£75 charge for school run

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

Parents driving 'gas guzzlers' on the school run are to be charged £75 a year.

Range Rover 4x4

Gas guzzler: £75 charge to drive a 4x4 to school

Those who use 4x4s and people carriers will be hardest hit by plans to start charging parents to park in bays outside schools.

The fees will vary according to how 'green' a car is, and those in smaller vehicles with lower emissions will pay nothing at all.

The scheme is currently being tested in the London borough of Richmond Upon Thames.

If it proves successful, it will be rolled out across the country.

Campaign groups and motoring organisations yesterday reacted with fury to the plans.

Sheila Rainger, of the RAC Foundation motoring charity, said: 'This is yet another stealth tax that is hitting the family budget.

'For many parents, it is necessary to have a large car as they have three children who need car seats.

'It is very worrying that tax bands linked to carbon emissions are being used more and more frequently as a means of penalising motorists.

'At a time when fuel is going up, many people don't have the money to pay for these additional charges.

'It would be better if there were incentives to drive smaller cars - such as parking closer to the school - than financial penalties for those driving larger cars.'

Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, called the scheme 'unfair and unrealistic'.

She said: 'Mums and small children are such an easy target for councils.

'They should try offering some parking provisions and stop this nonsense. Many families have three or four children and they need the space to fit child seats.'

Previously, parents in Richmond could pick up a free permit from schools allowing them to park for free on double yellow lines or in bays for ten minutes.

But under the new scheme, to be introduced in September, those driving cars with higher carbon dioxide emissions will be charged £75 a year for such a permit. Drivers of low-polluting cars will escape any charge.

In the trial, 13 schools will allow only parents with a permit to park for 15 minutes in a local bay. The Local Government Association has already warned that the scheme will be rolled out across the country in the near future.

It follows a move by Richmond Council in 2006 to link the price of residents' parking permits to engine emissions. Those with larger cars saw their permit prices triple.

Last month, the Liberal Democrat-run council in the borough also announced it was changing its 200-vehicle public transport fleet to run on biodiesel, made from recycled cooking oil.

A spokesman for the council defended the move to charge, saying it was just following the Government's lead.

He said: 'The Government is trying to reduce school-run car use and we support it. We want to drive down carbondioxide emissions and become the most sustainable county in the country.'

The council claimed that parents on the school run account for a fifth of the traffic on the borough's roads at 8.50am during term time.

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