Drivers face ultra low emission PARKING charges as council sneak in new punishment for motorists with older cars

DRIVERS are facing ultra low emission PARKING charges – with councils sneaking in new punishments for motorists with older cars.

Draconian councils have introduced new environmental taxes – which can double the cost of Brits parking.

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The new measures are designed to improve air quality, but also mean that drivers of more polluting petrol and diesel cars will have to pay more to park.

London borough councils with ‘emissions-based parking charges’ already in place include Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Croydon and Lambeth.

Electric cars that emit zero emissions fall into Band A of the pricing structure, and pay £120.21 per year for a parking permit in the Lambeth area, reports topgear.com.

But, drivers with cars with over 100g/km CO2 – which is most petrol and diesel models – will pay more than £200. 

Meanwhile in Greenwich a Tesla driver will only pay either £2.45 an hour or £20 a year for a resident permit.

But an owner of an older van or car will have to pay £7 an hour, or a whopping £300 a year for a permit.

On top of that, diesel motors will be slapped with an extra £50 surcharge.

However, RAC spokesman Rod Dennis says he believes charging drivers to park based on their vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions is “inherently unfair”. 

Speaking to MailOnline he said: “Charging drivers of more polluting cars more, even though the car is parked and emitting nothing, penalises those very same drivers who have the least financial means to upgrade to another vehicle. Conversely, those who can afford to switch to an electric vehicle pay far less.

“We’d like to see national government provide a steer on whether councils should be allowed to set parking charges based on CO2 emissions. The fact local authorities are creating vastly different tariffs based on how they decide to interpret emissions criteria is also a serious concern.”

It comes as Currently around 4,000 drivers are issued fines per day relating to ULEZ, with registration plates read between 75 and 80 million times a day by Sadiq Khan‘s surveillance camera network.

Drivers of non-compliant vehicles, which is broadly considered to be pre-2005 petrol and pre-2015 diesel motors, are forced to fork out a daily fee of £12.50.

TfL is able to slap drivers with a penalty charge if they fail to pay the fee, which are set at £180 but decrease to £90 if paid within two weeks.

In August, London‘s Labour mayor extended ULEZ across all of London’s 32 boroughs, meaning £12.50 daily charges for anyone driving vehicles deemed too environmentally-unfriendly.

Opponents say it will harshly penalise poorer families unable to afford more modern cars which hit stricter emissions standards.

Tradesmen needing vans to carry supplies also face higher costs which would potentially be passed on to customers’ bills.

ULEZ was initially confined to central London when first introduced in April 2019.

It was then extended to all areas within the North Circular and South Circular roads in October 2021, covering 3.8million Londoners.

But now extra 5million people are living within the zone.

TfL has claimed that nine out of 10 cars seen driving in Outer London during a average day are ULEZ compliant.