It has now emerged that one in seven councils charges for parking based on vehicle emissions, and that some local authorities have tripled their rates for petrol cars in the last year.
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The Telegraph have also found that 18 local authorities have introducing separate surcharges for diesel vehicles.
The charges have sparked fury amongst motoring groups, who have argued that they have penalised drivers who can’t afford a new car. Older cars tend to produce higher emissions that new models.
The new measures are designed to improve air quality, but also mean that drivers of more polluting petrol and diesel cars will have to pay more to park.
London borough councils with ‘emissions-based parking charges’ already in place include Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Croydon and Lambeth.
Luke Bodset, a spokesman for the AA, said: “These charges discriminate against families that need larger vehicles and punish those on lower incomes who cannot afford lower emission vehicles.”
The RAC said the policies “smack of councils simply trying to extract as much money as possible from drivers”.
The Telegraph sent freedom of information requests to 275 council, revealing that 42 used some form of emissions-based parking charges.
The data revealed that London councils were the most likely to implement these charges, with responses revealing that at least 20 of the capital’s 32 boroughs have them in place.
The Telegraph also revealed that Labour and Liberal Democrat controlled local authorities were leading the way with the emissions-based charges.
Of the 23 Labour-led London boroughs, 15 confirmed that they have emissions based parking schemes in place.
Rod Dennis, an RAC spokesman, said: “It’s shocking to see just how many councils are charging
drivers to park based on their vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“We feel the very principle of this is unfair as it’s generally the case that the newer the vehicle, the cleaner the engine, so those who can’t afford to upgrade their cars are hit the hardest.
“These charges make no sense to us because when cars are parked, they are not emitting.
“We’d like to see national government provide clear guidance on whether councils should be allowed to set parking charges based on CO2 emissions.
“It is a serious concern that many are creating vastly different tariffs based on how they decide to interpret emissions criteria.”
The latest revelations from the Telegraph come as thousands of drivers are issued fines per day relating to ULEZ, with registration plates read between 75 and 80 million times a day by Sadiq Khan‘s surveillance camera network.
Drivers of non-compliant vehicles, which is broadly considered to be pre-2005 petrol and pre-2015 diesel motors, are forced to fork out a daily fee of £12.50.
TfL is able to slap drivers with a penalty charge if they fail to pay the fee, which are set at £180 but decrease to £90 if paid within two weeks.
In August, London‘s Labour mayor extended ULEZ across all of London’s 32 boroughs, meaning £12.50 daily charges for anyone driving vehicles deemed too environmentally-unfriendly.
Opponents say it will harshly penalise poorer families unable to afford more modern cars which hit stricter emissions standards.
Tradesmen needing vans to carry supplies also face higher costs which would potentially be passed on to customers’ bills.
ULEZ was initially confined to central London when first introduced in April 2019.
It was then extended to all areas within the North Circular and South Circular roads in October 2021, covering 3.8million Londoners.