The ‘Tyre Extinguisher’ mob working its way down the UK: Latest eco-warrior branch slashing wheels on thousands of 4x4s from Scotland to Bristol and London in bid to ‘make it impossible to own an SUV in urban areas’
- Zealots from Tyre Extinguishers sneak out into the dead of night and slash the tyres of expensive 4x4s
- They have targeted SUVs in affluent parts of cities including London, Edinburgh, Brighton and Bristol
- Activist group has also slashed tyres in cities such as Sheffield, Manchester and remote Dundee
- Precisely who is behind the new shadowy group, which claims to be leaderless, remains unclear
The scale of the ‘tyre deflation’ craze sweeping Britain is laid bare today as MailOnline shows how thousands of people have been targeted by eco-zealots slashing the tyres of their SUVs in multiple cities – from London, Birmingham and Edinburgh to Sheffield and even Dundee.
Activists from Tyre Extinguishers, a vigilante group of climate change protesters with an unknown number of subscribers, sneak out into the dead of night in affluent areas of the country and deflate the tyres of ‘gas-guzzling’ 4x4s including Range Rovers, Mazdas and Volkswagens.
In pursuit of their wild goal of ‘making it impossible to own an SUV in the world’s urban areas’, the activist cell has slashed the wheels of thousands of vehicles.
By their own estimate, Tyre Extinguishers had wrecked around 2,000 SUVs – and their actions do not appear to have abated since. On September 7 this year, for instance, the eco-activists claimed they had targeted around 250 SUVs – around 50 in Edinburgh, 90 in Bristol and 100 in other UK locations including London – in one night, which appears to have been a bumper day.
This year so far, the group have targeted cars in Islington, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Harley Street, Hampstead Heath, Notting Hill, Belgravia, Muswell Hill and Wood Green in London; Merchiston, Marchmont, Brunstfield and Portobello in Edinburgh; Clifton, Westbury Park and Henleaze in Bristol; and Hove, Woodlindgean, Preston Park, Seven Dials, Withdean and East Brighton in Brighton and Hove.
They have also picked on 4×4 owners in Greystones in Sheffield; West Didsbury in Manchester; Bacup in Lancashire; Birmingham; and Craigiebarns and Broughty Ferry in remote Dundee.
This year so far, Tyre Extinguishers have targeted cars in Islington, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Harley Street, Hampstead Heath, Notting Hill, Belgravia, Muswell Hill and Wood Green in London; Merchiston, Marchmont, Brunstfield and Portobello in Edinburgh; Clifton, Westbury Park and Henleaze in Bristol; and Hove, Woodlindgean, Preston Park, Seven Dials, Withdean and East Brighton in Brighton and Hove. They have also picked on 4×4 owners in Greystones in Sheffield; West Didsbury in Manchester; Bacup in Lancashire; Birmingham; and Craigiebarns and Broughty Ferry in remote Dundee
This photo shows an activist working under the cover of darkness and with their face obscured
Eco-activists The Tyre Extinguishers claim SUVs are being ‘disarmed’ because they are ‘death machines’
The Tyre Extinguishers have deflated more than 2,000 SUVs
Among the hardest hit were those in Brighton. Boasting not just the country’s only Green MP but a Green council to boot, the city was last year voted the UK’s most eco-friendly. So imagine the shock of residents living in one of its most middle-class suburbs when they awoke on Tuesday morning to discover that they, of all people, had been branded enemies of the environment.
Katie Wood, who found that three tyres on her Kia Sportage had been let down, was one of them.
An educational psychologist, she was two hours late for work as she tracked down a portable pump and then headed to a garage to top up her tyres.
‘I’d use public transport if I could but, because I work in a variety of different locations, I need a car to travel,’ said the 41-year-old.
‘My car can in no way be described as a ‘Chelsea Tractor’. It has a relatively small engine and its emissions are low.’
She added: ‘The tactics used on this occasion are wrong. Everyone wants to help reduce climate change and are doing what they can but in order to effect real change they should be winning hearts and minds.’
Nearby, Rob Derkin was equally outraged at being singled out. When he left to take his daughter to college he spotted that three tyres on his Volkswagen T-Roc were flat.
Unscrewing the valve caps, he discovered telltale dried legumes within. ‘It’s ridiculous that they targeted this car because it has a 1-litre engine and low emissions,’ the 58-year-old music composer said. ‘I specifically chose it because of its low emissions.
‘All this campaign serves to do is make people angry and reinforces the image of activists. It reeks of student idealism – it’s so Brighton that a lentil was involved.’
He added: ‘If they’re going to continue with this campaign then they need to brush up on what cars have high emissions and which ones to avoid because at the moment they are targeting the wrong people.’
It was a point echoed by Neil Longuet-Higgins, 61, who was moving house on Tuesday morning and spotted one of the tyres on his Porsche Cayenne was flat as he went to meet the removals van. The car is a hybrid, meaning it can travel around 20 miles on battery power alone.
‘The car I had before was a diesel but I changed it and because I live and work around Brighton I only really use the electric element of the car,’ he said.
