The war on sports utility vehicles has been taken up by the EU.

SUVs account for seven per cent of Britain's car market yet the criticism is mounting.

At first they were all the rage, cool, even useful if you were a country pursuits enthusiast.

But once they became the housewife's status symbol, dubbed 'Chelsea tractors' for being ultra-trendy in well-heeled city shopping streets, they rather lost their glitter.

And then they became assailed on all sides.

First it was their bulk - more or less guaranteeing the safety of the driver and the death of any pedestrian they hit.

Next came the environment with the gas-guzzlers being condemned by activists who famously chained themselves to the track at Land Rover's Solihull plant.

Then, with petrol prices approaching £1 a litre, there is a simple economic argument. While most of their well-heeled owners probably have enough readies to ignore the issue, if it is a question of school fees or the Tonka toy, then the children win.

Now the European Commission has called for a crackdown on the big SUVs.

It says it is determined to close a loophole in EU legislation which means ordinary passenger cars have to meet harsher emission controls than the SUVs towering above them. The crackdown is part of a package of proposed measures drawn up in Brussels after consultations with the car industry.

The plans include slashing harmful particulate emissions from diesel cars by 80 per cent and reducing hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions from petrol cars by 25 per cent.

And the plans state that passenger vehicles weighing more than two and a half tonnes, currently categorised with "light commercial vehicles" for emission limits, will have to meet harsher standards.

Not good news for Land Rover although the ruling would exclude many SUV models such as the Freelander. European Commission spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber said: "We have seen over the last few years that so-called Sports Utility Vehicles have become very a la mode.

"The problem is that the existing legislation means that these very heavy cars benefit under current legislation from this loophole. If you ask me this doesn't make much sense because these cars are of course partially fun cars and are also being used in normal traffic."

He went on: "It is slightly unfair vis-a-vis those people in the EU who go for environmentally- friendly cars and smaller cars, which have to comply with stricter standards, while the big gas-guzzlers congesting our streets get away with standards which are less ambitious."

The proposals will now be subject of more consultation before the Commission presents a final version in December. Any agreed emission standards changes would not come into force before mid-2008.

Britain's car industry has warned that it could all backfire environmentally by encouraging a move away from diesel cars, the fastest growing segment of the market.