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Campaigners Require Wimbledon To CANCEL Range Rover Sponsorship Deal

Anti-SUV campaigns have required Wimbledon’s organisers to stop shuttling tennis players and their entourages around London in Range Rovers and rather force the similarity Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu to take the tube or a bus to take a trip to and from Centre Court.

In an open letter sent to the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) today, the SUV Alliance required the immediate termination of its 10-year partnership with the British car maker and for it to encourage players to utilize ‘London’s world-renowned public transport network’.

The letter says ‘unsafe supersized’ Range Rover hybrid SUVs released for tennis pros throughout the competitors position a ‘big threat for children, pedestrians and cyclists’ in the capital.

The group – in a separate declaration – connected its issues to the death of 2 eight-year old-girls, Selena Lau and Nuria Sajjad, who were eliminated outside their primary school in July 2023 simply streets far from where the Championships were happening at the time.

Claire Freemantle, 48, crashed her Land Rover Defender into a crowd collected for an end-of-term tea party at the neighboring The Study Preparatory School, costing the lives of the two kids and injuring 10 others. Medical evaluation had originally shown that she had suffered an epileptic seizure, leading to the loss of control of the ₤ 80,000 car and was not charged. However, Freemantle was rearrested in January on suspicion of causing death by unsafe driving, with a full examination ongoing.

The AELTC today reacted to the letter, saying it requires larger cars to transfer players, their entourages and their ‘considerable luggage, kit bags, equipment, and racquets’.

Anti SUV projects today wrote to organisers of Wimbledon requiring them to scrap the competitors’s 10-year collaboration with Range Rover and instantly stop utilizing its ‘unsafe supersized’ automobiles to shuttle bus gamers to and from the tournament

The SUV Alliance says the All England Club need to rather require the similarity Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu (visualized) to take television or a bus to travel to and from the competitors in southwest London

Outdoors letter resolved to the chair of the AELTC, Ms Deborah Jevans CBE, and Usama Al-Qassab, its marketing and industrial director, the project group said: ‘We the undersigned are when again writing with dismay about the use of big SUVs as the official car of the Wimbledon Championship, and the wider sponsorship of Wimbledon by Jaguar Land Rover as a leading maker of these automobiles.

‘ Research has revealed that heavy and large SUVs, like the Range Rover, are especially hazardous to kids and individuals walking, wheeling and cycling.

‘ Using these lorries stands in direct contradiction to the sport-positive message of the Championship and overlooks the concerns of Londoners.’

It referenced a recent YouGov survey of 1,000 London adults (performed between 5 and 7 April 2025) that discovered that 61 percent of moms and dads in the capital are concerned that larger cars and trucks make it more dangerous for children to stroll and cycle.

‘ The possibility of somebody walking or biking being killed increases by 44 per cent when struck by an SUV compared to a small vehicle, increasing even more to 82 per cent for kids. This is due to the extra weight of an SUV and style functions such as a taller bonnet,’ the letter goes on.

‘ Much of us are parents and grandparents ourselves and feel the predicament of wishing to motivate our kids to walk, wheel, cycle and play outdoors – for health, mental health and their own autonomy – but at the very same time fearing what could happen if our children share the streets with supersized SUVs.’

JLR has been a main partner for Wimbledon since 2015 and provides a fleet of plug-in hybrid cars to transport gamers during the tournament

Organisers last year stated the plug-in electric hybrid Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar (imagined) automobiles used to shuttle tennis pros are charged at the club ‘using 100% eco-friendly electricity for near-silent running throughout The Championships’

The Range Rover Sport PHEV can be driven exclusive in EV mode for up to 75 miles, meaning the cars and trucks deployed for gamers and their groups are generally producing no tailpipe emissions

The letter also raised concern with the local air pollution effect of AELTC utilizing Range Rover Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) cars and trucks – which can be driven for around 75 miles in electric-only mode if the battery is totally charged – to carry gamers, their entourages and VIPs to and from the event.

Organisers in 2015 stated the plug-in electrical hybrid Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar vehicles utilized are charged at the club ‘using 100 percent sustainable electrical energy for near-silent running throughout The Championships’.

However, the anti-SUV group stated the cars will ‘still produce particulate pollution from tyre wear, a leading source of pollution in London, which is made more serious by the Range Rover’s weight’.

The letter continues: ‘We must likewise be clear that this sponsorship is a type of advertising. The endorsement of big SUVs through collaborations like JLR and the AELTC drives an unnecessary aspirational culture for ever larger lorries, at the expense of public space and security for others.

‘ Excessive advertising and marketing has added to SUV ownership surging in the UK, from just 19 percent of sales ten years ago to 62 percent of brand-new vehicle sales last year.’

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Instead of using Range Rover’s provided fleet of PHEV designs, the project group recommended organisers make its ‘big volumes of gamers and entourages around the competition’ instead utilize ‘London’s world-renowned public transportation network’ and ‘shared transport and active travel options’ to ‘set an example and to deliver the Championship’s fundamental sporting message’.

It includes that ‘where cars are needed’ the organisers ought to only provide small electrical vehicles while thinking about alternative car partners.

In a further statement, Oliver Lord, head of the Clean Cities campaign group – which becomes part of the SUV Alliance – stated: ‘It’s impressive how Wimbledon firmly insists on deploying big SUVs in our crowded capital despite outstanding public transport and installing evidence of the harmful danger they posture to children.

