Author Topic: Islington council slaps surcharge on short-stay parking for ALL diesel cars  (Read 2430 times)

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Offline The Bald Eagle

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Of course this has nothing to do with councils raising as much revenue as possible from motorists, before the parking gravy train smashes into the buffers of the self driving, self parking (for free at the nearest spot) vehicle revolution that is about to arrive.

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Islington becomes first council to slap a surcharge on short-stay parking for ALL diesel cars at an extra £2-an-hour

Diesel drivers will have to pay a £2-an-hour surcharge to park in short-stay bays
Prices range from £1.20 to £6 to use one of the 6.500 parking spots in Islington
Experts warned that the new measures will 'further antagonise' diesel owners
The surcharge doesn't take into account the different emissions outputs of cars


PUBLISHED: 13:35, 17 November 2017

The cost of some parking in the London Borough of Islington will cost more than double for drivers of diesel cars under new directives to target 'toxic pollutants' - though it won't take into account how dirty a car actually is.

The surcharge will cost all diesel motorists £2 an hour on top of existing hourly fees, which range from £1.20 to £6.

The measures, which are due to be rolled out in January, will see the cost of parking surge for diesel owners who park in any of the 6,500 short-stay bays in the area.



Islington Council, which was also the first local authority to ramp up the cost of parking for residents that own all diesel cars, said the surcharge will be introduced because 'London is on the brink of an air quality emergency' and Islington straddles several major thoroughfares with 'huge amounts of traffic putting out toxic diesel pollutants'.

Claudia Webbe, the council's executive member for environment and transport, said: 'We hope that this measure will encourage owners of diesel vehicles to switch to cleaner, more sustainable modes of transport and lead to improved air quality in the borough.'

She also urged other local authorities to consider similar schemes as poor air quality is 'a problem for all London residents'.

Islington hit all residents permits for diesel cars with a £96 surcharge on top of their existing charges in 2015.

The latest move is likely to spark uproar among those who regularly park in the North London borough, especially those driving the latest Euro 6 emissions low-CO2 producing diesel models.

Unlike the T-Charge, which only targets drivers of pre-Euro 4 emissions cars that have proven higher emissions outputs, Islington's tariff affects all diesel cars irrespective of the Euro emissions standards - even hybrids producing very little pollution in urban areas at all will have to pay £2 extra an hour to park.


Claudia Webbe, Islington Council's executive member for environment and transport. said that the area was on the brink of an 'air quality emergency'

The RAC's roads policy spokesman Nick Lyes warned that the move will 'further antagonise drivers of diesel vehicles in the borough' after Islington established a surcharge for residents' permits in 2015.

He condemned the regressive nature of the policy, saying that many families and small businesses would 'dearly wish' to switch to a new, cleaner vehicle but they cannot afford the expense.

Mr Lyes also claimed that targeting parked vehicles when other options to boost air quality may be available indicates that council officials 'perhaps are more interested in raising revenue from diesel owners', especially with councils having to tighten budgets and local authorities being made responsible for trimming air pollution levels outlined in the DEFRA Air Quality Plan earlier this year.

The RAC spokesman added: 'What’s more, imposing additional penalties on diesel vehicles could also inadvertently force people into petrol cars which we know is bad from a greenhouse gas point of view.'


Islington Council was also the first UK local authority to charge residents an extra £96 a year for a parking permit if they owned a diesel.

Both this and the short-stay parking charge doesn't take into consideration if you drive one of the latest - cleaner - Euro 6 standard diesel cars

When the same borough introduced a £96 annual surcharge on resident permits for those who own diesel cars, it said it was to 'protect residents from the health risks associated with diesel emissions'.

The scheme, which is still in place today, has been heavily criticised by local drivers, because it doesn't take into account how clean the latest diesel cars are.

For all cars made after 2001, the amount residents have to pay for a 12-month parking permit varies depending on the CO2 emissions output of their vehicle.

But the £96 surcharge isn't subject to the same flexibility.

For instance, owners of a petrol car producing between 101 and 110g/km CO2 only have to pay £17.50 for a year-long permit. However, owners of a diesel car with the same emissions has to pay £113.50, with the addition of the £96 surcharge.

Even drivers of super-efficient plug-in hybrid diesels, like the Volvo V60 twin-engine which produces just 48g/m CO2 that runs predominantly in urban areas in full electric mode, are hit with the fee.

Instead of paying nothing, like all pure electric and petrol hybrids with sub-100g/km CO2, owners of the cleanest diesels are still hit with the £96 charge.

My Lyes said Transport for London's Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) - due to be introduced in 2019 - will cover a wide geographical area of the capital, including Islington, and is arguably a 'more sensible way to target the most polluting vehicles which are driving around the impacted area'.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-5092491/Islington-Council-hikes-parking-charges-diesel-cars.html
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Offline DastardlyDick

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I wondered which Council would be first to copy the Mayor's "T-charge", although I thought it would be Westminster.

Offline scalyback

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I would have thought that both petrol and diesel cars would give out the same amount and types of pollution whilst parked? Well call it Zero.

So what the council are saying seems to be, "Don't park it as we will charge you, just drive it around for a few more hours."  <bashy2> :bashy:

 


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