I am one of the 11 million people that bought a car from VW that transpired to be significantly more polluting than advertised. In fact, my car produces up to 40 times the Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) their “Clean Diesel” cars claimed to emit!

Forty frickin times!!!

They achieved this Machiavellian feat with their ingenious and now infamous “cheat device” that detects when the car is being tested then secretly reduces the cars emissions for the duration of the test. Back on the road the car reverts to wantonly spitting its filth into the environment.

This devious, evil and deceitful device was the product of a profiteering corporation that cared only for market share and making an awful lot of money as it invested heavily to sell their lie all around the world.

There is no doubt that VW generated incredible wealth selling these 11 million “clean diesel” cars harbouring their cheat device but the terrifying repercussion for the victims of this crime is that these 11 million cars produce the equivalent Nitrogen Oxide of 440 million cars! Think about that figure for a moment, that’s more than all the cars on the road in the USA and China combined!!!! 

WTF!!!! It’s just incredible what some companies will do in the name of profit.

At the time the news broke back in 2015 I thought VW would apologise unreservedly. Take their filthy cars back and off the road. Give their customers their money back. Give me my money back. Grovel. Beg for forgiveness. How naive was I?! They even had the audacity to deny any wrongdoing!

I thought the government would be decisive in their response to such a criminal act. Surely a crime this brazen, a crime of this magnitude that affected not just the car owners but the public at large with the pollution generated would command a strong, firm response? One that let the world know that this kind of profiteering would not be acceptable?… Tumbleweed.

I still drive this filthy car, after all, selling it doesn’t solve the problem. But what on earth can I do about it?! After years of waiting, of sitting tight in the hope that something would be done, I find myself unable to stop thinking about the subtle yet monstrous provocation “Don’t say nothing” and realise that perhaps I should get off my proverbial and say something.

In the flow of conversation talking about my filthy noxious car with a friend I uttered the sentence “clean diesel my arse“. Immediately I felt the power of the statement. It was succinct, angry, exasperated and a little bit funny. It put a fire in my belly. Usually these moments flit by but this one stuck.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this was what I wanted to say. I smiled as I imagined my VW Golf TDI emblazoned with this message writ large. I laughed at the irony of turning this offensive car into a placard to protest its maker and I loved how VW would be unequivocally explicit.

Hell yes, I want to do this. I want to turn my car into a screaming placard and leave it parked in the street for everyone to see. Ha, I could drive it to VW showrooms. Or drive slowly through London streets so more people would see it. Here I am world. The lone protester. Just me and my filthy little Golf. Spread the word.

It’s not much in terms of a protest but it’s better than saying nothing. I don’t have a grand plan, but who knows, other people might want to join me. That would be great! And if I may indulge a little, wouldn’t it be amazing if this grew into a protest with hundreds or even thousands of cars driving through London? Through cities all around the world! Just imagine. Thousands of cars emblazoned with this message, bumper to bumper driving through major cities around the world. Now that would be hard for Volkswagen to ignore.

Fly post your car.

While I was figuring out how to emblazon my car with this message I realised it was important to make it as easy and as cheap as possible so anyone could do it. If you want to fly post your car, just download the A3 Fly Poster Pack PDF here and get it printed at a local print shop. It costs less than a tenner! Aside from the feeling of relief that I’ve finally voiced my opinion on this subject it’s actually a pretty fun craft project to do.

If on the other hand you feel a little flush, you could get these printed in vinyl. This is much more expensive (somewhere between one and two hundred quid!) but will look better and last longer. Let me know if this is what you want to do and I’ll prepare a PDF for you too.

If you would like to join me or support this endeavour, don’t be shy, please share this post everywhere and help get this message out there.

If you have rolled up your sleeves to fly post your car, I would absolutely love to hear from you. Please drop me a line.

Thank you for reading.

James