Campaigners Call for Wimbledon To CANCEL Range Rover Sponsorship Deal

Anti-SUV projects have required Wimbledon’s organisers to stop shuttling tennis gamers and their entourages around London in Range Rovers and rather require the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu to take television 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 demanded the instant termination of its 10-year collaboration with the British cars and truck maker and for it to encourage gamers to use ‘London’s world-renowned public transportation network’.

The letter states ‘harmful supersized’ Range Rover hybrid SUVs deployed for tennis pros throughout the competitors position a ‘huge risk for children, pedestrians and cyclists’ in the capital.

The group – in a different statement – linked its issues to the death of two eight-year old-girls, Selena Lau and Nuria Sajjad, who were killed outside their primary school in July 2023 just streets far from where the Championships were taking location at the time.

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

The AELTC today reacted to the letter, stating it requires larger cars to transfer players, their entourages and their ‘substantial baggage, package bags, devices, and racquets’.

Anti SUV campaigns today wrote to organisers of Wimbledon calling for them to scrap the competitors’s 10-year partnership with Range Rover and right away stop using its ‘dangerous supersized’ cars to shuttle gamers to and from the competition

The SUV Alliance says the All England Club should instead force the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu (pictured) to take television or a bus to travel to and from the competition in southwest London

Outdoors letter dealt with to the chair of the AELTC, Ms Deborah Jevans CBE, and Usama Al-Qassab, its marketing and business director, the campaign group stated: ‘We the undersigned are as soon as again composing with dismay about using big SUVs as the official automobile of the Wimbledon Championship, and the wider sponsorship of Wimbledon by Jaguar Land Rover as a leading manufacturer of these cars.

‘ Research has revealed that heavy and large SUVs, like the Range Rover, are specifically dangerous to children and people strolling, wheeling and cycling.

‘ Using these vehicles 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 grownups (performed between 5 and 7 April 2025) that discovered that 61 percent of parents in the capital are concerned that larger cars make it more hazardous for children to walk and cycle.

‘ The probability of someone walking or biking being eliminated increases by 44 percent when struck by an SUV compared to a little cars and truck, increasing even more to 82 per cent for children. This is due to the additional weight of an SUV and style features such as a taller bonnet,’ the letter goes on.

‘ Many of us are moms and dads and grandparents ourselves and feel the dilemma of wishing to encourage our kids to walk, wheel, cycle and play outdoors – for health, mental health and their own autonomy – however at the same time fearing what could take place if our children share the streets with supersized SUVs.’

JLR has actually been an official partner for Wimbledon because 2015 and supplies a fleet of plug-in hybrid vehicles to transfer players throughout the competition

Organisers in 2015 said the plug-in electric hybrid Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar (imagined) cars utilized to shuttle bus tennis pros are charged at the club ‘using 100% sustainable electrical power for near-silent running throughout The Championships’

The Range Rover Sport PHEV can be driven exclusive in EV mode for approximately 75 miles, suggesting the automobiles deployed for gamers and their groups are almost always producing absolutely no tailpipe emissions

The letter likewise raised issue with the local air pollution impact of AELTC using Range Rover Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) automobiles – which can be driven for around 75 miles in electric-only mode if the battery is fully charged – to carry gamers, their entourages and VIPs to and from the occasion.

Organisers last year said the plug-in electric hybrid Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar lorries utilized are charged at the club ‘utilizing 100 percent sustainable electricity for near-silent running throughout The Championships’.

However, the anti-SUV group said the lorries will ‘still release particle contamination from tire wear, a leading source of pollution in London, which is made more severe by the Range Rover’s weight’.

The letter continues: ‘We need to likewise be clear that this sponsorship is a form of advertising. The endorsement of large SUVs through collaborations like JLR and the AELTC drives an unneeded aspirational culture for ever bigger automobiles, at the expense of public area and security for others.

‘ Excessive marketing and advertising has actually added to SUV ownership surging in the UK, from simply 19 percent of sales ten years ago to 62 percent of new cars and truck sales in 2015.’

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Instead of using Range Rover’s provided fleet of PHEV designs, the campaign group suggested organisers make its ‘large volumes of gamers and entourages around the tournament’ instead use ‘London’s world-renowned public transport network’ and ‘shared transport and active travel choices’ to ‘set an example and to deliver the Championship’s basic sporting message’.

