UPDATE: The car has now been removed. The SNJ is trying to get confirmation of who has taken it.

OVER three months after it first appeared, the car warning drivers about climate change by Merrywalks roundabout is getting towed.

Gloucestershire County Council, which owns the land the car is on, has now served notice to the member of eco-activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR), Piers, who decided to leave his old car on a spot of land by the roundabout known as Wallbridge Green out of protest.

"I decided to get rid of my car after the last IPCC report came out giving us 12 years to cut emissions by 50 per cent," he said at the time, referencing last year's landmark UN report on climate change.

"I thought: I've done my diesel, I need to get rid of my car.

"So I decided to turn it into a campaign vehicle to try to bring other people along on the journey.

"I've bought a lovely electric bicycle."

Since then, the car has become a rallying spot for XR, with members gathering there the day before they blocked five bridges in London and putting new signs out over the months.

For others, it has become an eyesore.

Steve Dechan, a Conservative town councillor for Stroud, has regularly taken to Twitter to criticise the car - and the council for not removing it.

"The continued inability of Stroud District Council to remove an abandoned vehicle in Stroud town beggars belief," he tweeted in January.

"Inability to do basics, no wonder climate protesters get frustrated with governments!"

Though district councils are responsible for towing abandoned vehicles in Gloucestershire, Stroud District Council has said it can not tow the XR car because it is not technically classed as abandoned.

Instead, the car's fate is up to the land's owner: Gloucestershire County Council.

However, the county council is actually in the process of selling this land to Stroud District Council - a transfer that has been underway till at least 2016.

Both councils deny the transfer of Wallbridge Green is behind the delay to moving the car.

Neil Corbett, head of property services at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “The transfer of Wallbridge Embankment to Stroud District Council has taken longer than anticipated because we have had to repair a retaining wall on the site prior to its transfer.

“While removing abandoned cars is a district level responsibility, Gloucestershire County Council has now served notice on the owner of the vehicle and demanded that it’s removed. If the owner does not comply with this request it will be removed. The cost of the removal and storage will be charged to the owner until such time that they collect it.”

A spokesperson for SDC said: “We understand people’s frustration, however Gloucestershire County Council owns the land that the car is on. We understand it is taking steps to have it removed.

“A timetable was in place for the land to be transferred to Stroud District Council long before the car was parked on it and it is on track as planned. We are looking forward to taking ownership of the land as originally planned.”

XR and the car’s owner have been contacted for comment.

In any case, Steve's frustration was echoed by Brian Marks, an SNJ reader, who said in a letter to us: "XR have preached on their hideous protest car and ridiculous signage around it over recent weeks that we should be a happier, more considerate society.

"Surely a happy, considerate society should also be respectful of public property and they are on a very slippery slope when they endorse a “it’s something we agree with and therefore is okay” approach to vandalism."