The disruption caused by the flat tyre ended up costing him more than £500. Driving to two garages — in vain — to find an air pump caused damage to the tyre, forcing him to pay £250 for a replacement. Because of the delay, he also had to pay the removal firm for an extra two hours of their time.
Precisely who is behind the new shadowy group, which claims to be leaderless, remains unclear. But their decision to take direct action that affects the lives of ordinary members of the public mimics the tactics of Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Insulate Britain, whose protests have gridlocked cities and roads in recent years.
While the Tyre Extinguishers deny they are affiliated to any other organisation, when it set up a Twitter account last summer, the very first group it followed was XR.
Some of the SUVs that have had their tyres let down also included electric and hybrids. Iren Brown from Brighton, had to cancel a hospital appointment after her and her husband Nick woke up to find all four tyres on the family’s part-electric Toyota Rav 4 had been deflated by activists.
Mrs Brown, 43, said: ‘The Toyota is a hybrid electric car which we bought because we were being mindful of the environmental impact our previous diesel car was having. But these activists have not taken that into consideration. I’m so angry because everyone is behind their cause but their tactics are indiscriminate and scattershot.’
The mother-of-two, a kitchen designer, added: ‘Nick is quite a serious diabetic and we may have need to access a vehicle in an emergency. Their actions could have been dangerous.’
Globally, the number of SUVs has increased from less than 50 million in 2010 to around 320 million last year – equivalent to the total car fleet of Europe. Because of their size, on average, SUVs consume around a quarter more energy than medium-sized cars.
A 2019 study by the International Energy Agency found that they rank among the top contributors to energy-related carbon dioxide emissions growth over the past decade – cancelling out the reductions from people switching to electric cars. Because of their size, they are also said to be more dangerous when involved in an accident.
According to the climate vigilante group, action was taken ‘all over the world’ but the locations targeted for the vandalism were largely within the UK, with most SUV tyres deflated in Bristol.
Outrageously, The Tyre Extinguishers have said that even electric and hybrid SUVs are ‘fair game’.
The group considers electric and hybrid SUVs unsafe in urban areas, dramatically stating that ‘a child killed by a massive SUV doesn’t care if it’s electric or not.’
The vigilantes also claim that there are ‘not enough rare earth metals’ to build electric and hybird cars to replace conventional cars with them, and that ‘the danger to other road users still stands’.
According to the protest group, they have been operating for six months.
Marion Walker, a Tyre Extinguishers spokesperson, said: ‘Six months in and 9,000 SUVs later, our movement is just beginning.’
‘Our strength is that anyone, anywhere can take part using our website,’ said the activist group.
The date for the night of coordinated vandalism was chosen scrupulously to mark two months before the opening of the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
‘Politely asking for climate action, clean air and safer streets has failed,’ according to the protest group.
‘If enough people join us, it will be impossible to own an SUV in the world’s urban areas, and we’ll see these death machines piling up on the scrapheap.’
The Tyre Extinguishers demand to see bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence, and massive investment in free, comprehensive public transport.
SUVs feature elements of standard cars but are larger and have off-road capabilities such as high ground clearance.
Petrol and diesel-powered models are generally less fuel efficient than cars.
The group have demanded that the government introduce ‘bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence, and massive investment in free, comprehensive public transport.
As a multiple sclerosis sufferer, Kate Basker never quite knows when or how the condition will affect her. ‘Most of the time I’m really high-functioning and I walk as much as I can,’ the 33-year-old from Bristol says
Rob Derkin was equally outraged at being singled out. When he left to take his daughter to college he spotted that three tyres on his Volkswagen T-Roc were flat. Unscrewing the valve caps, he discovered telltale dried legumes within. ‘It’s ridiculous that they targeted this car because it has a 1-litre engine and low emissions,’ the 58-year-old music composer said
The protest group claim to have targeted SUVs across the country, including London and Edinburgh
However, they say: ‘Until politicians make this a reality, Tyre Extinguishers action will continue.’
Legal experts say that although prosecution is unlikely, the activists could actually be committing a criminal offence.
Laura Baumanis, a criminal defence solicitor at legal defence firm Olliers, told MailOnline: ‘Whilst it is extremely rare for someone to be prosecuted for letting the air out of a tyre, technically, it could be classed as criminal damage.
‘For this offence to be satisfied, any damage caused does not have to be permanent, but is made out by virtue of the fact that steps need to be taken, ordinarily at expense to the owner, for the item to be in a working condition again.’
Matthew Nash, tutor at The University of Law, said if the driver failed to notice the flat tyre and drove away, more serious charges could be brought it they crashed.
He said: ‘Letting out air from someone’s tyres is clear criminal damage. Although technically the tyre is not ‘damaged’, if you do something to someone else’s property and they need to do something to restore it, that is Criminal Damage within the meaning of the Criminal Damage Act.
‘It is possible that if they let the air out of someone’s types so as to cause an accident, there could be more serious charges depending on the resulting damage or injury.
‘It is also possible that there could be other offences if this were done to many cars at the same time.’
Three police forces have confirmed they are investigating multiple reports of criminal damage in Brighton, Liverpool and Cambridge.
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