The Frontera was left near the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Photo: Andrew Farquhar
Mystery surrounds how an off-road vehicle came to be stuck near the summit of Wales’s highest mountain.
The Vauxhall Frontera was abandoned near the Bwlch Glas, close to the top of the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
Numerous walkers have reported seeing the vehicle which is at least 6km (3¾ miles) from the nearest road. Police are investigating the incident.
The position of the 4×4, facing downhill about 1,000m up on the mountain, suggests it may have made it to the summit and was on its way down when it was abandoned, possibly on Saturday morning.
No-one has yet admitted driving the vehicle to the top of the 1,085m (3,560ft).
In 1911, motor engineer Henry Alexander of Edinburgh drove a Model T Ford to the summit of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, to display the car’s ruggedness. The feat was commemorated this year by enthusiasts from the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain who carried the a car up in pieces and reassembled it on the summit, with the blessing of the John Muir Trust, which owns most of the upper reaches of the mountain.
Mypyrex
05 September 2011This vehicle should be removed by RAF Chinook helicopter and the cost recovered from the registered keeper.
Gerald Davison
05 September 2011Just published on the North Wales Police website.
"The 39-year-old man from the Cheltenham area, who drove a 4x4 vehicle onto Snowdon over the weekend, has been charged with driving a vehicle on common land / moorland/ land not part of a road.
He has been bailed to appear at Caernarfon Magistrates Court on September 16 2011."
Andrew Taylor
05 September 2011I wonder under which legislation these charges are laid? Can't be any of the Highways Acts, logically. What legislation covers this transgression?
Pete Bland
05 September 2011The offence is committed under section 34 Road Traffic Act 1988, as amended:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/34
DEFRA published in 2005 useful guidance with the title "Regulating the use of motor vehicles on public rights of way and off road", which you can download from here:
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/rural/countryside/prow/mpv.htm
fizzle
05 September 2011hope they cut it up send him the bits wonder if it is 4 wheel drive or two the driver wont know
andy
05 September 2011it should be driven down, at no cost to the tax payer,
Barrie Hird
06 September 2011It must have been fun! P'raps it's already in bits if the scrap dealers have heard about it. Could have a bonfire with the rest? No need for a helicopter, nor a train ride. LOL
Andy
07 September 2011Would it be against the law to drive a 4x4 wheelchair up to the top of snowdon
Craig Williams
21 October 2011Andy...you're onto a winner their! I shall start designing one straight away..... Maybe patent the design for the disabled to still have thier 'element of freedom' as it costs so much these days to have your 'freedom of speech', maybe 'freedom of actions' should be a legislation?... Sorry I digress, back the 4x4 wheelchair. I did suggest to solely 'Winch' the vehicle down by as-many-batteries-that-could-fit-in-the-back....(not a propelled vehicle then) but they snorted at that idea..... I next suggested getting a team together to dismantle it and rebiuld it at the bottom - book a VIC test and jobs done! to which they said, 'there would be too many enviromental issue's such as contaminating the land with oil, petrol and other over-spills of fluids' sot hat was a no-go. The chinook was going to cost 23,000 (and with cuts being made it was deemed a cost ill-afforded for such an action (I agree, just give me the bloody keys back and stop waisting time?!) by the Forth day i walked up the mountain with a new battery in my rucksack and a bunch of tools prepared to break into my own vehicle and drive it back down but, when around 3/4 up the police called and informed me the Railway had brought it down. Try walking up that mountain with a heavy-duty 12V battery on your back, and tool boxes.... That should have been for charity alone! lol!