Motorists face £1,000-a-year charge to park at work as greedy councils launch ‘Workplace Parking Levies’
A NEW “Poll Tax” is threatening to hit motorists with charges of up to £1,000 a year just to park at their office or school, The Sun can reveal.
Greedy councils across the UK are considering new ‘workplace parking levies’ in the latest green blitz against Brits.
Councillors in Hounslow, west London will rule in the coming weeks whether to charge firms up to £1,000 a year for every parking space they have.
And the town hall concedes the cost will likely be passed on to staff.
Oxford, Reading, Bristol and Cambridge and the London Boroughs of Merton and Camden are also considering their own levy.
And Glasgow and Edinburgh want the Scottish Parliament to include a WPL scheme in the Transport Bill north of the border.
Councils claim the levy is necessary to tackling air pollution and raising millions needed to fund improvements in public transport
But the AA last night branded it a “poll tax on wheels” and urged both Chris Grayling and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to intervene.
The Department for Transport has to sign off every scheme outside of London.
Motorists already pay nearly £35 BILLION a year in fuel duty and road tax. Firms already pay business rates.
Nottingham is currently the only council so far to have introduced a workplace parking levy – charging firms £400 per space per year to park at offices.
But last year teachers complained they were having to pay hundreds of pounds to park at their schools across Nottingham.
The Hounslow scheme would – which would only exempt NHS workers and blue-badge holders – is slated to come in early next year.
Rob Halfon, ex Tory Minister, stormed: “This is complete madness.
He told The Sun: “It’s yet another tax on motorists and all it will do is hit working people with the cost of living. It’s entirely the wrong thing to do.”
The AA said it would force staff to quit jobs and pile yet more pressure on high streets struggling to attract shoppers.”
AA president Edmund King added: “The AA accepts that cities are under pressure to cut congestion and pollution.
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“But this “poll tax on wheels” discriminates against employees who may be older and less mobile, pregnant women, the low paid and parents who combine a trip to work with school runs.”
A consultation document posted by Hounslow Council last July suggested three “potential levels of charge” - £500, £750 and £1,000 “per space, per annum”.
It insists £750 is equivalent to £3 a day – equivalent to a return bus journey.
A spokesman for Hounslow declined to comment.
She said the consultation closed yesterday.
A DfT spokesperson said: “Measures to tackle congestion in local areas are a matter for individual councils and we have been clear that councils must properly and effectively consult local businesses and address any proper concerns raised if they wish to seek to implement such a scheme.
“No proposals for Workplace Parking Levies have been received by the DfT since Nottingham’s, which itself was implemented in 2012.”
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