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I hate motorists so I welcome this change, just like I welcome all anti-motorist measures (e.g. more and more taxes, speed cameras, unnecessary and badly-phased traffic lights, narrowed roads, and all the other great ways that have been found of making things harder for drivers).

Anyone who chooses to speed around in a ton of metal, putting lives at risk, is incredibly selfish and deserves everything they get. Eventually, the hope is that all these anti-car measures will make things so unpleasant for motorists that they will be forced out of their death cages and onto better, cleaner forms of transport, so that the door is open for us to make driving a private car illegal (the ultimate goal). ALL journeys can be made easily without cars.

Think it's bad now, motorists? Just you wait: it's going to get a LOT worse. You can whinge all you like but you have brought this upon yourselves. Those of us who care about safety and the environment (or rather, those of us who are closet socialists/Communists who are too cowardly to admit it so we pretend to care about safety/the environment instead) will welcome anti-car innovations such as this latest one invented by Richmond, who are one of the most progressive councils when it comes to bullying the evil drivers out of their death greenhouses.

The majority may not want these measures, but sometimes democracy has to be ignored and people like selfish drivers have to be told what's good for them. It's all for the best in the long run.

- Guy Chapman, Reading, UK

Kingston - congratulations you have achieved your objectives I wont be visiting and parking my car....BUT I will take my revenue elsewhere ! Sorry to all the traders.

- Visitor, South Wales

Perhaps, you paper hats will go out and vote now.

- Baz Bazzan, London UK

I get maybe 9-14 mpg, it's my choice to pay 2-3 times more than someone in an 'economical' car in fuel duty.

I've paid double the road tax (and done a quarter of the miles), four times the fuel tax (which is a fair go) but you ******** still want your pound of flesh.

I (and many others) pay their way driving our disgusting, gas guzzling, wonder machines so the tree hugging nutjobs can chop down the remaining rain-forests and plant bio (palm-nut) fuels in their place.

Polarisation is not the way... mediation surely.

- Des, Wickford

Ahh well, come next May's local elections in London there will be a change of political control in Richmond and ridiculous nonsense such as this will be swiftly kicked into touch where it belongs.

- Matt, London, UK

I HATE THIS COUNTRY !!!!!!!

- Brian, Wiltshire

Poor old motorist clobbered again. Easy prey!!!
I wont be shopping in Richmond any more.

- Steve, Walton, Walton on Thames

I wonder how long it will be before the British public take to the streets in protest against the blatant rip offs by the regime and the private business operators. It has gone on long enough snd people in other countries would never stand for it.
T H Leeds

- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK

I suggest that John, Herts spend tonight in an atmosphere containing 100% CO2, perhaps then he will realise that at sufficiently elevated concentrations, anything, including his beloved CO2 can pollute the atmosphere.

- Eric Pode, Croydon, UK

You know what, life in the UK is becoming so stressful, what with all manner of crazy laws being introduced in different parts of the country it actually makes the government's comment that the wars we are fighting abroad are to preserve freedom just a tad ironic. Here in Oxford, (wait for it!), they have introduced blanket 20MPH speed limits across the city. There is not enough space here to explain why this is madness, but let's just say, it has zilch to do with saving lives, and much to do with making money out of a law that is VERY hard to adhere to due to the way current cars are designed. We are steadily being turned into drones. That is why our TV programming is being dumbed down. (I was stunned how dumb "Bang Goes The Theory" was on BBC 1 last night, nothing on Tomorrow's World.) Thick people don't question their masters. Hence Nu Labor is destroying the middle classes, the last bastion of common sense with the fiscal luxury of being able to question flawed law making. Me thinks there is a direct correlation between the banking crisis (that doesn't really effect those without bank accounts) and all this cracking down on motorists. It was engineered and no accident.

- Oflife, Oxford & London

<i>To the uninformed, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It cannot be classed as one, as it is a natural constituent of air! - - John, Herts </i>

John, uranium can occur naturally in water in very low amounts, but I shall presume you'd rather not have your water full of the stuff. Same thing goes for carbon dioxide - it's naturally in our air, but if you end up with a higher concentration, then that's damaging. A pollutant is something that causes contamination - and excess carbon dioxide is doing exactly that.

