A workplace parking levy is being considered to reduce traffic and pollution in busy areas

Motorists will have to pay up to £1,000 a year to drive to work under plans to cut congestion in Britain’s most gridlocked cities.

A workplace parking levy is being considered by at least ten councils in England and Scotland to reduce traffic and pollution and to raise money for public transport.

The charge would be imposed on businesses with more than ten parking spaces and is designed to encourage employees to leave their cars at home.

Last night the AA described it as a “poll tax on wheels” and said that costs would be passed on to workers. In Nottingham, the only city to introduce the levy so far, about four in ten companies pass costs on to staff. Hundreds of teachers pay to