We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Car website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookies at any time
The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Norwich City Council has come up with a method of charging people to park outside their house that is new to us here at BusinessCar. Instead of charging drivers based on car emissions, a la Richmond council, Norwich is going for a more simple approach - the longer your car, the more you pay.
Norwich City Council has come up with a method of charging people to park outside their house that is new to us here at BusinessCar. Instead of charging drivers based on car emissions, a la Richmond council, Norwich is going for a more simple approach - the longer your car, the more you pay.
Presumably all that emissions testing rubbish is too complicated for the Norwich councillors. Either that or an inability to budget meant that all they could afford this year was a tape measure, but the green tax was too attractive to be passed up on.
I asked the person at the council who happened to answer my call what the reasoning behind the change was. "The increase is in line with inflation," was her first reply.
Really? The current charge is £16. If you drive a car shorter than 3.92m the charge will be, wait for it, £16. That's not in line with inflation; it's not even an increase. If you drive a monster of a car (longer than 4.45m) then the charge will be £30. That isn't in line with inflation either, that is nearly double the existing price of a permit.
Mind you, as Richmond are talking about figures of £300 for parking permits, Range Rover owners have got off lightly here.
Another spokesman for the council has come out with: "We want to encourage more people to drive smaller cars. It is far more environmentally friendly, and would also generate more parking space on the roads."
One dimension that has been conveniently ignored here is the driver. The old Mini is a small car. Yet with the right amount of skill (or lack) it can still be perfectly positioned to occupy the space that two much larger cars could park in.
And the environmentally friendly bit? Many large cars on sale today are more environmentally friendly than the badly parked clapped out Mini we spoke about earlier.
Call me cynical, but I sincerely doubt that all the extra instalments of £14 gained are going to go straight to the Borneo. I also doubt that your average small car driver will take the money they are saving and put it towards parallel parking lessons.
To give them their due, the council people said that petrol-electric hybrids and cars running on LPG should be exempt. However, this means the 4.45 m Toyota Prius takes up lots of space, but now doesn't pay at all for the privilege.
As a result, no space will be saved, and neither will the planet as a result of this confusing scheme.
BusinessCar magazine ©2019
Business Car Magazine © 2020 | Business Car is part of NS Media Group.
