rdc1000
Well-Known Member
As many of you will be aware, there is a major petition going on regarding road mile taxing of vehicles, if you haven't seen this petition on the government website then see a post in this section of the forum.
With regards to horse owners, we face discriminatory pricing regardless, with numerous plans to up the tax on 4x4s. Among the petitions on the Government website are a number regarding 4x4s, I have chosen to sign upto one of them in particular and would ask you to do the same (see link below), because it focuses on preventing the discrimination against GENUINE users. Even if you own a lorry, I would ask you to support your fellow horse owners who have chosen to go down the trailer and 4x4 route (especially as younger drivers have committed to doing towing tests etc).
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/real4x4use/
4x4 vehicles are becoming socially unacceptable because of school run mums etc, who cannot in a million years justify their use. But as a horsey community we had been using them long before the boom, and will continue to need them for genuine reasons. I own a 4x4 because it is heavy enough to control my horse trailer in strong winds when crossing the Thelwell Viaduct (for example), and because its chassis and engine are designed for this job. Extra tax on 4x4 users will lead (in my opinion) to increasing numbers of people towing horse trailers with wholly inadequate vehicles, potentially increasing accident rates for horse trailers, and potentially leading people to break the law by towing above a vehicles maximum towing weight.
What is most insulting about all this social unacceptability however is that an Audi A6 or A8, with a larger and mroe polluting engine than my Discovery isn't viewed in the same light, despite being a similar weight to many 4x4s!!
Anyone else got a view? I suggest this is the real kind of issue that the Countryside Alliance should have been backing from the start. I also think its about time the BHS and other organisations put their head above the parapet and pointed out that there are genuine uses for these vehicles.
With regards to horse owners, we face discriminatory pricing regardless, with numerous plans to up the tax on 4x4s. Among the petitions on the Government website are a number regarding 4x4s, I have chosen to sign upto one of them in particular and would ask you to do the same (see link below), because it focuses on preventing the discrimination against GENUINE users. Even if you own a lorry, I would ask you to support your fellow horse owners who have chosen to go down the trailer and 4x4 route (especially as younger drivers have committed to doing towing tests etc).
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/real4x4use/
4x4 vehicles are becoming socially unacceptable because of school run mums etc, who cannot in a million years justify their use. But as a horsey community we had been using them long before the boom, and will continue to need them for genuine reasons. I own a 4x4 because it is heavy enough to control my horse trailer in strong winds when crossing the Thelwell Viaduct (for example), and because its chassis and engine are designed for this job. Extra tax on 4x4 users will lead (in my opinion) to increasing numbers of people towing horse trailers with wholly inadequate vehicles, potentially increasing accident rates for horse trailers, and potentially leading people to break the law by towing above a vehicles maximum towing weight.
What is most insulting about all this social unacceptability however is that an Audi A6 or A8, with a larger and mroe polluting engine than my Discovery isn't viewed in the same light, despite being a similar weight to many 4x4s!!
Anyone else got a view? I suggest this is the real kind of issue that the Countryside Alliance should have been backing from the start. I also think its about time the BHS and other organisations put their head above the parapet and pointed out that there are genuine uses for these vehicles.
