here we go again

[Greebo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3739495.stm

stand by for the usual bile from the wooly hat brigade.

Fair enough you dont need to take your kids to school in a big 4x4, although they are often no bigger than a lot of MPV's (and as far i am concerned you can take them in a ?????? dump truck if you like, it's up to you.)
what bugs me is that this will jumped on by all the other ????s with an axe to grind wanting nothing in the country side thats not wearing hiking boots and smoking a pipe.

then they'll start screaming about the enviroment, but don't seem to mind the 20 million white vans running around with one box in the back! most of them have more payload on the dash than in the back.

soon they'll want to be taxing them more then trying to ban them, dont seem to have the same problem if you drive a ?????? great bently or rolls or merc though do they

Free country my arse!

there now i feel much better after that.

[Elvz]

Just Ken bull????ting again. He doesn't like cars at all but even an ass like him knows that legally something like a Surf is just another five door estate car so you can't pass laws that discriminate against it in anyway except engine size.

As you might have noticed he's already passed enough laws that penalise vehicle owners in general so you can probably expect as many more badly drafted get-rich-quick laws as he can get away with before he's replaced by another 3rd rate politician with a different set of obsessions.

[laurasnuts]

there is a reason why you should take your kids to school in a big 4wd because then you have to look down at the other children and it is dead cool especially with the back window down

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

there is a reason why you should take your kids to school in a big 4wd because then you have to look down at the other children and it is dead cool especially with the back window down

Then again looking down on Red Ken is even cooler

Trev

[RobD]

I do NOT agree with the muppet who reckons large 4x4s should be taxed at a higher rate,some people rely on these vehicles for their off-road ability(myself being one of them)I depend on my 4x4 to get me to/from work(I normally work in places that are not accessable by car).

[mark g8awo]

Someone needs to go down to speak to president ken and tell him to stop taking the stupid pills as they are doing nothing a all apart from alienating him further fro m the general public

[Elvz]

Collecting more RFT on 4x4's is a completely dead issue even if the environmental lobby doesn't realise it yet. The Road Fund Tax on a 17 tonne truck is the same as it is for a Smart car so how could you justify any other rate for vehicles that fall between the two?

My personal take on driving in London is that the pointless speed humps, bus lanes and generally bad traffic management that the GLA inflicts on us plus the general level of tolerance for incompetent and antisocial driving which the police display seem an excellent reason to go out and buy a 4x4 if you dont already own one.

[stara]

subaru imprezza, mitsubishi lancer evo, escort cosworth, volvo x-country, subaru forester, to name but a few are cars with 4wd, with poor fuel economy, so are these also unacceptable, even though they are 'cars'. so what will be the criteria will it be all 4x4's, or 4x4's that look rugged, what about 2wd pickup trucks based on 4x4's, like the 2wd hilux. ken, as usual, is just demonstrating his apparent hatred for cars.

[poloman]

4wd tax

is it only applicable to 4wd vehicles - run ours in 2wd mode host of time unless missus is in a field towing her two horses. so we would be exempt in 2wd mode

[Tallyman]

Having read the link to the BBC news page I've sent my own response to it. Hopefully it will appear but, if not then at least I've given vent to my feelings on some of the really uninformed and stupid comments made.

Yes, Ken may be right in that some of these 4x4's are only status symbols (RR's) driven by women who don't have a clue how to drive one properly and the farthest it would go off road is to park on the pavement (glad Linda's abroad!!!), but as usual Ken's opened his mouth without putting his brain in gear. I just wonder who'll be taking his kids to school and how?

[Woodie]

Of course Livingstone is an arse but he's not the only one that gets peed off with mums in 4x4's doing the school run. There a million of them round here and they are a pain and not the best vehicle to use for the job, but my suggestion would be to use school buses like the US do and make the kids use them. I think (no,,,,I KNOW) most of the mums round here never use the 4x4 off road, ever! What a pain they (4x4 school run mums) are becoming now but at the end of the day it's just another government fund raising idea that if it gets enough morons to agree with will become yet another TAX for the 'free'(?) occupants of the UK to pay. This country and the stupid rules are really getting to me lately.

[da SLUG man]

hold on... my 2.0TD mondeo is already cheaper tax than my 3.0TD surf... so what's the crack?
having a surf is a choice i made, costs twice as much in fuel than the mondeo too... i use the mondeo for long journeys and the surf for knocking about in... people just think that 4x4 drivers are all toffee nosed house wives... can't see builders, farmers etc. paying more tax!... you'll soon see farmer giles driving a mini with a sheep in the boot going to the vets! the builder will spend all day getting supplies cos he can only get 1 brick at a time!... londoners are so ????ing narrow minded they think the world revolves around them! and this place is filling up with all the ######s that don't wanna live there anymore so they push people like me who have lived here all my life so i can't afford to live around here!... i'd have to earn about £40,000 a year to buy a 1 bed maisonette and renting similar looking at over £700 a month unfurnished.

[kitesurf_phil]

hold on... my 2.0TD mondeo is already cheaper tax than my 3.0TD surf... so what's the crack?
having a surf is a choice i made, costs twice as much in fuel than the mondeo too... i use the mondeo for long journeys and the surf for knocking about in... people just think that 4x4 drivers are all toffee nosed house wives... can't see builders, farmers etc. paying more tax!... you'll soon see farmer giles driving a mini with a sheep in the boot going to the vets! the builder will spend all day getting supplies cos he can only get 1 brick at a time!... londoners are so ????ing narrow minded they think the world revolves around them! and this place is filling up with all the ######s that don't wanna live there anymore so they push people like me who have lived here all my life so i can't afford to live around here!... i'd have to earn about £40,000 a year to buy a 1 bed maisonette and renting similar looking at over £700 a month unfurnished.

I'm getting peed off with the city types who want to move to the country, then when they get here they want to turn it into little London. I can't afford a house in the village I was born and raised in. The idiots move in and complain about the smell of manure, cockerels crowing at sun-up and lack of street lighting. They hi-jack the parish council and village hall committee, then look down on the original locals. If you don't like the countryside the way it is piddle orf back to whatever dirty smelly borough you came from. Take the litter, antisocial kids and Ground Force style gardening with you too!
I feel much better now.
Oh, and to get back on thread, they are also the biggest users of 4x4s on the school run.

[da SLUG man]

The Road Fund Tax on a 17 tonne truck is the same as it is for a Smart car

nah, 17000kg = £650 (band D 2 axle)
smart car = £75 (Smart City Coupé Hatchback (03MY))

[Dolph]

Well he's talking tosh but there is some truth behind it.

Personally I think all these people almost pay the price already looking so stupid by driving a 4x4 which clearly couldnt handle anything but a flat street.
Soft roaders =