What is the London T-Charge? How to check if your car passes the Euro 4 emissions test

It’s about to get even more expensive to drive in London. From October 23rd, the Mayor of London is introducing a “T-Charge” and that’ll force some car owners to pay another £10 on top of the standard congestion charge.

The new charge will be applied to diesel and petrol cars that don’t meet the Euro 4 emission regulations and means those with affected cars will have to pay £21.50 to get into central London. Interestingly, those with classic cars (anything that’s over 40 years old) won’t have to pay the new T-Charge.

As you’d expect, the new rules are designed to clamp down on emissions, and follow new research that showed that up to eight million Londoners live in areas that don’t pass the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines.

How do I know if my car passes the Euro 4 emission test?

In advance of the new charge, the Mayor of London has rolled out a new tool to help you check if your car is affected. All you need to do is follow the link here, and then input all the relevant data – from make and model to engine size.

“Our toxic air is a shameful health crisis and London motorists deserve to know how much filthy emissions new cars may produce before they purchase them,” said Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. “The Cleaner Vehicle Checker will help provide the accurate and independent information Londoners need to make informed choices and opt for cleanest vehicles.”

The new tool may be useful those with new cars, but the Mayor fails to mention that because it’s just for new vehicles, it doesn’t work with cars made registered before 2013. And annoyingly, it’s those older cars which are more likely not to pass the Euro 4 emissions.

On the same website as the new vehicle checker, there’s a link to the used vehicle checker, but the website says that it’ll be ready in 2018. That’s not ideal, considering the new scheme starts next week.

We’ll update this article when we find a more useful checker, but this article from the RAC should help in the meantime.