Your parking charges could be about to soar… and it’s especially bad news if you’re a diesel driver

Motorists in London are expected to pay more for parking after another local council announced it would introduce vehicle emissions-based tariffs.

Lambeth Council is the latest local authority in the capital to start charging emissions-based parking.

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The new measures are intended to improve air quality, but also mean that drivers of more polluting petrol and diesel vehicles have to pay higher parking fees.

Boroughs of London already applying ’emissions-based parking charges’ include Lewisham, Merton, Newham and Croydon.

Electric cars, which emit zero emissions, fall into Band A of the pricing structure, paying £120.21 a year for a permit to park in the Lambeth area, topgear.com reports.

But drivers of cars with CO2 emissions above 100g/km – which is the case for most petrol and diesel models – pay more than £200.

And for parking a vehicle weighing over 255g/km (Band M), the amount is up to £500 per year.

The tax rates follow the same values ​​that determine how much road tax you pay on a vehicle, while non-Euro 6 engines also face a £140 diesel surcharge.

To justify its move, Lambeth City Council cited a 2021 survey carried out by Imperial College which concluded that air pollution kills over 4,000 people in London each year.

And the University of Oxford presented data back in 2018 showing that car pollution costs the NHS around £605million.

The real problem for petrol and diesel car drivers, however, is that they can’t necessarily afford to switch to an electric or plug-in hybrid model, putting pressure on those on lower incomes – and not much is apparent change in the foreseeable future.