What are the strong scientific arguments against global warming? The scientific community is in consensus that it is happening - national academies of science from every major industrial country recognise that global warming exists, and no scientific body of national or international standing has opposed the concept of global warming since 2007, with only a few individual scientists on the fringes (often with funding links to conventional energy companies) disputing it.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

This is just the start. I've seen a suggestion that the Tories are going to sell the Motorways. That will mean toll charges for using them. We are going to be squeezed. Only those with a massive mortgage having bought at the peak are going to be looked after. And they are the stupid idiots who helped caused this mess in the first place. Not forgetting Crash Gordon for encouraging debt and the other moronic MPs who let him get away with destroying the country

- Harry H, London UK

By the family bikes...with a cart on the back for suitcases......single people use a bike as well......I dont know what the fuss is about.....otherwise use public transport...It's simple you morons.

- Themanoftruth, United Kingdom

theres no need for 4x4s on our roads this should be all over b isles in cities.

- Cmay, biggin hill

To the uninformed, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It cannot be classed as one, as it is a natural constituent of air! It is also true that Global Warming, caused by Carbon Dioxide is only a theory, with strong scientific argument against it being true. If in 30 years time the world realises that Global Warming was a ridiculous idea, will Richmond Council and the government be refunding these ridiculous green taxes?

- John, Herts

So Melvyn Windbag on Canvey Island I guess you can get by with a Smart car because you've got neither family nor mates? Some of us need a car with a bit of a footprint to get family, friends and luggage in. I suspect that my enormous 3 litre V6 (coming up to 150000 miles) actually puts out less CO2 per passenger mile than a holier than thou Prius, especially when the replacement and disposal costs of all those batteries are considererd. I'm happy to pay for the fuel I use, but weighted parking charges are yet another easy revenue raising exercise.

- Paul, London

The reason they are introducing this in Richmond is because people will NOT switch vehicles, they will, in the typical English manner, pay up. Richmond is a wealthy area, and this is just another crack down on the high quality middle class lifestyle by a very very bitter prime minister who is revelling in it all. Nothing to do with the environment! All about thieving from hard working people.

- Oflife, London

So,who cares and more importantly, who wants to go to Richmond anyway?

- Steve, Brentford

Great, a tax on families. Very fair.

- Dr Whooligan,, London

Car parking charges should be based on the amount of parking space the car occupies, not on the fuel consumption. We have fuel tax and vehicle duty to cover that. (Note - ferries DO charge for vehicles by length)

It would work fairly much the same. Most (admittedly not all) gas guzzlers are longer than most economical cars.

- Nigel, London

"...Yes, people have a right to drive the vehicle that they want, but they do not have a right to wantonly pollute the air that I breath.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall"

...And I have a right to live the way I choose without being continually robbed blind by bureaucratic bullies on some spurious "green" alibi who don't happen to agree with my choices.

- Kate, London

I have a gas guzzler. I also have four kids, which means I travel with six people in the car most of the time and still manage 30mpg. If Prius has one person in it doing 60mpg, who is more polluting? Who is creating more congestion? Any other point, if the car is parked then surely the emissions are zero, ro you could keep driving to find a cheaper space?!

- Duncan, Tunbridge Wells

I am scared that we are going towards the same style they have in Hong Kong with the Octopus cards.

There people need to swipe the card to gain access to their flat buildings and in more modern buildings the card will tell the lift which floor the resident lives..
Personally I think thats way too much technology fit into one little card. Plus the cards are being used as a payment method in most shops.

Anyone who gets their hands on it and knows how to decipher it will know where the owner lives, works, shops and travels to..

- Josh, London

Well they must be doing something correct as Richmond is officially the second most happiest place in England

- David, London

Nothing to do with me living in Switzerland. I do happen to run an old V12XJS on LPG & this pokes out 0% emissions. How would they cope with that?
Loads of other people do this in the UK too with range rovers & similar vehicles.
Can these expect a fair answer?

- John Clifford, luzern, Switzerland

It did'nt take me long to guess which loony council this referred to. Nearly every story relating to increasing fees on cars comes out of Richmond. The lefties that used to ruin the likes of Lambeth and Brent in the 80s have now all moved to the suburbs on their fat salaries and a lot seem to have joined Richmond. The borough is one big traffic jam with roadworks and speed bumps everywhere. Still if your mad enough to vote libdem you deserve all you get in this day and age.

- Stuz Graz, Wimbledon, London

So, a Toyota Pious that costs more per mile to run over its lifetime than a Land Rover, will cost less to park because some sandal-wearing hippies think that it runs on air and produces emissions of rose petals?

It's about time that the true facts about low emissions vehicles are presented to the fanatical greens so that they don't keep dreaming up policies based on false assumptions.

