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It's a controversial topic that divides opinion: Should people with bigger cars pay more for parking?
Cardiff has become the latest council to consider the issue. As part of a public consultation, the body is seeking its opinion on whether residents with larger vehicles should pay more for permits.
“We are consulting on the principle of whether it is right… if you drive a bigger or more polluting vehicle, to pay a little more,” council leader Huw Thomas told the BBC this week.
“These are vehicles that take up more space, they cause more damage on our roads and if they hit a pedestrian they are likely to cause more serious injuries,” he said.
Other councils, including Bristol, Oxford and Haringey in north London, are also exploring charging larger vehicles more.
So let's come back to Mr. Thomas' question: is this correct?
Nev says he already pays enough for his car and often can't find a place to park in front of his house.
We headed to Haringey to see what local residents thought.
“I think it’s bullshit,” Nev says, adding that he has become tired of traffic and environmental mitigation policies in the borough.
“We already pay more if you have a big car. You pay more taxes, you pay more gas to fill up your tank. It's your business.”
But fellow countryman Gary Oliva says: “If you can afford a big car, then you can afford it.
“Public transport in London is very, very good. If you want to get from point A to point B, take the bus, the train, the tube.”
However, single mother and SUV driver Selin Akdenez says parking in London is already expensive and the prospect of paying more for residential parking is something she couldn't afford.
“I don't agree because I have a child so I need to have a bigger car,” she says. “My mother is really old. If she needs an appointment with a GP or dentist, I have to take her.”
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Some cars take up a lot more space than others
A YouGov poll from last year found that 39% of adults thought parking fees should be higher for bigger, heavier cars, while 53% thought all cars should have the same parking fees .
The split was much narrower in London than any other region, with 45% thinking larger cars should pay higher fees, and 44% thinking they should not.
Heavier or longer?
But what do we really mean by bigger?
In Haringey, where the price of a license already varies depending on your car's emissions, the council has proposed adding a 5% surcharge for medium vehicles 4-4.49m long, and a surcharge of 10% for large vehicles over 4.5 m long.
To put this into context, a Kia Picanto would count as a small car, a mid-sized Volvo V40 or BMW 1 Series and an MG5 or Land Rover Discovery as a large one.
Haringey's public consultation has just closed. The council says no decisions have been made on any of the proposals.
In Belgium, Brussels has implemented a length system in certain districts of the city. A residence permit costs €25 (£21) per year, but if your vehicle is more than 4.9m long you pay an additional fee of €120 per year.
In Cardiff, weight is the factor taken into account, in determining whether vehicles over 2.4 tonnes pay weight should pay more, although no price has been suggested. Paid weight refers to the maximum weight of a vehicle, including passengers, fuel and luggage.
In Autocar's list of the best family SUVs, four of the top five would exceed this limit: the Kia EV9, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Volvo XC60.
The weight of cars is the model used in certain French cities. Earlier this year, Parisians voted to triple parking rates for cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more, to €18 an hour in the city center, although this does not apply to residents.
Is height-based parking inevitable?
Oliver Lord is part of the Clean Cities campaign group, which worked on the campaign in Paris arguing that SUVs are dangerous and bad for the environment.
He says it is “inevitable” that height-based parking charges will be imposed in the UK, highlighting the fact that 60% of car sales in the UK last year were SUVs.
“These bigger cars not only use more fuel, but they also take up more space,” he says.
Even large electric cars have problems because they take up more space and are more dangerous than small electric cars, he adds.
“If you have not only more cars, but bigger cars, how are you going to adapt your city to climate change? »
But Erin Baker, editorial director at AutoTrader, opposes blanket policies based on size because she says cars can vary widely. For example, some models can be long or heavy while remaining fuel efficient.
“Yes, the bigger the car, the heavier it is and therefore less fuel efficient. But that’s a clumsy way of looking at it,” she says.
She also says that bigger cars don't always have wealthier owners.
“If you look at key workers or people who live out of town, they're not two-car families, they're one-car households, because that's what the family budget allows. So it will be big – a station wagon or an SUV.
Haringey resident Amada Davies now owns a small car, but wouldn't want to have to pay more for parking if she had a big one.
Luke Bosdet, of motoring organization AA, says it is reasonable to charge more for vehicles that exceed the length of a standard parking space.
“I think vehicle length is a measure that residents would better understand and accept, particularly given parking constraints on residential streets.”
However, he says: “Other reasons for increasing permit costs, such as fuel type or level of CO2 emissions, are not. Other taxes, such as vehicle excise duty, company car tax, ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) and CAZ (Clean Air Zone) charges do this.
“Make money with motorists”
Any additional fees imposed on drivers would be considered unfair, says Erin Baker.
“Consumers are thinking: Don’t penalize me, and don’t penalize me when the auto industry builds bigger cars.”
Back in Haringey, resident Amanda Davies says the proposal to charge more for parking for larger cars “only adds fuel to the council being seen as a way to make money off motorists”.
She currently owns a Mini, but says if she wanted to get a bigger car, she wouldn't want to be penalized for it by having to pay more for parking.
“It’s a really difficult question, because yes, we should discourage people from having a car in city centers because they are huge polluters.
“However, some people rely on a car for work, due to disability or any other reason. So I think it's just about finding a balance.
“It’s an interesting topic because we don’t use our car often and now I think we should get rid of it.”
