COUNCILLORS have blasted drivers who took 4x4 vehicles on to Ilkley Moor where they became bogged down.

Keighley town councillor Andrea Walker this week branded the drivers “daft” for trying to negotiate the rain-soaked mud in the powerful vehicles.

And district councillor Steve Pullen criticised the three drivers for damaging moorland and stone paths during their ill-fated night-time expedition.

Cllr Pullen said: “They shouldn’t spoil anyone else’s enjoyment by carving up the ground. You wouldn’t like them driving over your garden.”

Police were this week investigating how the three all-terrain vehicles became stuck overnight last Wednesday near Whetstone Gate, also known as Keighley Gate, on the hill between Riddlesden and Ilkley.

Local resident Richard Barton found the vehicles near the track, with their wheels stuck in boggy ground, as he walked with friends on Thursday morning.

He said: “From a distance, we thought it was another so-called work of art!

“I have seen vehicles on the Ilkley-Keighley track, but the only ones I have seen on the moor have been shooting party vehicles.

“The moor here is very boggy and the vehicles appear to have attempted to keep moving by driving with two wheels on the paved footpath, which they have damaged. It clearly didn't work.”

Cllr Pullen, who represents Keighley East ward on Bradford Council, said that in recent years 4x4s had churned up Riddlesden golf course and bikers had destroyed wildflowers by driving around Elam Woods in the village.

But he said he had not heard of 4x4 vehicles being driven on Ilkley Moor in the past.

Cllr Pullen added: “I wouldn’t have thought the moor was a suitable place for people to drive Land Rovers and I wouldn’t condone it.

“There are places for these vehicles to go. The drivers should come together as a group and get a ‘4x4 Experience’ going.”

Cllr Walker, who represents Riddlesden on Keighley Town Council, said: “Getting stuck in the mud is pretty daft, especially with the weather we’ve had. It’s damaging the moor.”

A Keighley Police spokesman this week said officers had been made aware of the incident.

He said it appeared one of the vehicles had been driven on to the moorland but got stuck, and the other two vehicles unsuccessfully tried to pull it out.

The spokesman added: “It’s been recorded as criminal damage because there are trespass issues. There are large ruts in the ground, and paving slabs have been knocked out of line.

“Efforts are being made to talk to the owners of vehicles.”