4x4 boom in suburbs

They have been vilified as the scourge of inner-city roads and an environmental disaster in the making. Critics say they block streets outside schools and intimidate other drivers with their sheer bulk.

Across London, sales of 4x4s have mushroomed by 51 per cent this year compared with a national rise of 17 per cent. However, the figures infuriate those who insist that 4x4s belong in the countryside.

They provoked fresh calls for offroad vehicles to be hit with heavier taxes in cities, where they churn out higher levels of pollution.

Paris is already considering a ban on the vehicles and Ken Livingstone recently described 4x4 owners in London as "complete idiots'. He said they were "bad for London" and dismissed them as "largely a status symbol".

Figures compiled for the Evening Standard by Black Horse - part of LloydsTSB - show no other borough comes close to Kingston's four-wheeldrive obsession.

Second in the London league is Battersea, where 27 per cent of new car purchases are off-roaders, followed by Putney, Wandsworth and Chingford.

Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace UK, said the figures highlighted the need for new penalties to deter four-wheel-drive ownership. "It would be relatively easy to add a premium to the congestion charge," he said.

"There is already scope for variable charging in the way gas and electric cars are exempt and with 4x4s you could go the other way - those who pollute the most would pay the most." Alternatively, said Mr Tindale, London should try a Paris-style ban on the vehicles.

Professor David Begg, chairman of the Commission for Integrated Transport, said that owners should pay higher car tax in urban areas as well as a premium on the congestion charge.

"Four-by-four vehicles are simply not designed for driving in urban areas and to do so is irresponsible," he said.

Last year 11,414 new 4x4s were licensed in London, a rate of 951 a month. In the first four months of this year 5,772 were registered at the rate of 1,443 a month, a rise of 51 per cent. Away from London - where, arguably, 4x4s are more useful - sales rose from 66,769 in January to May last year to 78,333 over the same period this year.

Professor Garel Rhys of Cardiff Business School said: "Perversely, the vast majority are driven in the capital.

"The mews areas of some parts of London are lined with them." The attraction for Londoners had more to do with image than necessity, he said. "These are people who would otherwise be driving a BMW 5-Series or another car with a large engine.

"But they like the idea of a big 4x4, so they normally get one, try it out, then revert to being a normal-human being again after a couple of years."

Christopher Macgowan of the Society of Motor Manufacturers said: "Taxing one type of off-the-road car because of an unhelpful stereotype is nonsense. We can only imagine what might be the next target - sports cars, large saloons, minibuses?"