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 4×4 owners had been conned: "Be honest with yourself. You got a bit over-excited when you saw the advert where the shiny 4×4 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 4×4 drivers don’t want to be selfish but don’t realise the impact these vehicles have or how widely they are resented and ridiculed."
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