ULEZ-style charges spreading across the UK as councils ‘extract’ money from drivers | Politics | News

Motorists are having to pay charges worth hundreds of pounds a year to park their cars, as councils across the country impose net zero measures.

One in seven councils are now applying parking charges based on vehicle emissions, charging the highest fees for the most polluting cars.

Telegraph analysis found that some councils have hiked their rates for petrol vehicles threefold, while some motorists are being made to fork out as much as £110 extra this year for annual permits.

Diesel drivers are reported to be top of the council’s target lists, with 18 introducing separate supercharges for these vehicles. Councils maintain that those charges are necessary to better air quality and push people to use more environmentally friendly modes of transport.

However, motoring groups have hit out the charges branding them “inherently unfair” and “inconsistent”.

According to the Telegraph, Luke Bodset, a spokesman for the AA, said: “These charges discriminate against families that need larger vehicles and punish those on lower incomes who cannot afford lower emission vehicles.”

The RAC sare reported to have said that the policies “smack of councils simply trying to extract as much money as possible from drivers”.

The publication sent 275 councils freedom of information requests to see whether they imposed emission-related charges. It was found that 42 applied emissions-related charges of some kind.

Councils in the capital were most likely to impose these additional costs of drivers, with 20 of London’s 32 boroughs operating an emissions-related charging scheme. However, councils in Sheffield, Somerset and Sevenoaks in Kent were among the authorities outside the M25 that used a form of emissions-based charging policy.

Rod Dennis, an RAC spokesman, told the Telegraph: “It’s shocking to see just how many councils are charging drivers to park based on their vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions.

“We feel the very principle of this is unfair as it’s generally the case that the newer the vehicle, the cleaner the engine, so those who can’t afford to upgrade their cars are hit the hardest.

“These charges make no sense to us because when cars are parked, they are not emitting. We’d like to see national government provide clear guidance on whether councils should be allowed to set parking charges based on CO2 emissions.

“It is a serious concern that many are creating vastly different tariffs based on how they decide to interpret emissions criteria.”