From the Times; 

"Tens of thousands of families will have to pay up to £245 extra a year under new road tax rules after a covert government decision to include cars up to seven years old. The Treasury admitted to The Times last night that it was quietly abolishing the exemption for older cars from the highest rates of vehicle excise duty. This means that owners of larger cars bought since March 2001 will find that their road tax will rise steeply from next April.

The increases are being introduced in two stages, with many owners who are now paying £210 a year being charged £300 in 2009 and up to £455 in 2010. The revelation comes amid motoring costs soar. Petrol prices reached £5 a gallon yesterday. One consumer body believes that by next year it could cost £84 to fill an average car with fuel.

Those who try to sell their cars will find that the value has fallen sharply because of increases in fuel prices and road tax. The AA said that many people were falling into a “negative equity” trap, with their cars worth thousands of pounds less than outstanding loans. Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said: “The Government presented the changes as means of influencing people’s purchasing decisions, but it turns out that they are also penalising hard-pressed families who have been running the same car for many years. “This will hit people who are already struggling to pay higher fuel bills and who bought their cars in good faith, not realising that the Government would move the goalposts.”

Information about the new rates is buried in an appendix to the Budget report and is not mentioned on the DVLA’s website page on vehicle tax.

Nigel Humphries, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “This impacts hardest on poorer families who need larger cars. Such drivers may not even realise the huge rises on older Mondeos, Lagunas, Vectras and Galaxies even with middle range engines until VED renewal time. Even some smaller cars such as Astras and Focuses are hit.

"The arrogance of Darling is astonishing. When questioned in a radio interview following the budget he suggested that those affected needn’t pay higher VED as they could buy new cars. Just how are they supposed to do that when food, council tax and mortgages are all up way above inflation?”