THE GERMAN POLLUTION BADGE

Don Madge
November 2007

Most of this very useful information is courtesy of the Caravan Club and was passed on to us by MMM Travel Consultant and veteran motorhomer, Don Madge.

The image on the left shows Don and Maureen's Timberland next to our Four Winds motorhome waiting in Brindisi to board the ferry for Greece. On the right, we are in  Igoumenitsa, having just landed in Greece at the beginning of 2006. The Madges were again heading for Turkey

From 1 January 2008 a total of 33 German cities will require all motorists to purchase a "Pollution Badge" in the form of a windscreen sticker in order to enter city centre Umwelt or Green Zones.

The participating cities are: Augsburg, Berlin, Braunschweig, Köln (Cologne), Darmstadt, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Hannover, Heidelberg, Islfeld, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Leipzig, Leonburg, Ludwigsburg, Madgeburg, Mannheim, Mühlacker, München (Munich), Neu-Ulm, Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Pforzheim, Pleidelsheim, Regensburg, Reutlingen, Ruhr Area, Schwäbish-Gmund, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Ulm.

You must present your vehicle registration document at Pollution Badge (Umwelt Plakette) sales outlets, including vehicle repair centres, car dealers, MOT stations and vehicle licensing offices, and you will be issued with a badge, coloured red, yellow or green, according to your vehicle's Euro emission rating.

The cost of the badge is understood to be between €5 and €10 and, once issued, covers you throughout Germany for the life of your vehicle. Failure to display a badge could incur a fine of €40. The police, local authorities and traffic wardens will manage enforcement.

The system seems fairer than the LEZ as it affects all motor vehicles and the badge lasts for the life of the vehicle and covers all the participating cities.