Madam, - Tim O'Brien (January 31st) is right to point out that not all suburban SUV drivers are muppets and that some of them actually need off-road ability and four-wheel drive. However, many do not. Many white-collar commuters buy SUVs for two reasons:
1. Yummy mummy is a nervous driver and she feels she needs a tank to survive in traffic.
2. Big, boring SUVs yell "affluence" more stridently than Ross O'Carroll-Kelly ever could, and their sheer size, height and overweening public display massage the status-anxiety of a certain kind of arriviste Irish person. In the South of England, there is a market in, of all things, spray-on mud, so that the drivers of these dreary vehicles can have extra macho "credibility". Spray-on bull***t would seem more apt. - Yours, etc,
SEÁN MAC CANN, Trillick, Co Tyrone.
Madam, - The letter on the SUVs from Alan Cook (February 1st) is a classic example of the mindless rubbish circulating on this topic.
Thankfully your Motors section in the same issue addressed the subject intelligently. No SUV owner will object to being taxed on an equal basis to other motorists. One fair way to do this might be according to emissions - ie, pay as you pollute. So long as a vehicle occupies a standard parking space the issue of a parking surcharge, for any vehicle, is ridiculous. - Yours, etc,
JOHN GRIFFIN, Bloomsbury, Kells, Co Meath.