Britain is witnessing a dramatic rise in large sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and heavy pickup trucks – up 92%.

It’s a trend that safety campaigners say is reshaping streets and increasing the risks to vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.

At the same time, the growing weight of these vehicles increasingly wears and damages roads, raising costs for all taxpayers, adding to the pothole pandemic, and increasing emissions.

Bigger battles

The Clean Cities campaign has highlighted the rapid growth in large SUVs, often referred to as “carspreading”, and warns that their size and design pose a growing danger on urban roads.

Just the 10 most common pick-up models, including the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi L200 and Nissan Navara, account for more than half a million registered vehicles as of Q3 2025, according to Clean Cities’ assessment of DfT vehicle registration data.

The numbers have nearly doubled over the past decade, with around 590,000 now registered in the UK.

Larger SUVs have also boomed; industry data shows SUVs now make up around 62% of new car sales, with millions of oversized vehicles on British roads.

 

 

Safety at risk

Campaigners argue that the increasing prevalence of large SUVs, many influenced by US-style design, contributes to “carspreading” because these vehicles take up more space on roads and in parking areas, squeezing out other users.

The height and mass of such vehicles are central to safety concerns.

Vehicles with elevated bonnets can significantly obstruct drivers’ views of pedestrians, particularly children, making them harder to see in front of the car.

Research has shown that pedestrians and cyclists hit by vehicles with bonnets 10 cm higher than average face a 30% higher risk of death or serious injury compared with collisions involving smaller cars.

 

 

Studies cited by safety groups also suggest that children are three times more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV than with a smaller car, due in part to the way larger vehicles strike an individual in a crash.

Large SUVs also exacerbate parking congestion and street crowding, as their increased width and length occupy more on-street space, making manoeuvring and parking more difficult for other road users.

The Welsh way

In response to these concerns, Cardiff Council became the first local authority in the UK to introduce higher parking charges for larger vehicles, as part of its new City Parking Plan.

Councillors voted in October 2025 to impose weight-based surcharges on resident parking permits for vehicles weighing more than 2,400 kg (2.4 tonnes), a category that captures many heavy SUVs and large 4x4s.

The council’s report states that “large heavy vehicles take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users,” and the surcharge is intended to “encourage drivers to switch to smaller vehicles”.

In time, the weight threshold for the surcharge will be lowered to 2,000 kg for non-electric vehicles, and very large vehicles over 3,500 kg will not be eligible for residential parking permits at all.

The policy follows a public consultation in which 66% of residents supported higher charges for larger cars, compared with just 24% who opposed the move.

Residents reported that oversized vehicles worsen parking pressure and pose safety risks on neighbourhood streets.

Council officials also link the measure to broader goals of reducing congestion, improving air quality, and shifting travel behaviour towards sustainable transport, including walking and cycling.

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Weighing in for change

Campaigners from Clean Cities and allied groups have welcomed Cardiff’s initiative, calling it a “visionary step” that other UK cities could emulate to tackle carspreading and related risks. Oliver Lord, UK head of Clean Cities, said the surcharge is “only fair” given the extra space and danger that the biggest and heaviest vehicles bring to streets.

However, some critics argue that the financial penalty may need to be significant to genuinely deter buyers of larger vehicles, many of whom can afford premium car models and may face only modest increases in parking costs.

As Britain’s car fleet continues to shift toward larger and heavier vehicles, debates over safety, space and environmental impacts are intensifying.

With cities like Cardiff pioneering new policy responses, local authorities and national decision-makers may face pressure to adopt further measures to curb carspreading, protect vulnerable road users and promote safer, more sustainable streets