Bigger cars could cut London parking, study says

London and other major European cities could lose up to one in seven on-street parking spaces if cars keep growing at the current rate, new research warns.

The study, by the think tank Transport & Environment (T&E), said the shift towards larger vehicles such as SUVs - dubbed "carspreading" by critics - could also push up road deaths.

It said the streets were increasingly dominated by "oversized" vehicles that cities "simply weren't designed for".

Researchers found the length of new cars had risen by an average of 1.2cm a year since 2000, while height, bonnet height and width had each grown by about 0.5cm a year.

If the trend continued, on-street parking capacity in cities would fall by between 8.5% and 14% by 2040, the analysis found. London could lose about 100,000 spaces.

T&E said that compared with returning cars to 2015 sizes, the trend towards larger SUVs could lead to about 400 extra road deaths a year by 2040 across the UK and EU.

Across the UK and EU, about 22,000 people die in road collisions each year, according to official figures.

Anna Krajinska, T&E UK director, said: "Car manufacturers have spent decades pushing large expensive cars at the expense of smaller models.

"The result is a lose-lose: councils are forced to reshape streets around larger vehicles, sacrificing parking capacity, public space and safety in the process.

"This is a market failure."

AA president Edmund King said: "The AA advice for drivers is to choose the safest vehicle for occupants and pedestrians which meets their needs, using EuroNCAP ratings.

"Depending on design, some larger cars can be safer for pedestrians, as well as occupants, so it is too simplistic to assume larger cars are more dangerous."

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: "Consumers ultimately influence vehicle design, with manufacturers responding to market preferences."

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