New cpz charges!

Ali

and after a couple of years you publish the election special ! Should sharpen up the Councillors as well as they are ultimately responsible

sharybo

I'd be really interested to know quite how much money is generated by the CPZ. I really feel that motorists are unfairly targetted in London. Having lived outside of London for the last couple of years having a car has cost me a ridiculous amount of money in the last 3 months compared to what it cost to run outside of London.

A parking permit to park outside my own house is £150 a year. My insurance has gone from £33 a month to £66. My car has been broken into - £60 excess and a lost sat nav. I've got a ticket for inadvertantly being in the bus lane on a Sunday lunchtime in Broad Lane (surely no need for bus lanes outside of central London to be operational in the middle of the day on a Sunday?). And whilst my car was clearly broken into with no passenger window and couldn't be moved I got a parking ticket. So all in all, 3 months of living in SG has cost me over £300 extra, and that's not including the costs of buying the car and taxing it, let alone high fuel costs. (I know there's been lots of arguments around whether having a car is necessary in London so let's not start that argument off again as I know many think a car is an unecessary luxury - whatever your views on this I don't think it's a fair justification to rip car owners off).

One thing in particular that annoys me about the parking restrictions is the way that the parking wardens swoop down like vultures on the evenings that Arsenal are playing and catch out all those people that think they are OK to park after 6.30pm. I was really upset to see a chap that regularly visits an elderly neighbour get a ticket when he was presumably doing a good deed. Do people really park as far away as Victoria Road to go to the football? Seems to me like an easy way to make money out of unsuspecting people to me.

SBW

Permits used to be issued as a courtesy to drivers so people could park near their homes. They cost about a fiver and the money was used to cover administration costs. Now they are just another income stream - hence the increases and the swooping wardens

Ali

If you’re in Haringey and Paying £150 you must have a big or polluting car ? <http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/environment_and_transport/parking/parking_permits_all/parkingpermits/price_list.htm#residents>; Keep it 1549cc or less and its £50 and less for insurance and buy a map it is cheaper than SatNav and better fun !

sharybo

I have a 4x4, which is diesel and less than two years old, so I'm quite sure less polluting than many other cars in the cheaper bracket, but yes, it falls into the most expensive category for the permits. I drove behind an old VW Polo the other day that had black smoke spewing out the back and thought it quite ironic that as it had a small engine they'd qualify for the cheaper permit! If I'd been here in London when I changed my car I'd have chosen something small and more practical like a Fiat 500 or even a Smart car, but I've been living in quite a remote area and was totally dependent on my car which is why I chose a 4x4 as it was the most practical for that environment (and stopped me getting snowed in last winter!) Unfortunately I can't just change my car, so I am stuck with the huge costs associated with it.

And yes, I'll be using a map from now on - I'm not spending a fortune on another sat nav - my car is costing enough as it is!

Mirandola

I can't quite believe I am being this geeky, but here goes: Islington differentiate by carbon emissions, like VED has done simce 2001 or so. Carbon relates directly to fuel. It doesn't relate to local air quality: particulate matter and nitrous oxides are the villains there. So a car might spew out black smoke and still be low carbon; conversely a fuel-inefficient car might score well on air quality.

I'm available for weddings and bat mitzvahs.

twinspark

Does anyone have air quality data for SG before/after the CPZ's?

Be interested to see what effect if any they have had - much like the Congestion charge I suspect the effect is mostly a displacement of traffic and parking habits. Green has been a big 'brand' for a while now but surely someone will notice that cars pollute more at 20mph when in a lower gear. If local authorities have a genuine concern for air quality as opposed to cash-raking why not mount a class action against the fuel companies or car manufacturers to create better products? In the interim I would settle for a traffic scheme designed by someone who actually was once inside a motor car.

Archer

I own a Audi A2 1.4 TDI, my 2010 (and first permit on this car) was £30. My current is £50, which was nice because I was expecting to pay £60. I am actually happy about my reduction since the council have reduced the amount of roads that I can park on... I also only pay £30 a year in road tax - this is all due to the CO2 emissions which the car emits, It gets like 42 - 50 mpg. Does anyone else own a car that is cheap to park/run?

Papa

The tiered parking costs unfairly penalise those with older cars.

Manufacturers have responded to tiered CO2 based road tax schemes etc by bringing down the levels on new cars. This is good.

You can buy some remarkably low C02 new BMW saloons for example.
Some are in the C band and that will get you a £25 permit from Islington

Problem is not everyone can afford to swap their existing car for a brand new gleaming BMW 3 Series junior executive motor.

And if everyone did, it might bring down overall emissions but the cost to the environment would be terrible. The environmental cost of producing a new car far outweighs the limited pollution of keeping a rarely used 12-year-old diesel Golf, but that will cost you £189 a year to park because it has a 1.9 litre engine.

We have a fuel efficient eight-year-old Alfa diesel hatchback paid for ourselves that does about 5,000 miles a year. Our parking permit has gone up from £70 to £109.

If I had a shiny new company BMW driven 20,000 miles a year I would pay just £25 a year.

Nice one Islington.

Archer

I agree. And the funny thing is - the Audi a2 was decommissioned in 2005 and was only manufactured for 5 years. Mines 11 years old now - it makes me wonder why they would decommison such an economical car. If I wanted anything close to the MPG or car expenses I pay now, including the expenses for permits, I would have to fork out stupid amounts for a new lower CO2 emission - GPRS tracked and ridiculously kitted out car. No thanks.

Ian

As @PapaL points out the environmental argument for imposing higher costs retrospectively does not stack up - it penalises people for prior decisions and incentivises earlier trade in, which doesn't take into account full life environmental cost of a new car. So it was just a money raising exercise. I seem to remember it was also one of Islington Liberal's classic three option first past the post consultations designed to split the opposition to the favoured proposition. I'm in favour of incentives in the system, but they should be sensible ones.

Archer

You learn something new every day...

Papa

Thanks Ian and Sasha, what I meant to add is that the system is also deeply regressive, as those who are poorer are much less likely to be able to trade their car for a lower CO2 version.

So, hiking charges by more than 50% at a time when everyone is being squeezed, is very poor behaviour.

Brodiej

Had to buy some more permits today. Just an increase of 40% for a day ticket then. Now £10 a day. If i need a day permit for a tradesperson working on my house for the next 2 months im going to have to add £600 to my bill. Wonder if council vehicles pay the "tax" as well. Bunch of crooks.

Papa

£115 this year to park my car on the road outside my flat - up from £109 last year and £70 the year before.<br><br>64% hike in two years.<br><br>CPZ running costs should amount to nothing - they make money on parking tickets.<br><br> Thieving council bastards.<br><br><br>

Idoru

Business idea: buy up all empty buildings in the area, knock 'em down and offer cheap car parking.<br>

gardener-joe

Ah, 'Labour' ... Gawd luv' em!