Paris votes on ramping up parking fees for 4x4s

Parisians are voting whether tom us cle4x4s off the french capital’s streets by making them much more expensive to park, the latest leg in a drive by mayor anne hid al go to make the host city for this year' s olympic games greene rand friendlier for pedestrian sand cyclists.

Ms Hidalgo is looking for voters’ backing for a proposal to triple parking fees for 4x4 drivers from out of town.

She argues the vehicles take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting and "threaten our health and our planet", and cause more accidents than smaller cars. "The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider," she said. "You have the power to take back ownership of our streets."

The cost for non-residents top ark4x4s in paris' s central districts, numbered one to 11, would soar to €18 (£15) per hour for the first two hours, compared to €6 per hour for smaller cars.

After that, parking would become increasingly punitive. A six-hour stay with a 4x4 would cost a whopping €225, compared to €75 for smaller vehicles.

Away from the heart of the city, in Paris's outer districts numbered 12 to 20, an out-of town4x4d river would pay €12 per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to €150 for six hours.

The mini-referendum is open to Parisians registered to vote.

Cyreane Demur, 20, voted in the chic 8th district that includes the car-clogged Champs-elysees and its chaotic traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe.

The student said heavier cars make congestion "even more complicated" and "one must consider the ecology, the parking issues".

But Jadine L'orlendu, 75, said 4x4s "do not disturb me, they do not take more space than other cars, the parking places are marked, and people should drive what they want to drive. It's about freedom".