New London parking surcharge for diesel drivers - predicted to spread to rest of UK

[citizenB]

This is so very wrong - back in 2001 the Labour Government encouraged the purchase of Diesel vehicles, reducing diesel and pumping money into the industry.

 

Now those vehicle owners are being heavily penalised with increased fuel, taxes and now parking charges !

 

 

Enough to make you choke! First we were bribed to buy diesel cars. Now they want to tax us for doing so. One furious driver says the latest price hike is an outrage

 

When I bought my diesel-powered Citroen C5 estate six years ago, the last thing on my mind was that I would end up being treated as an environmental vandal by a government minister.

 

Mr McLoughlin now says incentives introduced by Gordon Brown in 2001, which led to the number of diesel cars on Britain’s roads more than doubling from 3.45 million to 8.1 million, were utterly misguided

 

 

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3632355/First-bribed-buy-diesel-cars-want-tax-us.html

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/11007326/Diesel-car-drivers-betrayed-as-EU-cracks-down-on-Britain-over-air-pollution.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/01/uk-government-wrong-to-subsidise-diesel-says-former-minister

 

 

 

 

Diesel car drivers have been dealt another blow as they face extra charges to park in central London under a pilot scheme which experts warn could "spread like wildfire".

 

As part of a crackdown on air pollution Westminster City Council will in April become the first town hall in Britain to impose a parking surcharge on "polluting" diesel cars.

 

The scheme will attempt to deter motorists to drive diesel cars into the area by forcing them to pay an extra 50 per cent in addition to the normal charge of £4.90-an-hour to park their cars.

 

Although it will be deeply unpopular with many motorists, it is expected to be highly lucrative for the council, making it a potentially attractive policy for others to adopt.

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/27/new-london-parking-surcharge-diesel-drivers-predicted-spread/

[citizenB]

IMHO, the government/motor industry should be offering huge discounts on petrol vehicles and persuading diesel vehicle owners to trade in.

[MaxxPower]

I have to drive 75 miles each way to work. Diesel is pretty much my only option.

 

By all means charge extra to low mileage diesel users, but some of us have no real choice in the matter if we don't want to double our fuel costs.

[unclebulgaria67]

Think people have to remember that decisions are made based on the information available at the time. We have seen various vehicle manufacturers guilty of fabricating their performance tests, by being clever with the electronic/software controls.

 

At some point within 10 to 20 years, once battery technology has advanced, i think a majority of vehicles will be electric. The problem with electric is the range, recharging and battery cost. If they can achieve a range of say 300 miles per charge and a fast charge of say less than 5 minutes to get home for a longer charge, then people will look to switch. The other major issue is battery costs are a large part of the cost of buying electric vehicles.

[MaxxPower]

Personally I think Hydrogen cars are the future rather than electric.

[Surfer01]

Electric cars should be consigned to the history books as they are just as polluting as petrol or diesels vehicles and have a greater impact on the environment than petrol or diesel vehicles. after all they have to be built just like any other vehicle and then transported on the back of a diesel low loader to their destination. In addition, battery platforms have to be built for them and at the end of life after 5 or years, the batteries have to be recycled.

At present our current electric infrastructure can barely cope with current demand so if over the next 5 years we have an additional 1m electric cars on the road, they are burning a lot of fossil fuel to be charged.

What about charging points all over the cities which have to be built and implemented? Lastly no government is going to be happy losing millions in revenue so will have to get that revenue from elsewhere which means increased taxes including an increased tax on electric!

[king12345]

Electric cars should be consigned to the history books as they are just as polluting as petrol or diesels vehicles and have a greater impact on the environment than petrol or diesel vehicles. after all they have to be built just like any other vehicle and then transported on the back of a diesel low loader to their destination. In addition, battery platforms have to be built for them and at the end of life after 5 or years, the batteries have to be recycled.

At present our current electric infrastructure can barely cope with current demand so if over the next 5 years we have an additional 1m electric cars on the road, they are burning a lot of fossil fuel to be charged.

What about charging points all over the cities which have to be built and implemented? Lastly no government is going to be happy losing millions in revenue so will have to get that revenue from elsewhere which means increased taxes including an increased tax on electric!

 

Amen to that

[Specmaster]

What a cheek to charge 50% extra parking for us diesel drivers. What about all the freight that now has to be transported across the country by road, huge diesel engines in those lorries, all because some government chose to take an axe to the rail network years ago. The government should take it upon themselves to stop shirking their responsibility in all of this, they over the years have forced this issue, first by the rail network, then trying to get more people to switch to diesel engined cars, its a disgrace this is. It will also mean a huge cost to the councils because for them to make the charge effective, they will need to update all parking meters to ones where you have to enter your registration number, so that the meter can then via internet / network check what you car is powered by in order to actually collect this increase in fees. If this then rolls out across the UK, it will carry a massive extra cost just for the infrastructure to support it, who will ultimately be carrying this extra cost we, the public.

[citizenB]

What a cheek to charge 50% extra parking for us diesel drivers. What about all the freight that now has to be transported across the country by road, huge diesel engines in those lorries, all because some government chose to take an axe to the rail network years ago. The government should take it upon themselves to stop shirking their responsibility in all of this, they over the years have forced this issue, first by the rail network, then trying to get more people to switch to diesel engined cars, its a disgrace this is. It will also mean a huge cost to the councils because for them to make the charge effective, they will need to update all parking meters to ones where you have to enter your registration number, so that the meter can then via internet / network check what you car is powered by in order to actually collect this increase in fees. If this then rolls out across the UK, it will carry a massive extra cost just for the infrastructure to support it, who will ultimately be carrying this extra cost we, the public.

 

 

Indeed - I think we need to get freight back on trains and barges.

[Ibsys]

This latest thing with diesels and charging extra for parking etc, what about those with light commercials, as in Ford Transit, full of tools going to customers homes and premises. Thye don't do petrol versions and in country areas it is too far to use electric vehicles.