As for Richmond, I never liked the place anyway.

- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one

Same old story, government bodies using 'greenwash' to squeeze more money out of us.

If I remember correctly, a few years ago the incoming Mayor of Richmond refused to give up using the Jag that went with his job as it was part of the dignity of his office.

To be true to his environmental principles, shouldn't he be ferried around in an electric milk float?

- Jools, London

Wow-ee!! Peeps in London will soon need an Oyster-style card to BREATHE.

- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR

Fantastic idea. We don't have the luxury of clean air in this city - and anything that disincentivises people from using more polluting vehicles is a great idea.

Yes, people have a right to drive the vehicle that they want, but they do not have a right to wantonly pollute the air that I breath.

Richmond is easily accessible by bus, tube and train, and I hope that this will make a few people consider these options instead.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

Peter, Harrow - It does once the engine has started.

Its time to clean up London and if BOJO wont then local councils will have to until London regains a Mayor who puts health before wealth.

How about mmaking legal parking spaces that are to small for some of these oversized vehicles that often block streets that are to narrow for them to park!!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

Oh how I loathe the Borough system ! Its quite absurd that each council can think up its own very special ways to tax the motorist into oblivion.Thank the then chancellor Gordon Brown for that as it alleviates central government having to top town hall revenues on their overspends. Despite the bleatings of the anti motorist brigade and the politics of envy how else does a city run without vehicles ? Since Roman times and probably before everyone has had the right to an autonomous way of travelling and carrying out trade either on horseback, or carriage or wagon for that matter.Traffic jams are as old as time around cities and market towns, as were road accidents , and pollution of some kind.Today motorists are merely revenue generators for cowardly politicians applying stealth taxes.Those that rub their hands in glee every time some new tax is applied are just Ostriches burying their heads in the sand .And no I dont particularly like large gas guzzlers either but most of the new variety are clean in terms of emissions.

- David, london

Variety is the spice of life they say; or has that been replaced with local council’s versions of, variety is the lice if life?

You have to hand it to Local Councils; they have screwed you all up good, with their wheelie bin regulations, today none of you even know what to do with your rubbish; and now they have moved on to even bigger parking screw up’s than ever before, and with the support and blessing of the government; nobody mentions the corruption in the House of Commons, or bent politicians and banker’s anymore.

Divide and rule; remains supreme in the UK, you can fool all the people all of the time; and they know it, even if you don’t.

- Mickinlondon, london

So a new solution to the parking 'problem' is to....charge even more money!!! If 'gas guzzlers' are such a big problem, why don't these councils lobby the govt. to force car manufacturers to stop selling these vehicles? Or would spendaholic councils rather keep this revenue? And I wonder how much it will cost Richmond tax payers to convert all the exisiting parking meters to this new scheme?

- Bob Fourton, london

This is what you get when the loonies are running the asylum - and they are in my borough. AGW due to CO2 is no more or less than an unproven religious dogma used to tax people for things the loonies just don't like.

- Stephen, Hampton, England

Why not charge motorists for using the pavements while their cars are parked? Maybe people can be made to pay according to their shoe size, this of course being directly linked to their "carbon footprint"!

- Dannyp, Egham

Fanatastic idea, can we have this introduced in Kingston, espacially so it hits the morons who sit outside my house with their engines running while waiting for a parking space.

- Dc, G London

C.Nichol - Why is it a tax on greedy morons?? Are you really that deranged that you think a ford mondeo driver deserves to be charged more than a ford focus driver because the mondeo driver is a greedy moron? Honestly!

- Isabel, Woking

On principle I will now go to extreme lengths to avoid parking in Richmond. I am sorry for local businesses, but unless there is some kind of reaction, then this kind of nonsense will proliferate.

- Stephen, London

Yeah yeah! Let them bark and be outraged, but the idea is a winner! Let's hope other councils across London or everywhere in town once BoJo gets voted out.

- Marco, Notting Hill, London

Thanks Richmond but I believe I'll take my cash to a bourough NOT controlled by loonies. Watch everyone else do the same.
Enjoy your extra helping of recession losers!

- Ethan, UK

When are the next local elections so we can vote these money-grabbing lying bureaucrats out of office?

- Chris, Richmond

So a parked car produces Co2. Now that's clever. I wonder how it does that with the engine switched off?

- Peter, Harrow, UK

An excellent idea - in effect, it is a tax on greedy morons.

- C.Nichol, London

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