The Traffic Law imposes penalties of 200 euros for those who fail to comply with the rules of the ZBE
As of today, close to half of the collection for traffic fines of the Madrid City Council are related to unauthorized access to the Low Emission Zones (ZBE). The capital has two Special Protection Low Emission Zones (ZBEEP) enabled, one in Madrid Centro and another in Plaza Elíptica.
Each one has its own restrictions (in the absence of a national regulation that regulates the operation and use of all LEZs that should come into force in 2023); but both have in common that, with few exceptions, they prohibit the access and circulation of vehicles without an environmental sticker from the DGT.
Green money for the Madrid City Council
Data published by the newspaper El Mundo indicate that 42% of the collection of fines from the Madrid city council have been processed from car owners who have irregularly accessed the downtown district or the low-emission zone of Plaza Elíptica.
Only in December 2021, the consistory collected 2.6 million euros for the sanctions imposed in Madrid Centro. In February 2022, the fines from the Plaza Elíptica ZBEEP began to arrive; since then and until the month of July the collection amounts to 81.9 million euros, that is, 42% of the total traffic fines processed in Madrid (not by the DGT).
In these amounts, more than 1.5 million euros of the fines appealed and annulled by the courts have been deducted.
Regarding the points that collect the most, the access to Plaza Elíptica from the A-42 occupies first place, with 26 million euros. In Madrid Centro, the accesses of Alcalá 51, Gran Vía 71 and Atocha 125 are the ones that collect the most infractions.
