Environmental problems Smoke and fire

Exhaust smoke and idling vehicles

Well maintained modern vehicles should produce very little smoke, whereas excessively smoky vehicles cause air pollution and can be a health hazard. There is also usually no need to idle a vehicle engine unnecessarily.

You can:

• Report an excessively smoky lorry or bus exhaust to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
• Report a smoky taxi or private passenger vehicle, or idling vehicle (including buses and coaches), to us using the link below:

You will need:

• make, model and colour of the vehicle;
• vehicle registration number (and taxi licence number if applicable);
• company name (if apparent);
• location, date and time of the incident.

We will:

• Investigate in partnership with other agencies, and take action against drivers who cause pollution. 

Further information on idling vehicles can be found here.