Nearly £200 to park an SUV in Paris for six hours - as London urged to follow suit
5 February 2024, 11:02 | Updated: 5 February 2024, 13:24
The Mayor of Paris has urged 'other cities' like London to follow the French capital's example by tripling parking charges for SUVs.
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Parisians voted yesterday to make it prohibitively expensive to drive SUVs in the French capital, by tripling the price of parking.
Large SUVs will have to pay £15.30 (€18) per hour to park in the centre of Paris.
The charges ar set to come into effect by September.
Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo has called on London and other cities to follow suit.
James O'Brien calls out SUV drivers in London
She said: “Parisians have made a clear choice – other cities will follow.”
She argued that SUVs take up too much space on narrow streets, cause too much pollution and cause more accidents than smaller cars.
“The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider,” she said.”You have the power to take back ownership of our streets.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has previously said the idea is “innovative.”
“We always examine policies around the globe. I'm a firm believer in stealing good policies,” he told the Guardian.
”Rather than inventing [new policies] badly, if other cities are doing stuff that works, we will copy them.”
Caroline Russell, a Green member of the London Assembly, said: “Have to love the people of Paris. SUVs have no place on busy city streets and charging more for storing monster cars on street makes sense.”
Leo Murray, co-director of climate charity Possible, said: “It is fantastic to see the people of Paris voting to increase parking charges for large and oversized cars, a great first step in reversing the recent trend towards ‘autobesity’.
“This landmark referendum is the latest triumph in Paris’ ongoing mission to tackle its problems with air pollution, congestion and motor traffic dominance, and is likely to inspire cities around the world to follow suit.”
The new price system in Paris applies to hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles and to all-electric vehicles heavier than two tonnes.
Parisians with resident permits will be exempt in their home area and the charge will not apply to taxis, tradespeople, health workers or drivers with a disability.
In a city referendum, 55 per cent of residents who voted backed the move, but only six per cent of 1.3m potential voters turned out.
