A THOUSAND drivers of four-wheel drive "urban monsters" were targeted by a spoof parking ticket campaign in Manchester city centre by green campaigners.
The protesters took to the streets at the weekend to paste mock tickets on the windscreens of the `Chelsea Tractors' parked in the heart of the shopping area.
Campaigners from the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s slapped the bogus tickets on gas-guzzling Jeeps, Range Rovers and even an American Humvee which declared "Poor Vehicle Choice" and "Axles of Evil".
They looked like parking fines with a yellow and black design but on closer inspection turned out to be leaflets issued as part of a nationwide campaign to drive huge four-wheel-drive cars back to the countryside.
The first to get a ticket was a Jeep Cherokee parked outside the Central Library. Hundreds more followed, each with a ticket that declared: "Dirty and dangerous car (as you should know)."
The spoof ticket claimed only five per cent of 4x4s are ever taken off road, off-roaders only give you 12 miles per gallon and sends twice as much carbon-monoxide into the atmosphere.
Rockfalls
It also claimed 4x4s often handle poorly because they are badly-designed and are twice as likely to kill other road users or pedestrians than smaller motors.
On the back , the ticket suggests 4x4 owners had been conned: "Be honest with yourself. You got a bit over-excited when you saw the advert where the shiny 4x4 dodges Himalayan rockfalls while chasing lions in the Serengeti. But how do you feel now? In reality, urban 4x4s handle very poorly, are far less economical to run than ordinary family cars and are far more dangerous - to the other road users, to the people inside and to the health of everyone around them."
Mark Griffiths, who was ticketed after he parked his 4.4 litre Range Rover in the city centre with his partner and child, said: "If you have a family you need a vehicle this size to cart all the clobber around because you can't get it in a small vehicles. 4x4s are a very suitable way to be going about your daily activities."
Campaign spokesman Dave Coleman, a 41-year-old business consultant from Lymm, who drives a BMW diesel, said: "Too many people are driving what are basically pieces of modified agricultural machinery through our crowded streets because they think they are a fashion accessory.
"Most 4x4 drivers don't want to be selfish but don't realise the impact these vehicles have or how widely they are resented and ridiculed."
What do you think of 4x4s? Have your say.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Stephen Pennells, Longsight (20/12/2004 at 10:57)
Stephen Smith, Hulme (20/12/2004 at 11:15)
Jo, Stockport (20/12/2004 at 11:45)
Tez, Manchester (20/12/2004 at 12:26)
Adam, Hazel Grove (20/12/2004 at 12:36)
michael, manchester (20/12/2004 at 12:40)
Jon, Manchester (20/12/2004 at 13:51)
And another thing - those 200 yards between the end of the driveway and the school gates can be very dangerous. Heaven forbid that mummy and child should have to walk...
Adrienne, Cheshire (20/12/2004 at 14:22)
Right, you are justified in having a 4x4. Other 4x4 owners? You do not have special needs over other road users. Your children are in no more danger than anyone elses. Well, apart from them being much more likely to die if they are hit by those drivers who have 4x4s of course.
(Oh and if you had an ordinary size car by the way, you would be able to park in a single space at Sainsbury's and John Lewis.)
Thanks and a very Happy Christmas (to the protesters, who are actually trying to do something positive for society this festive season)!
Joey, Ashton-under-Lyne (20/12/2004 at 14:53)
Mark, Bolton (20/12/2004 at 15:03)
I saw an intruiging report last week on TV showing footage from the TRRL of what actually happens when a person was hit by a Range Rover. They were knocked up and then slid up the bonnet, the footage then showed a collision at the same speed with a regualr saloon - the crash test dummy was knocked into the air and over the car due to the front of the vehicle being lower. It was established that amount of injury caused by the Range Rover was less as the deformation of the body panels absorbed the energy from the body, whereas with the saloon the collision energy was absorbed by a less than flexible road surafce.
I did find it very difficult to get to my house in winter in the Rover 600 - the exhaust caught several times on the lane and it was terrible in the snow. (I live approx 1000ft asl on the west pennine moors) Since getting the Range Rover I have had no problems.
What these Green protestors fail to appreciate is that we have a freedom of choice in this country. It would appear from some of the comments posted here that politics of envy are around.
Additionally, how many trees went into the paper these people used, how many chemicals were used in the printing inks and how much electricity for something that was just ignored and ultimately thrown away. Seems a bit hypocritical to me - not saving the planet on that one !
These tree huggers should really focus their energies into something worthwhile and achievable.
As a footnote I have got my name down for a new Range Rover, and I now may consider getting the 4.4 V8 just to upset these useless little sods a bit more. "Put the tax up on them" they cry - I can afford it, unfortunately the ones posting the notices can't.
Andy, Wythenshawe (20/12/2004 at 15:25)
Maybe the campaigners should also target all the bus/taxi drivers that sit for hours with their engines ticking over pouring black exhaust all over the place.
In fact, all public transport should be either electric or LPG, and more park and ride outside the city for all car owners.
BD, Manchester, Planet Earth (20/12/2004 at 21:23)
Tony, London (21/12/2004 at 17:37)
So lets look at it, if you ban 4x4's there will still be just as many cars on the road, pollution levels won't be much lower as the replacement vehicles will probably have pretty big engines, safety levels won't improve much as there are plusses and minuses.
4x4's are here to stay until manufacturers replace them with something people want more.
For those that don't like them it seems manufacturers are in any event changing them gradually to be less agricultural, more estate like and in most cases smaller with smaller engines so the situation is naturally improving.
Please note I don't drive a 4x4.
jp, stockport (21/12/2004 at 18:31)
Peter, Stockport (22/12/2004 at 00:05)
BD, Manchester (22/12/2004 at 01:16)
BD, Manchester (22/12/2004 at 15:46)
BD, Manchester (23/12/2004 at 15:41)
BD, Manchester (24/12/2004 at 14:42)
BD, Manchester (04/01/2005 at 14:08)
Phil, Nottingham (12/01/2005 at 14:03)
BD, Manchester (18/01/2005 at 14:21)
Mark Sheppard, West Yorkshire (21/01/2005 at 03:07)
Richard, Hertfordshire (25/01/2005 at 21:52)
Barry, lancashire (26/01/2005 at 09:50)