Boris Johnson urged to stop a green ‘parking tax’ which would force people to pay up to £960 a year to park at work
BORIS Johnson was urged to intervene last night over a council’s jumbo plans for a green ‘parking tax’ of up to £960 a year.
Labour-controlled Croydon has unveiled a new ‘emissions-based’ parking permit scheme that threatens to hit motorists for millions.
Under the scheme residents of the south London borough will see the cost of parking permits rocket from £80 to as much as £300 a year from October.
But from April 2020, office, tradesman and shop workers will have to fork out as much as £750 a year to park at their business.
Doctors may be charged up to £960 to park at their surgeries. And even NHS and community care workers will be hit for up to £480.
The ultimate cost is linked to the age of the motor and the typical emissions.
The scheme mirrors other ‘workplace levies’ mooted by councils such as Edinburgh in Scotland- where the local authority triggered a revolt by teachers by threatening to charge them for parking at schools.
But campaigners last night described the plan as “vicious”.
‘GOVERNMENT’S CASH COW’
Motorists already face the highest fuel duty in Europe – handing the Treasury over £30billion a year in tax.
AA public affairs spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “Croydon’s plans to tax people hundreds of pounds just to park on these roads is vicious.”
Howard Cox, co-founder of Fair Fuel UK blasted: “Yet again the motorist is seen as a cash cow.
“The Government need to tell clueless councils that this has to be stop before others make the same ill-informed knee jerk reaction.”
Earlier this year, the Sun revealed that councillors in Hounslow were weighing up whether to charge firms £1,000-a-year for every parking space they have.
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Oxford, Reading, Bristol and Cambridge are also considering their own levies.
A Croydon council spokesman insisted the plan was designed to encourage residents on to public transport.
He said: “We take air pollution in our borough very seriously and are determined to play our part in helping to improve the environment for residents, now and for future generations.”
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