YOUR VIEW: gas-guzzling 4x4s came to the rescue when needed in the snow

Now that the worst of the winter weather for 2018 is over, I ask you to consider this. Over the last week or so most of the UK was battered by winter storms which left thousands of people stranded, and thousands of essential workers unable to do their jobs. Ordinary people. care workers, school teachers, NHS staff, shop workers, delivery drivers... thousands of people.

Into this mess have stepped hundreds if not thousands of 4x4 drivers who have freely given their time to venture out in the worst of the weather to rescue those stranded. To ferry midwives out to pregnant women. To tow stranded 44-tonne articulated lorries with their two-tonne Land Rovers. To recover cars which have become bogged in snow drifts, or stuck on hills. Mums and kids trying to get home. Plumbers trying to get to old people with no heating. Teachers trying to get to school.

This army of 4x4 drivers has kept so much of this country moving in the last week. Do you think it out of place for a very public ‘thank you’ from the Government?

We have given our time, fuel, cheerfulness all without any thought of reward, other than a most heartfelt ‘thank you’ from those rescued, and that means the most to us.

But you and the government seem hell bent on driving us off the road with punitive tax increases. Most of those out there this week have not been drivers of new £100,000 Range Rover who can afford £2,000 a year for their new cars, but ordinary people who use their 4x4s every day for work. Farmers, construction workers, and hundreds of enthusiasts who keep these vehicles because they love them. People who need 4x4s. And it feels like the Government wants these vehicles off the road with extortionate tax rises. So please, think on this volunteer army who have done so much to help keep this country moving this week, don’t kick us too hard, or in future when you need us most, we may just not be there...

John Townsend

By email

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