Diesel car drivers in London paying 10 times more to park than e-vehicles

Diesel car drivers in London are being forced to pay 10 times more to park than owners of electric models.

Greenwich council is charging owners of the most polluting vehicles up to £7 an hour for on-street parking, compared with as little as 70p for ecofriendly cars, Telegraph analysis shows.

Drivers are charged tiered parking rates based on how much carbon dioxide vehicles emit.

Some residents are being made to pay an extra £280 a year for parking permits because their vehicles emit more CO2, with prices ranging from £20 to £300. Business parking permits in the south-east London borough also cost as much as 15 times more for polluting vehicles, up to a maximum of £825 a year, compared with just £55 for the most environmentally friendly models.

The Ulez-style emissions-based parking scheme is part of the Labour-run council’s “commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030”.

Greg Smith MP, who sits on the House of Commons’ transport select committee, said the “bonkers” scheme would “punish” residents and businesses. “Councils need to understand the real world, where real people are trying to go about their lives, get to work, do the family shop and take the kids to school,” he said.

“Bonkers policies that seek to punish people that drive what some bureaucrat deems the ‘wrong sort’ of car will both punish their own residents and harm the businesses that rely on cheap and accessible local parking.”

Councillor Matt Hartley, Greenwich’s Conservative opposition leader, said: “Not content with backing Ulez charges to the hilt, the leadership of Greenwich council is intent on punishing car owners further with these parking charge increases.

“I am deeply concerned about the impact these hikes are having on our high streets and shopping parades – and on household finances, which are already stretched.”

Greenwich council was approached for comment. The council is among the dozen London boroughs including Hackney, Lambeth and Kensington & Chelsea to introduce rates based on how much CO2 vehicles emit.

Outside the capital, Bath and North East Somerset council introduced an emissions-based charging structure in eight council-owned car parks in September. St Albans in Hertfordshire has adopted a similar scheme for parking permits. Motorists parking in Brighton and Hove could also soon face charges based on their vehicles’ emissions, the city council announced this month.

It comes amid London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone and 20mph speed limits. Non- compliant vehicles are charged £12.50 to drive in the Ulez, which was expanded to cover all 32 Greater London boroughs in August.

London motorists have been forced to pay nearly £2.7bn over the past five years in fines and low emission zone charges, analysis revealed last month.

Meanwhile, more than 50pc of London roads now have a 20mph speed limit, up from 25pc in 2016.

Phil Thompson in action against West Ham during the 1980 FA Charity Shield at Wembley stadium. His tax case centred around off-payroll working rules, or IR35