Truck off! Monster vehicles don't belong on British roads

The Chelsea tractor brigade have nothing on the monster pick-up mob. Vehicles like the Dodge Ram 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado are increasingly making their way to Europe - with export numbers up by 150 per cent since 2019. These absurd trucks weigh as much as a Second World War-era tank and are longer than a giant anaconda.

- WILL GORE

In theory, they are too polluting to meet EU (and UK) regulations, but a loophole enables individuals to bring them in – some 5,000 in 2023. They are also far more likely than a regular car to cause serious injury to anyone they happen to be in collision with.

Quite what is the purpose of these trucks, I cannot fathom. They can’t possibly carry as big a load as a good, old-fashioned Transit van and they must be a nightmare to park in Tesco.

Perhaps it is simply an extension of the ongoing Americanisation of our roads, which already seem completely clogged by ever-bigger SUVs. Drivers of these monsters are always keen to talk about how they just want to keep their families safe – but presumably at the expense of everyone else’s. With even larger pick-ups now hurtling round the M25, it becomes a zero-sum game.

Then again, the safety thing is a bit of a red herring. Big cars – like sports cars – are a status symbol, or a compensatory mechanism. The owners of gigantic trucks, imported from the US at enormous expense, must have a lot to make up for.