Older drivers will be among road users hit with new VED car fees from April in the latest Rachel Reeves-backed tax raid.
Rachel Reeves is set to hammer motorists with her latest tax hike (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves is set to raid wallets once again with pensioners among those to be slapped around the face with new car tax bills in weeks. The Chancellor will force millions of motorists to put their hands in their pockets and cough up the cash to stay on the roads with new Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) price hikes coming in April.
Almost every petrol, diesel and electric car owner will be hit with price hikes regardless of age, but for older drivers, the financial sting is tougher. Unlike the historic tax exemption for classic cars, VED fees do not come with a maximum age limit. It means that most disabled drivers are exempt from VED charges but healthy pensioners must still pay up to get behind the wheel.
Older drivers are not exempt from VED fees regardless of age (Image: Getty)
With VED tied to inflation, rising costs were to be expected. But should struggling pensioners already battling to stay afloat be treated the same? The triple lock ensures pension payments increase each April in line with the highest rate of inflation, but this may not be enough.
According to a recent report by Age UK, one in three pensioners – that’s 4.1 million individuals – are feeling less financially secure. The charity claimed that older residents’ financial security “is at risk due to the rising cost of living”.
Meanwhile, A previous poll of 2,000 drivers from Confused.com found that 18% of drivers had thought about selling their car due to rising motoring costs. The experts said that increased fuel prices, insurance costs and road tax charges were proving to be a problem. The group even suggested that “all-time high” driving costs could see millions of drivers “priced off the road”.
Last year, the Chancellor massively overhauled the tax system with thousands of pounds added to yearly bills. Couldn’t Labour have given those most vulnerable a year off from another aggressive price hike? Petrol and diesel owners are the most affected with those with the keys to brand new polluting models set to pay up to £200 per year more.
Instead, Labour could have looked into copying the classic car tax exemption rules and introduce a maximum cut off for VED fees based on age alone. In England, older citizens can get a free older person’s bus pass when they reach the state pension age.
Extending this to allow motorists over the age of 70 to drive free of charge would be a popular vote winner and could help Labour get around another major problem.
The Government looks set to introduce mandatory eyesight checks for the over-70s as part of a new Road Safety Strategy which are likely to be unpopular among pensioners.
Offering free VED fees to those who pass the checks will not only quiet the doubters but would have pensioners queuing up to get their eyes checked before being pushed, boosting road safety.
