Mud-club
Chat & Social => The Bar - General Chat => Topic started by: JeepCher53 on November 17, 2004, 17:43:30
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Hi All
Have a read of the following. www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk and click on the article: "Sian goes to war on 4x4s".
SIAN GOES TO WAR ON 4X4S
10:30 - 17 November 2004 Former Pate's girl Sian Berry is leading a national campaign against townees who use gas-guzzling off-road vehicles. The 30-year-old environmentalist is the founder of new environmental pressure group Alliance Against Urban 4x4s.
She and fellow founders Hayley Rolfe and Susie Edwards have printed 80,000 mock parking tickets which they stick on off-road vehicles.
They say it is irresponsible to use them solely in towns because they use too much fuel and emit high levels of carbon dioxide which harm the environment.
Campaigners have targeted 4x4s in London, Bristol and Manchester as well as smaller towns in Dorset and Oxfordshire.
They staged a demonstration outside a car dealership in Kensington, urging passers-by to boycott what they call the "Chelsea tractor".
Now the group is targeting 4x4 drivers in Cheltenham.
The leaflets, which look like tickets handed out by traffic wardens, say: "It ought to be a criminal offence to drive around in a vehicle that does this much damage."
They go on to say: "Who led you to believe you needed a three-tonne off-roader to get to the gym/take your kids to school/ commute to a business park/ trek to Homebase on a Bank Holiday?"
On the back, the tickets show Government statistics on fuel costs and emissions.
Sian moved to London from her family home in Springbank in 1997.
Her father John, who still lives in Cheltenham, is her latest recruit for the sticker blitz.
The web manager, who plans to stand in the next election as a Green Party candidate, was spurred to launch her campaign when she was living in London.
She said: "Lots of people there have these 4x4s.
"They were driving me crazy because I knew they were very environmentally dirty.
"And they can be very dangerous in an accident."
Inspired by similar pressure groups in the United States, Sian formed the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s this summer.
Since then, her placard-waving campaign has featured on television and in the press.
Sian and her friends are sending out their mock tickets to protest groups up and down the country.
They hope to lobby the Government for higher taxes on 4x4s, a ban on advertising and higher congestion charges in London.
Sian, who does not own a car, said: "It's amazing the interest that it's caused. The vast majority of people who don't have a 4x4 are in favour of stopping them.
"I had one bad reaction where someone drove past me and shouted and threw the ticket at me.
"They're not designed to annoy people. They're not abusive."
Sian's father John, 59, is a former Cheltenham Rugby Club player and a retired Pate's Grammar School teacher.
He drives a Ford Focus and has been targeting 4x4s parked in Cheltenham.
He said: "We're not trying to target farmers and people who need one of these cars. It's people who buy them and use them as a normal car.
"There's no reason to have one unless you're going to use it for what it's designed to do - go off road or in to the countryside."
More than 200 people have signed up to the Alliance via its website - www.stopurban4x4s.org.uk - but other environmental pressure groups like Greenpeace have lent their support.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders represents car makers and dealers across Britain.
Spokesman Paul Everitt said: "There are many which are no more or less economic than a normal family saloon or estate. Even the Fiat Panda comes in a 4x4."
Mr Everitt said manufacturers were working hard to improve emissions, economy and safety and urged drivers to choose new cars responsibly.
He said: "If the majority of your journeys are in a urban or suburban environment you don't need a 4x4 vehicle."
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It's utter madness.
There are far more important things in life to worry about than the peoples' preferred mode of transport.
Things that come to mind are: The NHS, poverty (here and abroad), asylum and what to get the girlfriend for christmas.
Plus the amount of tax we pay the government for fuel, road licence etc.... they're unlikely to ban advertising. Is it really as bad as smoking?
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They say it is irresponsible to use them solely in towns because they use too much fuel and emit high levels of carbon dioxide which harm the environment.
Perhaps we should recruit this group to help keep rupps and boats open, perhaps convert some bridal ways? Then more people could use their 4x4s off road!
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Perhaps we should recruit this group to help keep rupps and boats open, perhaps convert some bridal ways? Then more people could use their 4x4s off road!
I doubt it. On their website (what a laugh that is) it states one of the excuses for owning a 4x4 as:
"I go four wheel driving – (sure you do……) but even if that were true, cars make a big enough mess of our cities, why would we want them ruining the countryside and wilderness areas as well? Large vehicles do immeasurable damage to delicate habitats. Find another way to use your time"
Have cake and eat it I think the saying goes . . . . :?
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Strange site that. Full of merkanisms. Sedan? Minivan? Merikan fuel figures?
