My son got hit with an EXTRA parking charge of £150 p.a. for parking his diesel Audi Q5 in the street outside his home. The future ?? l
Persecution of motorists could soon make driving an elite pursuit
One London council's planned reform of parking permits offers a worrying glimpse into the future
By TOM WELSH
28 February 2021 Daily Telegraph
Drivers could soon face a new form of punishment. Merton council, in south London, is planning to charge some motorists over £500 a year just to park near to their homes, in a move that is expected to set a trend across the country. The highest fee will apply to owners of older, more polluting vehicles, but it is a travesty nonetheless.
The point of parking permits is surely to ensure that local people have priority when parking on their own roads. Now, via diesel and emissions surcharges, they are being used to render car ownership unaffordable for all but the relatively wealthy, who in the case of parking permits are more likely to be able to escape such charges if they live in houses with driveways.
Members of the environmental-transport nexus will claim that the dizzying array of taxes, levies, charges and penalties on driving are designed to incentivise a switch to newer, cleaner vehicles, or better still to public transport. Road tax is similarly graded to penalise owners of more polluting vehicles, as do low emissions zones. Subsidies or exemptions, meanwhile, are lavished on electric vehicles.
They argue, too, that driving in the UK is too cheap. They would be delighted if the Chancellor were to end the freeze on fuel duty in his Budget this week, not out of any fiscal rectitude, but because they think that the environmental costs of driving are not sufficiently captured by existing levels of duty.
Their diagnosis is flawed. People do not drive because it is inexpensive relative to other forms of transport, but because it is the only practical way of getting around. Families, pensioners, those who live far from stations or bus routes, or those who simply prize the flexibility that cars provide are not going to switch en masse to public transport.
If driving becomes too expensive in cities like London, they will not get on the Tube or the bus. They may leave the city.
The idea that millions can smoothly switch to cleaner vehicles is also questionable, to say the least. Obviously they may be able to buy a smaller low-emission vehicle. But will it be equivalent to their existing car?
Some drivers will face the almost impossible choice between paying hundreds, even thousands of pounds, in new annual charges or taxes, or spending tens of thousands of pounds on a new car that may not even be appropriate for their needs.
And this on top of the existing cost of driving in the UK.
The vice is tightening, and my fear is that the target of switching the country to electric vehicles will become, year-by-year, an effective ban on other types of engine as the financial cost of using them increases because of decisions of councils such as Merton.
If this country truly believed in freedom, it would be making it cheaper, not more expensive, to drive. Instead, barring some dramatic technological leap forward, we are at risk of turning it into an elite pursuit.
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>>those who simply prize the flexibility that cars provide.........
...........can pay for it.
Make the congestion charge in London £200 per day, make it apply to residents, give those [very few] who need exemption a pass.
Tax t.f. out of more polluting vehicles.
>> Families, pensioners, those who live far from stations or bus routes,
They're using parking permits in rural villages where people have no other parking choices?
Clear cars off the road using parking permits - brilliant idea. More power...
>>People do not drive because it is inexpensive relative to other forms of transport
Yes they do.
>>but because it is the only practical way of getting around
That is "practical" spelled "convenient", I assume?
>> my fear is that the target of switching the country to electric vehicles will become, year-by-year, an effective ban on other types of engine as the financial cost of using them increases
That is not my fear, that is my hope.
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It's about parking charges in Merton, a Borough in SW London that's neither Inner nor Outer London. An urban area with urban problems of both traffic volume and traffic pollution.
I think I'll be long past driving before such controls are, on any interpretation, needed in places most of us live.
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Practicality vs convenience.
Using public transport to get to my last office would take over 5 hours door to door, mixture of walking, bus, train to London, (tube or bus depending on next train time and station) train out of London, walk to the office. Did this on a few occasions when I knew I wouldn't be in a fit state to drive home, even after spending the night in a hotel.
Driving took about 2 & 1/2 hours on average, sometimes more, sometimes less. The best I did the 100 miles was 1 hour 45.
If public transport was better and businesses were seriously encouraged to move out of London and other major cities it could work. However, local experience suggests it wont happen. The authorities promised the local borough £ms to develop local infrastructure with the promise of factories and jobs being relocated from London. The council spent the money and the authorities realised that London would be impoverished if they continued with that policy so reneged on the deal.
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Its simply the cost of living in Merton, you dont like it - move out.
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>> Practicality vs convenience.
Where do you live and where is your work? Are residential parking permits a 'thing' where you live?
One of the most common reasons for needing parking permits is people outside the area finding it convenient to drive to a street near a station/school/college and leave their car there all day.
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>> >> Practicality vs convenience.
My sister-in-law lives in Clapham. The family dont have a car, they use the excellent public transport most of the time, or hire a zip car if they need one.
Its practical, convenient, and transport costs work out about the same.
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>> >> >> Practicality vs convenience.
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>> My sister-in-law lives in Clapham. The family dont have a car, they use the excellent
>> public transport most of the time, or hire a zip car if they need one.
When I lived in Harrow I'd no need whatever to drive locally except for social events. Even when living further out in Watford the car could go 21 days or longer without being moved.
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Cars dominate the travel arena in almost all cases.
Variable costs per mile are ~10-20p per mile for petrol/diesel. Could argue endlessly about what share of fixed costs to include, whether the vehicle is new or s/h, city car vs large SUV, peak or off peak fares, 1 or 5 people in car etc
Cars are also much faster except in major cities or if start and end points are near public transport stopping points.
Cars offer flexibility on journey times and are not reliant on public transport schedules. Society is now built on the assumption of travel freedom where work, social, schooling, family etc can be distant from one another.
Even if the price of fuel were doubled, I doubt this would materially change the perceived benefit of cars over public transport.
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>>Even if the price of fuel were doubled, I doubt this would materially change the perceived >>benefit of cars over public transport.
I suspect one would see some neat advances come through if that were the case, such as light exotic materials for body panels, seats etc, to minimise weight and make cars more efficient.
Needs to be done for electric cars anyway.
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Now there are resident only roads that you can't even drive down without receiving a fine, no deliveries, no wrong turns, nothing...
It's been highlighted at our Trust because some of our community nurses have received fines when visiting patients and the council have implemented these 'zones' without any warning to the hospital.
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How do the council/whoever know that they don't live there?
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>> How do the council/whoever know that they don't live there?
I suspect residents need to register with the Council.
The policy intent is to control 'rat runs' that turn residential roads into commuter highways.
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They have wardens to check if they have passes or not? Or something else?
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>> They have wardens to check if they have passes or not? Or something else?
I only know what I've read in various places but I'd guess cameras play a big part.
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That's probably right - I got a camera based parking fine from one of the London councils a few years back. I expect the cameras are much more prevalent now.
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They have parking enforcement camera vans, cruise down the road photographing everyone by GPS, and computer checks for no residents parking permit registered and send you a fine.
And you need to have the right permit for the right sections of road.
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Thanks for all the info, not something I'd ever come across before.
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The cost of parking in the street outside your hom - No FM2R