It adds that ‘where vehicles are needed’ the organisers must just provide small electric cars while considering alternative vehicle partners.

In an additional declaration, Oliver Lord, head of the Clean Cities campaign group – which belongs to the SUV Alliance – stated: ‘It’s astonishing how Wimbledon demands deploying big SUVs in our congested capital regardless of outstanding public transport and installing proof of the harmful threat they posture to kids.

‘ Why can’t guests utilize public transportation like the majority of Londoners, at the extremely least, more typical sized cars that don’t crowd us off the roads or endanger people walking and biking?’

Wimbledon organisers respond
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 ‘postpones to the All England Lawn Tennis Club for comment’.

This is Money likewise called the AELTC for remark.

The All England Club says it utilizes larger lorries because it requires to transport players, their groups and ‘substantial luggage, package bags, devices, and racquets’ throughout the competitors

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

A representative for the All England Club informed us: ‘JLR has actually been a crucial partner to The Championships given that 2015, particularly with Range Rover this year.

‘We have worked carefully 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 sustainable electrical power.

‘Given the length of Grand Slam events – 3 weeks from the start of practice to the conclusion of the competition – gamers usually choose to stay in domestic rather than hotel lodging during their time at Wimbledon.

‘This is a great increase for the city as players enter into the local community, but it does require a vehicle fleet to shuttle bus gamers in between their accommodation and the premises.’

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The spokesperson included: ‘Players frequently take a trip with at least 3 guests, (normally coach, physio, or member of the family) and often get here straight from other competitions without going home for weeks or even months.

‘We work closely with these elite athletes and their teams to guarantee suitable area, consisting of head space for them and their entourage, who also typically have considerable luggage, package bags, devices, and racquets.

‘Our goal is for that reason to accommodate each player and their team within one automobile versus the requirement for two different lorries.

‘Our focus this year stays for as numerous journeys as possible to be provided in EV mode. Trip distances all take place within a seven-mile radius, however the typical journey length is less than 5 miles, meaning the majority can be provided on the EV series of the hybrid Range Rover vehicles which we are utilizing.’

T&E’s analysis of the new car market discovered that the average bonnet height of a traveler car offered in the UK has jumped from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024

Analysis brought out by Loughborough University on behalf of T&E said a chauffeur of a RAM TRX truck is unable to see a child as much as 9 years of ages straight in front of their bumper. For a chauffeur of a Land Rover Defender, the high bonnet obstructs their view of children up to 4. 5 years, it declared

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

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

It declared their higher bonnets implies drivers are unable to see kids as old as 9 standing directly in front of them. This, it said, is a specific risk when drivers are leaving a driveway or parking area, or when taking a trip in stop-start traffic outside schools.

Transport & Environment, which produced the report, said average bonnet heights for newly-sold cars 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 automobiles. It pointed the finger squarely at the need for JLR models in Britain for accelerating this boost in bonnet height.

It declared that the front of SUVs normally strike adult pedestrians above the centre of gravity, frequently first hitting essential organs in the body’s core, with a greater possibility of knocking them forward and down, and a greater threat of driving over them.

This is deemed far more unsafe than traditional hatchback and saloon cars and trucks with lower bonnets, which tend to strike pedestrians’ legs, providing greater opportunities of falling towards the lorry, or of being deflected.

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

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

Claire Freemantle, the chauffeur of the Land Rover Defender that hit and caused the death of the two schoolgirls on 6 July 2023, was originally detained at the scene.

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

As a result this meant she would not be charged, it stated.

At the time, her lawyer stated her epilepsy had ‘never ever formerly manifested itself’ and Ms Freemantle ‘had constantly delighted in great health’.

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

She was detained for the 2nd time after the Met Police said it examined its examination following the CPS’s choice last June not to charge her.

The Met Police said a specialist crime evaluation group had actually ‘identified lines of inquiry which required even more evaluation’.

Speaking in reaction to the awful event, a JLR spokesperson today told This is Money: ‘Our deepest sympathies stay with all those impacted.

‘The Police investigation is still ongoing and for that reason it would be unsuitable for us to provide additional remark.’