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Driving in

Driving in Derby

Derbyshire, England. What is different here rather than what is the same everywhere.
275,344
Population, Derbyshire
Office for National Statistics, Population estimates, local authority based by single year of age (mid-2025) (as of 30 June 2025)
No zone
Charging or low emission zone
Office for National Statistics, Population estimates, local authority based by single year of age (mid-2025) (as of 30 June 2025)
DE
Postcode areas
Office for National Statistics, Population estimates, local authority based by single year of age (mid-2025) (as of 30 June 2025)

Checked on 30 June 2025.Office for National Statistics, Population estimates, local authority based by single year of age (mid-2025) (as of 30 June 2025)

No charging zone here

Derby has no clean air zone, low emission zone or congestion charge. Nothing about the age or fuel of your car changes what it costs to drive into the city, and the only motoring charges that apply are the national ones.

What is different about driving in Derby?

Very little, in charging terms. Derby runs no zone, so the national rules are the whole story. What is local is the shape of the fleet and the charging network, which the figures below describe.

Local figures for Derby

  • 26.0% of Derby households had no car or van at the 2021 census, only slightly above the England figure of 23.5%.
  • About 122,800 licensed cars were recorded in the city at the end of March 2026.
  • Derby has no clean air zone. Of the seven English zones, only Birmingham and Bristol charge private cars, and Birmingham is about 40 miles away.
  • Rapid charging is comparatively strong here: 54.7 chargers of 50kW or more per 100,000 people at 1 April 2026, against 36.6 in Birmingham.

The numbers behind those lines

Official statistics for Derbyshire
MeasureFigure
Vehicle fleet26.0% of Derby households had no car or van at the 2021 census, only slightly above the England figure of 23.5%.
Public chargingDerby has no clean air zone. Of the seven English zones, only Birmingham and Bristol charge private cars, and Birmingham is about 40 miles away.
Car ownership26.0% of Derby households had no car or van at the 2021 census, only slightly above the England figure of 23.5%.

Common questions

Is there a clean air zone in Derby?
No. Derby has no charging or low emission zone, so no daily charge applies to driving there. The nearest zone, if any, is in a different authority area.
What does a car pay to drive in Derby?
Nothing. There is no zone charge in Derby. The only motoring charges that apply are the national ones: vehicle excise duty, fuel duty and any local parking scheme.
How many public chargers are there in Derby?
Derby has no clean air zone. Of the seven English zones, only Birmingham and Bristol charge private cars, and Birmingham is about 40 miles away.
Are motoring rules different in England?
Vehicle tax, speeding penalties and licensing are set nationally, so they are the same everywhere in Great Britain. What varies locally is whether a charging zone applies and what it costs.

Sources

Related pages