Climate activists who deflate car tires reveal plans to target thousands of SUV drivers – and won’t stop even if they cause an accident | UK News

Controversial climate activists who deflate SUV tires say they will target thousands more drivers in the coming months – and they won’t stop even if their actions lead to accidents accident on the road.

The protesters, who called themselves Tire Fire Extinguishers, told Sky News they wanted to “sow fear” into owners of “gas-guzzling” cars.

They claim they have blown the tires of around 3,000 vehicles across the UK since March.

Police have warned the group’s actions “will absolutely not be tolerated” and have sought to arrest those involved.

However, a spokesman for the Tire Fire Foundation said they believed they were unlikely to be caught and that they would not be discouraged despite facing death threats.

Hitherto, activists say they attacked in London, Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Cambridge – and their campaign is “escalating rapidly”.

They have warned that more cities will be targeted as they aim to deflate the tires on more than 10,000 vehicles by the end of the year.

A spokesman for the group, who named them Marion Walker, told Sky News: “We want to strike fear into the heart of anyone driving a large polluting SUV in a UK city. .

“It’s time for polite demand and protest to stop working and it’s time to take action, sabotaging the machines that are killing us.

“Some of us, who live near polluted roads, are slowly suffocating.

“The others are cyclists who have almost been run over by an SUV too many times.

“We are all united by science that SUVs are a climate disaster.”

‘Extremely irresponsible’

Carly Bateman discovered a deflated tire on her Skoda Yeti outside her home in Didsbury, Manchester – with a letter from the Tire Fire Extinguisher left on the vehicle

The 28-year-old, who runs an entertainment business that deals with transporting large apparel and equipment, called the activists “irresponsible”.

She told Sky News: “I understand the message behind it and I understand they’re trying to do something good – but I also think it’s being done really irresponsibly.

“Going around flattening people’s tires when you don’t know who those people are… the worst case scenario is someone could be in really bad health or on their way to see someone about to be. dead… and since they deflated their tires, they might not get there.

“It’s irresponsible. It fakes the vehicle.”

Ms. Bateman, also a fitness trainer, was due to drive to a class in the morning when her car’s tire deflated.

Instead, she paid for an Uber ride, and her father drove his car to her location to inflate her tires.

“At the end of the day, they didn’t really do much good there because I had to involve two vehicles instead of one,” she added.

“If you want to stop driving 4x4s, contact the manufacturers and do something about it.

“Don’t target individuals who are just trying to do their job.”

Another woman who said her tram was targeted by Tire Firefighters wrote on Twitter: “You damaged my tyres and I didn’t notice until I started driving with his three children in his car.”

Why are SUVs targeted?

The Tire Rescue Foundation says sport utility vehicles – or SUVs – are “a climate disaster”, “dangerous” and “unnecessary”.

The cars have elements of the standard car but are larger and have off-road capabilities.

They consume about 20% more energy than a mid-size car because of their size, and over the past decade, aviation has outstripped aviation as the second-biggest cause of rising emissions. CO2.

But even though climate change warningSUV sales grew 10 percent from 2020 to 2021 and accounted for about 45 percent of all new car sales globally last year, according to the International Energy Agency, according to the International Energy Agency.

The Tire Fire Extinguisher Company, which launched in March, said it had “almost 3,000 SUVs deflated in the UK” – with 250 vehicles targeted in Brighton and Hove on Monday night alone.

Their spokesman told Sky News: “It would be nice to get in five figures by the end of the year and we think that could happen.

“Nobody has been arrested yet, and we don’t expect anyone to be.

“We can attack anywhere, anytime.

“Unless someone is going to drink a pint of coffee and stay up all night waiting to make sure their precious toy doesn’t deflate, or unless the police are going to check for a scam 24/7 before any SUV in the country, we are very hard to get caught.”

The group asked activists to avoid targeting SUVs “explicitly used by people with disabilities or occupations”.

When asked if Tire Fire Extinguishers would stop their campaign if it resulted in an accident on the road, their spokesperson said they had left leaflets for affected vehicles “as a warning.” ” and claims most SUVs are equipped with sensors that warn the driver of a flat tire when they are placed. key in the igniter.

The spokesperson added: “The only reason we’re stopping our campaign is if we’ve been successful in being unable to own an urban SUV in the UK, or if the government imposes a ban on the vehicle. SUVs in urban areas, pollution will tax SUVs in existence, and big investments in free, inclusive public transportation.

“But until politicians make this a reality, the Tire Extinguisher’s action will continue.”

‘Death threats’ sent to activists

A spokesman for Fire Extinguisher Tire Ex, who was contacted only via email for “security reasons”, told Sky News that activists had received death threats online, which were “overwhelming from man”.

The spokesperson added: “It shows the fragile egos of the men who own these cars and how attached they are to their cars.”

“We are not deterred by such threats.”

People with disabilities also claimed that people with disabilities told the group they were “offended to think they were being used as an excuse for using SUVs”.

“Our sympathies go out to the millions of people who die from causes related to climate change,” a spokesperson said.

“Your average urban SUV user’s selfish desire for luxury shouldn’t deprive those most affected by climate change of their right to live.”

Police launch ‘Fire Extinguishers’

Sussex Police launched “Operation Fire” in March following reports of vehicles with flat tires and the release of CCTV footage showing the two people they were looking for.

Read more:
UK Protectorate admits roadblock protests ‘failed’ but warns new tactics will be ‘more ambitious’

Inspector Nicky Stuart said at the time that “this kind of behavior will absolutely not be tolerated” and that “any such incident is unacceptable”.

One move to crack down on guerrilla-style climate protests is posed in the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday.

The Public Order Bill, which is being introduced into parliament today, would ban protesters from “locking down” public transport infrastructure or sticking themselves to the roads.

It follows the recent protests of British Insulation angered motorists by blocking traffic, with some activists taping themselves to the pavement.