At the end of last month, Oxford introduced a £5 congestion charge for passenger cars driving through the city centre. Some vehicles are exempt, like taxis, emergency vehicles, and delivery vans – but what about animals?

i need one of the city councillors following me to advise whether an oxen-driven cart would be chargeable under the congestion charge

i mean they are technically zero emissions i guess so you could probably make an argument for driving one down the cornmarket

20 Nov 2025 at 12:10

I’m not a city councillor or a lawyer, but I tried to work out the answer anyway.

The first thing I found was a “Charging order” on the Oxfordshire County Council website, which looks like the legal definition of the congestion charge. Paragraph 3 says “A relevant vehicle is a Class M₁ vehicle that is not [non-chargeable or permitted]” – where “non-chargeable” and “permitted” describes the various exemptions.

The order defines Class M₁ vehicles as “those falling within class M_1(a) and class M_1(b) as specified in Schedule 1 of the Vehicle Classes Regulations, which refers to another bit of UK legislation.

That legislation is the Road User Charging and Workplace Parking Levy (Classes of Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2001 (really rolls off the tongue), the full text of which is available online. Here’s the section we’re interested in:

Category M: Motor vehicles with at least four wheels used for the carriage of passengers

In this Part, references to a “motor vehicle” are to a motor vehicle with or without a semi-trailer which—

(a) has at least four wheels;
(b) has an unladen mass exceeding 400kg or an engine with net power exceeding 15kW;
(c) is used for the carriage of passengers; and
(d) is not a motor caravan within Class L(a) or Class L(b) specified in Part III above.

Class M₁(a)
A motor vehicle which comprises no more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat.

Class M₁(b)
A motor vehicle as defined in Class M₁(a) which is drawing a trailer.

At first glance, this definition could almost include an ox-drawn carriage: four wheels, hefty enough to exceed 400kg, carrying passengers, and clearly not a motor caravan.

But I don’t think an ox counts as a “motor vehicle”, which is defined by the Road Traffic Act 1988 as “a mechanically propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads”. If your ox is only mechanically propelled in the sense of kicking and walking, it’s off the hook.

Surprisingly, UK legislation doesn’t define “mechanically propelled”. Lawyers usually define everything, even words that seem obvious. Has anybody ever tried arguing that “mechanically propelled” is ambiguous?

I did find a few mentions of one case, Chief Constable of Avon & Somerset v Fleming [1987], where somebody argued that modifying their motorbike for off-roading meant it was no longer a motor vehicle. The judge was unconvinced. (What is it with Flemings and wacky vehicles?)

Returning to the Oxford congestion charge, Category M is interesting because it excludes several other vehicles you might think of as passenger cars.

As Alisdair notes, a three-wheeled Reliant Robin doesn’t count, nor does a small, underpowered Peel P50. Based on a light reading, I believe the Robin is a Class C(a) “motor tricycle”, while a P50 is a Class D(a) “Light quadricycle”. I look forward to an owners’ club holding their annual meeting in Oxford city centre.

Practically speaking, Oxford’s congestion charge is almost certainly enforced by cameras that scan your number plate. An ox-drawn cart doesn’t have a number plate, so it won’t be charged. Other vehicles like a Renault Twizy or Reliant Robin do have number plates, so they’ll be charged even though they’re technically exempt.

To wrap up: an oxen-driven cart isn’t mechanically propelled, it’s not a motor vehicle, and the Oxford congestion charge doesn’t apply. Your ox can ride in and out of the city as much as you like.

But like all the best ideas, somebody in Cambridge thought of it first.

As a closing thought, I think it’s good that so much of the UK’s legislation is publicly available. I could find all of these documents from my phone, without going to a courtroom or a library or a government building. I don’t think about it often, but this kind of openness isn’t a given. Being able to check the law directly, even for extremely silly questions, helps keep the whole system honest.