Should you pay extra for parking if in case you have an enormous automobile? | EUROtoday

It’s a controversial matter that divides opinion: ought to individuals with greater vehicles pay extra for parking?

Cardiff has grow to be the newest council to ponder the query. As a part of a public session, it’s asking for views on whether or not residents with bigger automobiles ought to pay extra for permits.

“We’re consulting on the principle of whether it’s right… if you’re driving a larger or more polluting vehicle, to pay a bit more,” council chief Huw Thomas instructed the BBC this week.

“These are vehicles that take up more space, they cause more damage to our roads, and if they happen to hit a pedestrian they’re likely to cause more serious injuries,” he mentioned.

Other councils, together with Bristol, Oxford and Haringey in north London are additionally wanting into the choice of charging bigger automobiles extra.

So, again to Mr Thomas’s query: is it proper?

We headed to Haringey to see what native residents thought.

“I think it’s a load of crap,” Nev says, adding he has grown weary of traffic-reducing and environmental policies in the borough.

“We’re already paying extra for those who’ve received an enormous automobile. You’re paying extra tax, you pay extra for petrol to fill it. That’s your small business.”

But fellow resident Gary Oliva says: “If you possibly can afford a big automobile, then you possibly can afford to pay for it.

“Public transport in London is very, very good. If you want to get from A to B get on a bus, get on a train, get on the tube.”

However, Selin Akdenez, who’s a single mum and drives an SUV, says parking in London is already costly, and the prospect of paying extra for residential parking is one thing that she couldn’t afford.

“I disagree because I have a child so I do have to have a bigger car,” she says. “My mother is really old. If she needs a GP appointment or dentist, I have to take her.”

A YouGov poll last year found 39% of adults thought there should be higher parking fees for bigger and heavier cars, while 53% thought all cars should have the same parking fees.

The split was much closer in London than in any other region, with 45% thinking bigger cars should pay higher fees, and 44% thinking they shouldn’t.

But what do we actually mean by bigger?

In Haringey, where the price of a permit already varies depending on your car’s emissions, the council proposed adding a 5% surcharge for medium vehicles 4-4.49m long, and a 10% surcharge for large vehicles over 4.5m long.

To put that in context, a Kia Picanto would count as a small car, a Volvo V40 or BMW 1 Series medium, and an MG5 or Land Rover Discovery large.

Haringey’s public consultation has just closed. The council says no decisions have been taken on any of the proposals.

In Belgium, Brussels has a length-based system in place in certain parts of the city. A residential permit costs €25 (£21) per year but if your vehicle is over 4.9m long you pay an additional charge of €120 per year.

In Cardiff, weight is the factor under consideration, whether vehicles over 2.4 tonnes revenue weight should pay more, although no price has been suggested. Revenue weight refers to the maximum weight of a vehicle, including passengers, fuel and luggage.

In Autocar’s list of the best family SUVsfour out of the top five would exceed this limit – the Kia EV9, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Volvo XC60.

Car weight is the model used in some French cities. Earlier this year, Parisians voted to triple parking rates for cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more to €18 an hour in the inner city, although this does not apply to residents.

Oliver Lord is from the Clean Cities campaign group, which worked on the campaign in Paris arguing that SUVs are dangerous and bad for the environment.

He says it is “inevitable” that size-based parking prices will come to the UK, pointing to the truth that 60% of automobile gross sales within the UK final yr have been SUVs.

“These bigger cars not only burn more fuel, they take up more space,” he says.

Even big electric cars have issues because they take up more room and are more dangerous than smaller electric cars, he adds.

“If you’ve not only got more cars but the cars are bigger, how are you going to adapt your city to climate change?”

But Erin Baker, editorial director at AutoTrader, is towards blanket insurance policies based mostly on measurement as a result of she says vehicles can range enormously. For occasion, some fashions could also be lengthy or heavy however nonetheless be fuel-efficient.

“Yes it tends to be the bigger the car the heavier it is and so it’s less fuel-efficient. But it’s a clumsy way of looking at it,” she says.

She additionally says it is not at all times the case that bigger vehicles have wealthier house owners.

“If you look at key workers or people who live outside the city – these are not two-car families, these are one car [households] because that’s what the family budget allows for. So it will be big – an estate or an SUV.”

Luke Bosdet from motoring organisation the AA says it’s affordable to cost extra for automobiles that exceed the size of an ordinary parking house.

“I would think that vehicle length is a measure that residents would understand better and go along with, particularly with the squeeze on parking in residential streets.”

However, he says: “Other reasons for increased permit costs, such as fuel type or level of CO2 emissions are not. Other taxes, such as vehicle excise duty, company car tax, ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) and CAZ (Clean Air Zone) charges do that.”

Any additional prices imposed on drivers could be seen as unfair, says Erin Baker.

“Consumers think: don’t penalise me, and don’t penalise me when the car industry is building bigger cars.”

Back in Haringey, resident Amanda Davies says the proposal to cost bigger vehicles extra to park “just adds to the fuel of the council being seen as making money out of car users”.

She has a Mini at present, however says if she did wish to get an even bigger automobile, she wouldn’t wish to be penalised for that by having to pay extra for parking.

“It’s a really tough one because yes we should discourage people to have cars in inner cities full stop, because they are huge polluters.

“However, some people are dependent on a car for work, for disability or for whatever reason – so I think it’s just about finding a balance.

“It’s an fascinating matter as a result of we do not use our automobile that usually, and now I’m contemplating that we should always eliminate it.”