Diesel car drivers to be charged £250 a year to park near their homes
Diesel car drivers are being charged as much as £250 more per year to park near their homes.
Analysis found that on-street parking permits are more expensive for diesel vehicles in several parts of the country.
Eighteen of London’s 32 boroughs have introduced a parking surcharge for diesel cars.
Hackney is the most expensive area in the capital, with diesel car drivers charged an extra £250 for on-street parking.
This is followed by Islington, which charges an additional £220, and Merton, which charges £150 in extra permit fees.
Eighteen of London ‘s 32 boroughs have introduced a parking surcharge for diesel cars (file image)
Outside of London, Brighton and Hove City Council has excluded diesel cars from its cheapest permits, meaning drivers can pay up to £62.05 more.
Diesel car drivers are also hit with extra parking costs in Edinburgh and Bath.
Luke Bosdet, of the AA, said the extra charges were ‘simply a council cash grab’. He added that permits should be used to ‘regulate on-street parking for the benefit of residents, not as a tool to demonise car choice’.
A Hackney Council spokesman said it introduced a diesel surcharge in 2015 to combat the ‘public health crisis’ from ‘London’s toxic air’.
Darren Rodwell, for the Local Government Association, said diesel surcharges – revealed by the Press Association news agency – were ‘a matter for each council’.
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