Each week, we'll be bringing you the essential strangest motoring news from around the world.

Don't forget to come back every Friday for your new helping.

Got any stories you think we should feature in the Weird World of Wheels? Email the editorial team.

This week:

Our boys in Afghanistan and Iraq are to get bomb-proof Cougar trucks (above right) to replace their less bomb-proof Land Rovers.

The 12-ton Force Protection Cougar trucks, as featured in a previous edition of The Weird World of Wheels, will replace the British made vehicles in six months, due to the increasing number of roadside bomb attacks.

Defence Minister Des Browne has OK'd plans to buy 100 of the massive trucks for £50 million.

Mr Browne said: "Protection of our forces is a top priority."

That would explain the six month waiting period, then.

Stuck truck

Sometimes it's a fair cop. You spend too long in a shop, lose track of time and get back to your car too late. The meter had expired - fair's fair.

But the traffic warden who issued a ticket to a driver whose lorry was stuck in a pothole could be considered a little heartless.

Michael Collins was collecting a skip in Belsize Park, London at 6.35am when the road beneath his front axle collapsed.

To the disbelief of onlookers, a passing Camden council warden arrived and slapped a ticket on the lorry's windscreen.

Mr Collins said: "I was just working out what happened when this jobsworth comes along. Out came the pencil and book. She said because I wasn't parked up and was blocking the road she had to give out a ticket."

Bishop bashes 4x4s

Lust? Gluttony? Envy? There's a new sin in town.

According to Bishop of London Richard Chartres it's a sin to drive a big car.

Chartres, the third most senior bishop in the Church of England, says any driver who gets behind the wheel of a 'gas-guzzling' 4x4 is contributing to climate change.

Chartres said: “There is now an overriding imperative to walk more lightly upon the earth and we need to make our lifestyle decisions in that light. Sin is not just a restricted list of moral mistakes."

Best hide the incense burner, then.

The Rockford Piles

Arrive late to work? Forget that important meeting? That's nothing. Try explaining to your boss that you set a mountain of cars on fire.

This massive pile of between 6,000 and 8,000 cars (right) was set ablaze this week at a recycling plant in Rockford, Illinois.

Firefighters from four neighbouring cities were called in to battle the blaze.

The plant's owners were unaware how the fire could be started, as the cars had their batteries, petrol tanks and tyres removed.

Don't tell the Bishop of London.

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Got any stories you think we should feature in the Weird World of Wheels? Email the editorial team.