Victoria and I spotted this shoe sole as we walked towards the bus stop. We were on our way to catch either the 75 or the 76 – whichever came first (either will do) and then change for the A1 to Bristol Airport and fly on to Mallorca for Benny Wain’s 50th.
Earlier, I’d dropped No. 2 daughter off a few stops away so she could catch her bus into town. As it turned out we all could of got the same bus, but she’d originally asked to be dropped in Bedminster which I was driving towards but on the way there I panicked: I wasn’t 100% sure if my K11 Micra was exempt for the actual Bristol city centre. No. 2 quickly checked the Clean Air Zone vehicle checker for me on her phone, but by the time we had the answer, we were already well on our way to Hartcliffe.
Even as I write this, I’m still not completely convinced that my little Micra 998cc is allowed through the centre or not.
The general rules suggest a 2002 car would be charged, but the official vehicle checker says my particular Micra is exempt from the Bristol, Birmingham and London emission zones. Apparently, its engine met the clean-air criteria ahead of its time. While most 2002 K11 Micras do not meet the Euro 4 standards, a small batch of late-model K11s (particularly the 1.0L and 1.4L engines produced between late 2000 and 2003) were actually built early to meet stricter European emissions limits.
If the DVLA has your specific car logged as meeting those lower NOx emission limits, the system automatically grants you a permanent national exemption.
So now you know. Well I do at least even if I don’t believe it!