SAGA — Doing things properly

The lengths local councils are going to – to be green

When it comes to the Government and local authorities’ urge to be green, the concept of targeting drivers of 4x4s and high performance vehicles is nothing new.

But now, in certain areas, if you drive what’s deemed to be a high polluting vehicle, owning it could be about to get even more expensive. The amount of CO2 emissions that your car produces could soon determine how much you’ll pay to park it.

Such is the case in the borough of Richmond, south west London. The local council is imposing an emission–beating and controversial plan to charge higher rates of parking for any vehicle that emits more than 180g/km. And that’s in addition of already raising the cost of residents’ parking permits according to CO2 emissions.

Could this be the way forward in helping to reduce the amount of high polluting cars in our towns and cities? With more and more new diesel and super–minis available with sub–120g/km CO2 emissions, it seems a good idea. But for older vehicles and many family cars, such a scheme only adds to the already high cost of motoring.

If schemes such as this continue to appear, motorists will have to dig even deeper into their already depleted pockets. With increasingly high road tax and fuel prices, the only area motorists can look to save money is with their car insurance.