UK households who own an SUV could face 'tax' under Labour

UK households who own an SUV could face 'tax' under Labour

Labour could be forced to introduce higher car taxes for SUVs following mass protests by families. Thousands of families will hit the streets on Sunday morning to protest bigger cars on UK roads - with the Labour Party government urged to act.

The Kidical Mass Ride will draw attention to research which found that SUVs cause 30 per cent more deaths to vulnerable road users. Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities, said: "We know that SUVs lead to more fatal crashes, cause more potholes and crowd out parking spaces. No one would want to buy a car thinking it would be more dangerous for a child.

"We're calling for central and local government to work on a plan that would save taxpayer money and generate revenue that can be invested in public transport, walking and cycling." Lord suggested that local councils could implement "a system of parking charges where bigger or heavier SUVs pay a fairer share, or a review of vehicle tax to account for the damage that oversized SUVs do."

Data from Autocar found that the average weight of new cars has increased by 400 kilograms in the last seven years, from 1,153 kilograms to 1,947 kilograms.

In an interview with Zag last year, Brussels’ Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt called for collective action to tackle increasing car sizes and said Europe should mandate car producers to make smaller cars.

Nicola Pastore, a parent from Lambeth who plans to attend with her three children, said: "We know that SUVs are getting bigger and heavier every year and that children hit by larger cars when walking and cycling are far less likely to survive," she said.

“As the parent of a highly active nine-year-old who is desperate to start to navigate the streets on his own, this is terrifying to me.

"As these cars get bigger, our children's worlds are getting smaller as parents become too scared to let their children walk or cycle around on their own. Nobody wins."

Last year, more than 200,000 people took part in Kidical Mass bike rides across Europe, the US, Africa and Australia.