Woman's quest against 4x4s

[Newsreader]

At a glance most motorists would think they had been caught out by one of London's army of traffic wardens. But the ominous documents left on their windscreens are not real parking tickets but realistic fakes.


http://www.landrovernet.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10793&stc=1

The "tickets" have been issued by Sian Berry, a 30-year-old Oxford graduate who is waging a one-woman campaign to rid the capital of 4x4 vehicles - nicknamed Chelsea tractors. They are printed to mimic tickets issued by boroughs such as Westminster and Camden. On closer inspection, their true purpose becomes clear: they are pamphlets warning of the environmental damage caused by four-wheel-drives. Instead of Westminster, the banner on one ticket reads "Got a Wastemonster?", and the bill for Camden is headed "Carbon".

Miss Berry, a web manager who works in South Kensington, said she was doing nothing wrong. "Doing this is not against the law. The tickets resemble real ones but when you get closer you realise they aren't. It's very heartening when you see people pick them up and read them. I hope it makes them think about why they feel the need to have a ridiculously oversized vehicle in the city. The tickets are not meant to annoy people, they are just supposed to make them think. "Unsurprisingly, not all motorists have welcomed her attentions. She said: "I do get nervous when I do it - and I don't do it if there is a real traffic warden around. I have only been caught once. It was in Hampstead and two men who must have seen me drove past, yelled something and threw the crumpled ticket at me."

She carries tickets wherever she goes, including nights out, and her favourite patches include Kensington and Chelsea, Fulham, Westminster, Hammersmith, Hampstead and Primrose Hill. "It is affluent areas that are the worst," she added. "In Chelsea they are everywhere. They seem to have become a status symbol, and with names like Range Rover Vogue people just buy them because they are fashionable. Not only do they cost about £100 a month more to run, they are dangerous. In an accident they are more likely to roll over, and because they have such a large blind spot children are easily run over by them."

Miss Berry, who lives in Tufnell Park and has never owned a car, got the idea of the tickets a year ago when she read about a similar ruse in the US. Now she has formed an action group called the Alliance Against 4x4s. An ardent supporter of the congestion charge, she argues the zone should be expanded to cover the whole of London, with those in four-wheel-drives paying £20 a day instead of the standard £5.

[essexlandy]

What a suprise someone who has never had a car! I'm sorry but I fail to see the point of her actions. I have a friend who has a new Vogue, and to be quite honest if she did not have that she would still have a large luxury car such as a Merc, BMW etc. So I cannot see the point iin all the fuss over RR etc which probably has a no bigger footprint and uses the same amount of fuel. It just seems to be the bandwagon to jump on at the moment. As for 4x4 paying extra congestion charge, how does that work? If I was to drive my 110 200Tdi into London I fail to see how that is any more polluting or space stealing than a builders white transit van. Come to that does a 4x4 transit pay more than a 2 wheel drive version? As pointed out before drivers of up market cars are already paying extra in initial cost, VAT and Fuel Tax. And it is easy to support the congestion charge if you live in town (I used to live in Docklands) and work in an office as you can use the over crowded tube. It's not quite as much fun if you come in from out of town or have to drag boxes of tools or files about.

[Cocky Lil Guy]

i would rite a proper reply but i dont think that the mods of the site will like me very much. sozard.

[paul vp uk]

Post her address then we can simply return her childish pieces of paper to her.!

[Luke]

If I ever get one of those, I'll return it by first class brick....

[si_guru]

This is the phone number of her organisation 0845 456 0277 - they will pay for the call charges....

[Newsreader]

Post her address then we can simply return her childish pieces of paper to her.!
Sian Berry,
c/o Camden and London Green Parties,
25 Parliament Hill,
London NW3

[Newsreader]

As for 4x4 paying extra congestion charge, how does that work?
It doesn't work. Ken Livingstone has already had to abandon the idea (http://www.landrovernet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19792) as it isn't technically possible.

It is a pity these people don't engage their brain before they open their mouth. As Mayor of London, surely he has a responsibility to invstigate feasibility before announcing policy?

Ditto Sian Berry. The Green Party have some very sensible policies, backed up by facts and science, but they insist on headline-grabbing with this kind of emotive ill-informed garbage, which makes them no better than all the rest of the poitical parties.

[plumbari]

Why do these daisy dancing Greens think they have the right to tell others how to live there lives. I dont try to tell them what to do with there pathetic little lives .She surely realises how pathetic she is skulking around putting pieces of worthless paper (save the threes) under wiper blades. Cheers Dave

[Lusty]

These low life idiots pxxs me off, can you imagine what this world would be like if everyone were like this. They want to live in a safe world yet want to stop wars and invite the worlds dross to live in this country, stop the detention of terrorists and criticise our own governments when they stand up to lunatics and extremists.

They want to ban everything they dont understand and think that because they dont agree with something their view must be the correct one.

