DIESEL DRIVERS COSHED AGAIN!

They’ll pay up to £500 extra after shake-up

HUNDREDS of thousands of diesel drivers are to be hit by a £550million tax grab.

Philip Hammond announced higher Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on new diesel cars yesterday – and a tax rise for owners of diesel company cars.

The VED increase, which will apply to new diesel cars registered from April 1 next year, will force buyers to pay up to £500 extra in the first year of ownership and raise more than £250million in total.

All new diesels will be hit unless they meet EU ‘real‑driving’ emissions stand‑ ards, which will reflect more accurately a vehicle’s emissions in real driving condi‑ tions rather than in the lab – even though the tests are not due for two years.

But Mr Hammond said van drivers would be exempt, adding: ‘No white van man or woman will be hit by these measures.’

The owners of 12million existing diesel cars will not be affected by the changes. However, Mr Hammond will penalise the 750,000 workers who drive diesel company cars. From April next year, the tax sur‑ charge on diesel cars will rise from 3 per cent to 4 per cent, raising £295million for the Treasury over five years.

This equates to an annual tax increase of up to £250 for higher earners with more expensive company cars.

The money raised from increasing taxes on diesel drivers will support a £220mil‑ lion clean air fund to tackle pollution.

Critics said diesel drivers were being penalised having been encouraged to buy the vehicles by previous governments because they create less carbon dioxide.

Diesel cars are now being targeted because they produce more toxic nitrogen oxides than petrol engines.

But motoring campaigners welcomed the decision to extend the freeze on fuel duty for both diesel and petrol, cancelling the rise that was due in April.

Experts had expected the Chancellor to increase fuel duty by 1p for diesel and reduce it by 1p for petrol.

Yesterday, he said the Government’s decision to freeze fuel duty since 2010 had ‘saved the average car driver £850, and the average van driver over £2,100, compared to Labour’s escalator plans’.

He added: ‘Fuel duty has been frozen for the longest period in 40 years, at a cost to the Exchequer of £46billion since 2010.’

The latest freeze will cost the exchequer £4.25billion over five years, dwarfing the

‘No white van man will be hit’

amount raised from the tax rises for diesel.

Owners of new and used diesel vehicles will face a bigger tax bill as the Government cracks down on nitrogen oxide emissions.

Those who buy a new diesel car registered after April 1 next year will be pushed into the higher band of VED, based in the first year on carbon dioxide emissions. After that a flat annual rate is charged.

It means those who buy smaller diesel cars such as a Ford Fiesta will see their tax bill in the first year of ownership go up by £20. But those who buy more expensive cars such as a Land Rover Discovery or a Porsche Cayenne will see their bill go up by £400 and £500 respectively in the first year.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: ‘Manufacturers are investing heavily in the latest low-emission technology. This budget will do nothing to remove the oldest, most polluting vehicles from our roads.’

AA president Edmund King said the Government should do more to crack down on pollution from trucks and buses, and Howard Cox, from the campaign group FairFuelUK, said: ‘The VED and company car changes will be devastating on car saleability, their values, the production of new diesels and, of course, jobs.’