Signs up saying that the charging doesn't start for 2 weeks over the top of the ones saying starts today. Confused....not sure now when it starts. Then again, driving through Birmingham centre is always confusing.

From what it said on the radio this morning it's in 2 weeks as they haven't been able to cope with the applications for exemptions and the charging system isn't working as it should.

 

[deleted79651]

Martin used to work in Bilston (not the one near Edinburgh, the one in the West Midlands.



From what it said on the radio this morning it's in 2 weeks as they haven't been able to cope with the applications for exemptions and the charging system isn't working as it should.

He'll have noticed a very slight difference in the accent and vocabulary, as well as the level of enunciation, then? The Black Country is like a huge training school for wannabe ventriloquists ... No need to open the mouth or enunciate clearly, none of this 'thirty, dirty' purple' clearly spoken language so beloved of the Scots. Just mumble something equating to about half of the word's length ...

Steve

 

[Puddleduck]

He remembers his first day and someone came up to his and said something like "Tchofee" and he asked her to repeat it - "Tchofee". He assumed she wasn't being offensive and said "yes please". Got a funny look. Turns out he was being asked if he would prefer tea or coffee!

 

[deleted79651]

He remembers his first day and someone came up to his and said something like "Tchofee" and he asked her to repeat it - "Tchofee". He assumed she wasn't being offensive and said "yes please". Got a funny look. Turns out he was being asked if he would prefer tea or coffee!

My Mum moved from Kettering [literally just down the road from Wicksteed Park], initially to Bilston, thence to Wednesbury. Virtually first day after the move, she stopped a local for directions to her job interview, and he replied, 'Yo'll be awright, ma wench, if yo jus folla the buswas'. After a few repetitions, Mum realised she was to follow the tram lines [bus wires] ....

Steve

 

[Guigsy]

I grew up in various places down south. I moved up to Walsall for work. I was walking along a main road one day and a truck pulls up. An old bloke gets out and starts talking to me. I literally didn't understand a word he was saying, I assumed he was foreign and didn't speak english. He got very agitated and drove off. As the truck drove away, I saw the company address... Dudley. Yep.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[deleted79651]

I grew up in various places down south. I moved up to Walsall for work. I was walking along a main road one day and a truck pulls up. An old bloke gets out and starts talking to me. I literally didn't understand a word he was saying, I assumed he was foreign and didn't speak english. He got very agitated and drove off. As the truck drove away, I saw the company address... Dudley. Yep.

Enoch & Eli [Aynuk & Ayli] story:

Aynuk is about to enter church and stops to speak to the Vicar. ''Ere, vicar, in the Service today, I'd like yo to pray for the waife's floating kidneys'

'That's rather unusual, Enoch,' replies the Vicar, 'I'm not sure I can really do that'

'Whoy not,' asks Aynuk, 'Last wik yo asked us to pray for Loose Livers, and I cor see much difference, mesel ...'

Steve

 

[Puddleduck]

Enoch & Eli [Aynuk & Ayli] story:

Aynuk is about to enter church and stops to speak to the Vicar. ''Ere, vicar, in the Service today, I'd like yo to pray for the waife's floating kidneys'

'That's rather unusual, Enoch,' replies the Vicar, 'I'm not sure I can really do that'

'Whoy not,' asks Aynuk, 'Last wik yo asked us to pray for Loose Livers, and I cor see much difference, mesel ...'

Steve

And now in Queen's English?

 

[deleted79651]

And now in Queen's English?

Enoch and Eli Cultural Origins for the cultural background. The Wiki article is slightly wrong citing the Express & Star as the newspaper in which Aynuk & Ayli appeared. The weekly cartoon was carried in that august weekly publication The County Express ... Basically, every 'Irish' joke/Belgian v. French/Devonian v. Cornish/American v. Canadian etc mickey take will have an Aynuk & Ayli equivalent, very innocent and very gentle humour. An example from the First World War has Aynuk and Ayli peering over the top of the trench at the enemy on the Ridge

'Aynuk, how much did the Captain say 'eed gee [give] us for every Jerrman wot we killed?'
'5 bob; why'd yo ask, Ayli?'
'Well, dow luk now, Aynuk, but there's ten thousand quid's wuth just come ova that Bonk' [hill]

Steve

 

[sedge]

It's a dead lazy dialect, really, thinking about it. I wonder for starters whether the reason H's are always dropped has anything at all to do with when you make a really pronounced H sound like the elocution lesson rhyme saying in Hertfordshire, Herefordshire and Huntingdonshire hurricanes hardly ever happen, you know what I mean, violently expelling the H sounds from ones mouth - if you happen to have and great degree of emphysema etc from a life spent working in a drop foundry & similar - you are likely to also violently expel a quantity of phlegm along with the H ......... .

In my early 20s when the word 'bonk' became used as a verb instead of what you got wherever there was mining of any sort - and indeed there is an area officially called Quarry Bank in Brierley Hill in Dudley - it just made it even more amusing to use the word as a verb rather than a dialect for the word bank. eg Who do you reckon that bloke from the Bonk's bonking this week, then ?

Or describing trains as rayways.

Dead oydul, ay it?

 

[deleted79651]

It's a dead lazy dialect, really, thinking about it. I wonder for starters whether the reason H's are always dropped has anything at all to do with when you make a really pronounced H sound like the elocution lesson rhyme saying in Hertfordshire, Herefordshire and Huntingdonshire hurricanes hardly ever happen, you know what I mean, violently expelling the H sounds from ones mouth - if you happen to have and great degree of emphysema etc from a life spent working in a drop foundry & similar - you are likely to also violently expel a quantity of phlegm along with the H ......... .

In my early 20s when the word 'bonk' became used as a verb instead of what you got wherever there was mining of any sort - and indeed there is an area officially called Quarry Bank in Brierley Hill in Dudley - it just made it even more amusing to use the word as a verb rather than a dialect for the word bank. eg Who do you reckon that bloke from the Bonk's bonking this week, then ?

Or describing trains as rayways.

Dead oydul, ay it?

Terr arfe! And the practice of the Lower & Upper Gornal residents to precede every description with a blasphemy ... The pedant in me, as an ex worker in Cradley Heath ['Ommer 'em Creydlee'], compels me to correct the geographical locations! Quarry Bonk is near Brierley Hill, which in turn is near Dudley ['Le Dudlay' as a French student described it], and not too far from 'The Loye' [Lye Cross], which is only a stone's throw from the Via Duck!

Steve [absent from the Black Country since 1983]

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}