Ban 4x4's
Ban Fox Hunting
Ban Fishing? (bet it wont be long before they start on this)
Ban big cars
Etc Etc

Why dont they try and ban, Rape, Mugging, Drug dealing, Pimps, illegal imigration and all the other sick things that ruin our society.

[Rich_P]

Since when were Vogues prone to rolling over in a crash?

You heard or seen of many if any at all rolling and/or flipping over? I havn't either.

The blind spot yes, but that's the same with ANY car.

[Michelle]

Makes me want to do a full research on this countries (or perhaps restrict to states) accident stats, going over vehicle type, accident type, location , age of driver etc etc

[timbott]

Although I find this woman's methods a little sad, she has obviously developed an obsession about this, in some ways I do have some sympathy with her arguement.

Personally I bloody hate 4x4's in general. What is the point in most of them? They run around with tons of un-needed transmission equipment slung underneath, guzzling gallons of fuel. I have posted this before on here, that if I just wanted something big, I would buy a Ford Transit minibus, far more practical for the use that most of these town dwelling 4x4's are put to.

The vast majority of these over priced machines never go off the tarmac and one particular make that I have seen is fitted with such low profile tyres with an obviously tarmac tread that I am doubtful whether the 4 wheel drive function would realy make any difference anyway offroad.

4x4's are OK if you are a farmer or construction worker or something along those lines, or if you have a use for them as a hobby (greenlaning, offroad courses, towing boat/van/car trailer etc) but in the main they are just a waste of fuel and roadspace, and why do they have to design them with such an "in yer face :eek: " appearance nowadays. I think they are just on the market for arrogant over payed consumers to purchase (their fridges are probably empty) and for men with a small ***** ;)

cheers, Tim

[Dom]

It's a person's choice. What's the point in a 4x4 if it doesn't go off road? What's the point in a supercar if it doesn't go on the track? If someone wants to drive a 4x4 it's their choice, who is someone else to tell them otherwise?

You can tell she came from Oxford... only one decent thing has come out of there, and that's the road to Swindon... :D

[essexlandy]

And Morse.

[earl_of_essex]

Since when were Vogues prone to rolling over in a crash?

4x4s are generally more likely to roll when swerving suddenly though because they have a higher centre of gravity. 5th gear rigged up an experiment with a P38 Rangie with a "real world" incident involving swerving around another car. The control was a saloon car that managed the test fine, the Rangie flipped over and bounced down the road.

Obviously that just means that your supposed to drive within the capabilities of the vehicle - not ban them.

Mind you, the "chelsea tractors" of which she speaks (X5, X3, New Range Rover) are so low down to improve the drive of them anyway they are probably only a little worse than an estate car!

[Lighting90]

Rear visibility blind spot, hmm, wonder what the bus driver can see... oh and the Lamborghini driver... and the white van man, and the lorry driver.. oh yes he has a beep beep beep thing, didn't talk about banning them from the centre of London...

[si_guru]

I read the website - particularly the details abotu traffic stats. Notice that RECKON they collected allthe figures whilst waiting at bus stops....

...cut to the chase.

By their own stats (or rather by manipulating the numbers) - unless a bus is carrying 80 people it is less environmentally friendly than my brother Tony cruising down The Mall in his TD6 Vogue by himself....

Really!

[paulhumphries]

[/quote] I hope it makes them think about why they feel the need to have a ridiculously oversized vehicle in the city. at me."

Not only do they cost about £100 a month more to run, they are dangerous.

[/quote]
My Volvo 740 has a SMALLER footprint than my Range Rover. Also the Range Rover (3.5 EFi) is acutally a few MPG more economical from experience and not from reading "road tests".

If she wants a ban of "4x4's" does that include such things as Sierra, Mondeo, Audi Quatro, Jag X Type, Subaru and such other "normal" vehicles that 4x4 drive has now become fashionable as a way of putting more power down ont he road ?

Paul Humphries.

[Allan]

Sounds like she needs to get some meat inside her....

;)

[RPGreg2600]

Sounds like she needs to get some meat inside her....

;)

Lmao! :D

[TheGurkha]

Sounds like she needs to get some meat inside her....

;)

you wouldn't be thinking of pork, would you? :D

[graham]

Did a web search on sian berry could this be her ;)

http://wwwfom.sk.med.ic.ac.uk/medicine/about/resources/adminsupp/facoffice/sian.berry.html

[Newsreader]

Did a web search on sian berry could this be her ;)

http://wwwfom.sk.med.ic.ac.uk/medicine/about/resources/adminsupp/facoffice/sian.berry.html
Highly likely Graham. She is 'a web manager who works in South Kensington', and 020 7594 is a South Ken code :)

[callisr]

I bet she doesnt shave her armpits!!!
And she probably doesn't do meat in either sense of the word!!!

Thats about as constructive as I can be bothered to be-sorry!
Rich

[Saratoga]

I don't see what her problem is. Doesn't she see that we have "Free Choice" in what we do with our own money?? WTF! Does she think this is a socialist state??