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The days of SUVs trawling the streets of London could be numbered. Mayor Sadiq Khan is apparently looking at placing bigger parking restrictions on the massive cars, which are more formally known as ‘sports utility vehicles’.
Across the channel in Paris, the French capital recently announced it would increase parking charges for clunky SUVs, which take up a lot of road space and produce high levels of emissions. This could inspire Sadiq Khan to take a look at the Parisian policy and consider something similar for London.
Khan has promised to monitor the effectiveness of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo’s plan. ‘It is a form of social justice,’ Hidalgo said, adding that she wanted to drive SUVs out of the French city.
In response, Khan told the Guardian: ‘We always examine policies around the globe. I’m a firm believer in stealing good policies. Rather than inventing [new policies] badly, if other cities are doing stuff that works, we will copy them.’
He added: ‘SUVs take up more space and we know there’s issues around road safety, carbon emissions and so forth. We know some councils in London are taking bold policies in relation to parking fees and tickets and so forth. It’s really good to work with those councils.’
However, a City Hall spokesperson later told the Guardian that the mayor does not currently have the power to implement parking levies on SUVs and has no plans to do so.
So who knows, perhaps SUVs will continue to hog London's streets.
Who needs an SUV when you can take the bus? Another London Superloop bus route launches this week.
Listen to Time Out’s brilliant podcast ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’: the newest episode with Seapa (aka Allan Mustafa) in Stoke Newington is out now.