THE environmental campaign group Greenpeace is sometimes its own worst enemy. The group's members' predilection for handcuffing themselves to anything they don't like is getting a bit tiresome and, we suspect, unproductive in generating the desired effect of publicity for the causes they espouse.

So, Saturday's demonstrations at Land Rover dealerships in the larger cities of the UK against fuel-inefficient 4x4 "sports utility vehicles" probably went pretty much unnoticed away from the affected forecourts.

Leaving aside the issue of whether it was fair to pick on one particular marque when many manufacturers produce these vehicles, Greenpeace has a point worth noting.

The fashion for city dwellers to purchase vehicles built like tanks and with similar all-terrain capabilities for nothing more challenging than the supermarket or school run is daft.

Fashion, of course, is often daft but this is not about crazy clothes. Using these crazy vehicles in cities make no sense from an environmental, road congestion and road safety point of view.

While the focus of Government policy this week has been on the issue of road pricing to solve our congestion problems, much more can be done with the road tax system to discourage the sale of such vehicles to those who have absolutely no intention or need to use their awesome capabilities.

It is not for Government to dictate the style of vehicles we drive, of course. But those who wish to drive a vehicle which manages less than 15mpg in urban use should be required to pay for the pleasure.