AN emissions tax on heavily polluting 4x4s is an unnecessary punishment for drivers in rural communities, agricultural figureheads across South Lakeland have claimed.

Owners of cars and 4x4s in Band G - those that expel more than 226kg of carbon per km - are facing a 90 per cent hike in road tax to £400 over the next two years.

But South Lakeland-based Trevor Wilson, Cumbria chairman of the National Farmers' Union, said the increase would only hurt those who had a genuine reason to drive 4x4s.

Campaigners are now calling for the agricultural community and tradesmen who need a vehicle for work to be exempt from the increases.

Mr Wilson added there were a number of ways this exemption could work.

This could be done by postcode - where those with a rural postcode are exempt from paying the full increase, or on a proof-of-need basis.

Criteria on what constitutes a working vehicle could also have been included in the Budget.

According to the Countryside Alliance, just 60,000 of the 1.6 million sport utility vehicles registered in Britain are owned by farmers, with a further 18,000 used by the equine industry, 5,000 by game keepers and 2,500 by rural veterinary surgeons.

Christine Knipe, chief executive of the Westmorland Agricultural Society, said it was another financial blow dealt to its members and others in rural communities.