4x4 vehicles 'should carry health warnings'

Four-wheel-drives pose such a danger they should be labelled with cigarette-style health warnings, a report claims.

The report, from influential think tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF), says fourbyfours are among the biggest polluters and are twice as likely to kill in a road accident - up to 27 times more likely if hitting another car in the side.

NEF policy director Andrew Simms said the dangers were so high that makers should display health warnings.

He said: "SUVs are dangerous, fabulously polluting and part of a wider transport problem that is, according to the World Health Organisation, set to be the world’s third most common cause of death and disability by 2020, ahead of TB, HIV and war.

"We need labelling to encourage people not to drive these four-wheel behemoths in the same way we encourage people not to smoke. If we can’t, we may need to find a very large ashtray for our planet’s future."

There are an estimated 100,000 such vehicles in London.