Ed
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It's all getting a bit depressing - people seem to want to take all our rights away. Not allowed a drink, a smoke, fox hunting, there is even a housing estate built near me that does not allow children!!! What ever happened to the freedom of individuality?
Hows this for the situation though - I'm moving from the country(ish) to the city as soon as I sell my house - I've been totally unable to rent a barn or garage out in the sticks to keep my Disco in, but in the city I can pick and choose, so from the angle of owning and maintaining a 4x4, the city is far more friendly!
Pete.
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:evil: I dont know the world is just going barmy at the moment. Anyway until there is a law which states i cant own or drive a 4x4, this sort off mindless garbage is in one ear and out the other. Has she got nothing better to do i.e world poverty,the state of our n.h.s and countless other problems that need addressing...... just makes me sick. O.k we all want to live in a clean enviroment but to just pick on 4x4s is stupid.My rangie which is a v8 is just as clean burning as her dads ford focus when run on gas, which for 90% of the time is. :evil: Rant over...
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When we were in the process of buying our land, the estate agent asked why we lived in the country and *didn't* own a 4x4! Of course, we have now corrected that inexcusable error and own 2 :lol:
While I can sympathise with the rediculous notion of mothers taking their little darlings to school, 500 yards from home, in a Toyota Land Cruiser, I do believe in freedom of choice. And, in any case, those mothers would still drive their kids to school in the Ford Focus, or whatever. You will not change people.
Just like the fact that most cars in the rush hour only have one occupant and are all going to the same place.
But in case like this all that should be done is to try to encourage people to do more sensible things. It is totally wrong to impose someone elses choice on everyone. If people don't think 4x4's are right, then they shouldn't buy one. But they shouldn't impose their views on those who don't agree.
If we all followed the route of banning everything that is vaguely incorrect in certain circumstances, we would all be back to living in caves.
[steps off soapbox] :lol:
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http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=3543
Simply can't be bothered getting angry about this useless bunch of moaning b*****s. Like I said before, how many of them take foreign holidays? most of them? then who are they to talk!
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http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=3543
Simply can't be bothered getting angry about this useless bunch of moaning b*****s. Like I said before, how many of them take foreign holidays? most of them? then who are they to talk!
Nicely put.......
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ban smoking ban fox hunting ban being fat ban 4x4s why dont they ban d**K heads that make these things up :shock: :shock: :twisted: :twisted:
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Now PETA want to ban Fish and Chips. It's unfair to fish and hurts them.
Amazing!
Ed
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Now PETA want to ban Fish and Chips. It's unfair to fish and hurts them.
Amazing!
Ed
I saw on Country file today that someone is trying to ban grouse shooting, I bet the royals wont allow that, in fact there lovers of 4x4s might be worth writing a letter or two and get them on our side. And they like to go fishing. Ide like to see what they have to say on the matter. Ban this Ban that its all getting out of hand maybe ill start campaining against the campainers.You watch the next thing will be trying to ban Football cos it damages the grass, or that its a contact sport.Thats how ridiculous things are getting. If the so called dogooders had there way well have no heritage left just pictures and movies in a museum. On another note after watching Country File i saw a nature program about wild scotland, the film maker used a 4x4 90. Now if they ban motorised vehicles from greenlanes how aree people like this going to make and document these type of nature programs which these so called do-gooders like to watch.... arent they shooting themselfs in the foot. STUPID JUST STUPID. Rant over.. mr Angry.
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Now PETA want to ban Fish and Chips. It's unfair to fish and hurts them.
Amazing!
Ed
Chips have feelings too :wink:
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Of course salt is a sentient being :)
Ed
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Now PETA want to ban Fish and Chips. It's unfair to fish and hurts them.
Amazing!
Ed
Chips have feelings too :wink:
i think its all pollocks :shock: :wink:
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How about starting a campaign against the mindless environmentalist so called do-gooders jumping on the latest bandwaggon and wasting peoples time with stupid arguments.
Before we know it everyone at birth will be handed a rule book
thou shalt not drink (only in moderation), smoke, drive,
thou shall use publis transport ...
It is a proven fact that it is more environmentally friendly to use a car than a train ! (can't remember where I read it, but I don't forget things like that !)
Nanny state here we come - thank god I'm leaving next year, for apparently the best place to live in the world - Ireland
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I know 15 years back I read somewhere that it cast about £20 (maybe more) to stop an intercity at a station. I remember because it was more than the price of my ticket to London and often I was the only one getting off at Retford!
Great way to make money! DOH