This UK city will be the first to charge SUV drivers more for parking
Cardiff council plans to charge higher parking fees for heavier, larger vehicles such as SUVs in the city.
In a cabinet meeting on Thursday 16 October 2025, the council agreed with recommendations to overhaul the city’s parking system , which include making the drivers of larger and heavier cars pay a surcharge to discourage them from driving these vehicles in Cardiff.
This is part of a move to tackle ‘carspreading’ in the city and reduce the number of large, heavy vehicles that pose a greater danger to pedestrians and cause more damage to road infrastructure.
The parking surcharge for SUV drivers was deliberated as part of the council’s new City Parking Plan, which aims to re-imagine Cardiff’s streets as greener and more fairly balanced between parking priority and pedestrian or cycling space.
It notes that large, heavy vehicles take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users.
To encourage SUV drivers to switch to smaller vehicles, the council aims to implement a parking surcharge for vehicles heavier than 2,400kg.
This threshold will later be reduced to 2,000kg to further disincentivise the driving of heavier personal vehicles in the city.
This additional charge for SUVs will be levied on top of the base cost of a parking permit in the city, which includes visitor and resident permits.
Under the new plan, residents of Cardiff will be able to apply for up to two permits for vehicles registered at their address.
Tackling ‘carspreading’ in London
Following the introduction of this SUV parking surcharge in Cardiff, other cities in the UK may follow suit.
A similar measure has been proposed for London, with the London Assembly calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to take action against ‘carspreading’ by charging SUV drivers more for parking.
The Assembly said the UK’s cars are becoming bigger every year and that 52% of cars sold today are too big to fit in minimum parking spaces.
The streets of London are simply not built for vehicles this size and their greater weight and higher bonnets put vulnerable road users at greater risk, the Assembly said.
Similar parking surcharges have been implemented in other major European cities to encourage people to switch from large, heavy SUVs to smaller cars more suited to a city environment.
