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My mileage is low and my car old, yet I am penalised
• GREEN parking is a ridiculous statement – parked cars do not pollute the atmosphere (Green parking policy is result of listening... not preaching, November 30). Only cars that are being driven do so. Islington does not become cleaner by charging people to park their cars.
The majority of cars that pollute Islington are not from the area and possibly not from London. The drivers that use the A1, Seven Sisters Road and other main roads are not local people. The majority of local cars move out of the area and pollute elsewhere.
The whole idea of having to pay to leave a car in the street is outrageous. The system initially implemented to reduce congestion by people outside the area has now been used to penalise “locals” with a vehicle with a larger engine to pay more than previously to park. In my instance the cost has gone from £95 to £200.
If the idea of parking charges being related to engine size was logical there would be a different parking meter charge for each type of vehicle.
I have a 10-year-old car and, at the moment, have no intention of changing it. It is a 2.8-litre petrol engine that has very good fuel consumption at around 30 miles to the gallon.
My mileage is very low, say 3-4,000 miles a year, yet I am penalised the same as someone who has a “gas guzzler” and does 15,000 miles a year. Is that fair?
When I do decide to change my car I shall certainly consider the environment but, until then, I am being penalised unfairly.
Councillor Lucy Watt states that, unlike some other boroughs, the change was revenue neutral and that the overall income to the council remained the same.
What was not stated was that the charges in Islington were already much higher than in most other boroughs anyway.
We are told that more than 28 per cent voted in the referendum, with 56 per cent of those favouring the change. This low percentage equals 15.7 per cent of the local population and is not representative. The low response, as for the local elections, is because the people feel that, regardless of what they say, the council will do exactly what it wants.
The only fair ways to deal with the whole matter would be to:
• impose a surcharge on fuel so that those who drive/pollute pay accordingly;
• impose a tax based on engine size/type on the purchase of new/secondhand vehicles, thus avoiding penalties to those who purchased their car some time ago before any of the green issues were being considered.
It is stated that consideration is being given to the use of wind turbines. I suggest Cllr Watt does some more research into this matter before going forward. Wind turbines need high wind velocities to operate. Islington is not windy enough.
A JUDD
Sussex Way, N7
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