‘ Why can’t visitors use public transportation like a lot of Londoners, at least, more typical sized vehicles that do not crowd us off the roads or endanger individuals walking and biking?’

Wimbledon organisers react
JLR (formerly Jaguar Land Rover and the parent group of Range Rover) was approached by This is Money to react to the open letter, with a spokesperson informing us that it ‘accepts the All England Lawn Tennis Club for comment’.

This is Money likewise got in touch with the AELTC for comment.

The All England Club states it utilizes bigger lorries because it requires to carry gamers, their teams and ‘substantial luggage, package bags, devices, and racquets’ during the competitors

The 2025 Wimbledon competition started on Monday, with the anti-SUV campaigners releasing their open letter on Wednesday. Pictured: Defending Men’s Champion Carlos Alcaraz on Monday

A spokesperson for the All England Club informed us: ‘JLR has been an essential partner to The Championships given that 2015, specifically with Range Rover this year.

‘We have actually worked closely with them on the inclusion of a substantial variety of lower emission plug-in hybrid lorries in our fleet which, are being charged on-site with 100 percent renewable electrical power.

‘Given the length of Grand Slam events – three weeks from the start of practice to the conclusion of the competitors – gamers normally choose to remain in rather than hotel accommodation throughout their time at Wimbledon.

‘This is an excellent boost for the city as players end up being part of the regional neighborhood, but it does require a lorry fleet to shuttle bus players between their lodging and the premises.’

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The spokesperson included: ‘Players frequently travel with at least 3 guests, (usually coach, physio, or relative) and often show up straight from other tournaments without going home for weeks or perhaps months.

‘We work closely with these elite athletes and their groups to guarantee proper area, including head room for them and their entourage, who likewise typically have significant travel luggage, kitbag, equipment, and racquets.

‘Our goal is therefore to accommodate each gamer and their group within one lorry versus the need for 2 separate cars.

‘Our focus this year remains for as numerous journeys as possible to be delivered in EV mode. Trip ranges all take location within a seven-mile radius, however the typical journey length is less than 5 miles, suggesting the bulk can be delivered on the EV series of the hybrid Range Rover lorries which we are utilizing.’

T&E’s analysis of the new automobile market discovered that the typical bonnet height of a traveler cars and truck offered in the UK has actually jumped from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024

Analysis brought out by Loughborough University on behalf of T&E stated a driver of a RAM TRX truck is unable to see a kid approximately 9 years old directly in front of their bumper. For a chauffeur of a Land Rover Defender, the high bonnet blocks their view of kids approximately 4. 5 years, it claimed

The report says higher-fronted SUVs considerably increases the death rate when pedestrians are struck as they are most likely to be pulled under a moving vehicle rather than bounce off them

Large SUVs under the spotlight
The alliance’s attack on Range Rover comes weeks after an environmental think tank called SUVs a ‘growing danger to public security’.

It claimed their greater bonnets implies drivers are unable to see kids as old as 9 standing straight in front of them. This, it said, is a specific danger when vehicle drivers are leaving a driveway or parking space, or when travelling in stop-start traffic outside schools.

Transport & Environment, which produced the report, said average bonnet heights for newly-sold cars and trucks in the UK is increasing by half a centimetre a year – reaching 83.8 cm in 2024 – due to the continuous popularity of SUV-style cars. It blamed directly at the need for JLR models in Britain for accelerating this boost in bonnet height.

It claimed that the front of SUVs typically strike adult pedestrians above the centre of gravity, typically very first hitting crucial organs in the body’s core, with a higher likelihood of knocking them forward and down, and a higher threat of driving over them.

This is considered much more harmful than standard hatchback and saloon vehicles with lower bonnets, which tend to strike pedestrians’ legs, offering them greater opportunities of falling towards the automobile, or of being deflected.

However, JLR (previously Jaguar Land Rover and the parent company of Range Rover) countered at that report, saying it fits all its new models with the ‘newest in advanced safety innovation functions’ to mitigate such situations. This consists of pedestrian detection, 3D surround video cameras, and autonomous emergency braking.

Transport & Environment previously accused supersized SUVs – like the Range Rover – of leaving less room for other roadway users as well as being too big for standard parking bays

Claire Freemantle, the motorist of the Land Rover Defender that hit and triggered the death of the two schoolgirls on 6 July 2023, was initially apprehended at the scene.

Following an initial examination, the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) said Ms Freemantle had suffered an epileptic seizure behind the wheel, which triggered her to lose control of the automobile that then drove through a fence and into the school play area.

As an outcome this suggested she would not be charged, it said.

At the time, her lawyer stated her epilepsy had ‘never previously manifested itself’ and Ms Freemantle ‘had actually always delighted in good health’.

However, in January, Freemantle was released on bail after being rearrested earlier that month on suspicion of causing death by unsafe driving.

She was apprehended for the 2nd time after the Met Police stated it evaluated its examination following the CPS’s decision last June not to charge her.

The Met Police said a specialist criminal activity review group had ‘determined lines of inquiry which required even more evaluation’.

Speaking in response to the terrible event, a JLR representative today informed This is Money: ‘Our inmost compassions remain with all those impacted.

‘The Police examination is still continuous and therefore it would be unsuitable for us to provide more remark.’