Bristol Tyre Extinguishers ‘disarm’ 40 SUVs overnight

The Bristol Tyre Extinguishers (BTX) have struck again, deflating the tyres of 40 SUVs in one area of the city overnight.

Since they first hit the streets in March, the incident in Clifton brings the total number of vehicles ‘disarmed’ by the activist group to over 5,000.

The action on Wednesday was the environmentalists’ fourth major extinguishing action which have so far targeted areas including Redland, Stoke Bishop and Cotham.

With claims of “breakout growth” in their membership and plans to challenge regional champions, Brighton (the most active tyre disarming group), the group vow their most recent escapade will not be their last.

Nat, 27, is part of BTX.

Speaking about her motivation to join the group, she said: “Bristol is one of the most polluted cities in the UK. We’ve all seen the smog, we’ve all choked on it. It makes going outside not only unpleasant but also dangerous – it’s killing five people a week.

“Bristol has also just been crowned as the worst city for driving in the UK, on grounds including parking, road condition, crashes, and congestion.

“The more we let SUVs fill our streets, the worse all of this gets – and as a Bristolian, this hurts my pride. This is a great city, it deserves better. That’s why we’re planning to make Bristol the UK’s most extinguished city outside London.”

The Tyre Extinguishers want immediate and far-reaching action from local and regional authorities to mitigate the damage currently being done. They are demanding bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence and massive investment in free comprehensive public transport.

In their view, the government is failing so feel they must take matters into their own hands.

“If politicians won’t deal with this senseless assault on public welfare, then citizens will,” said Holly, also involved with the group.

The 32-year-old added: “We’re here to tell you that there’s no more time for recycling and just asking nicely for legislation that will protect our future.

“Every expert on our ecosystems, from UN climate scientists to David Attenborough, is saying that we’re almost out of time to avert catastrophic breakdown in our planetary systems.”

The Tyre Extinguishers target SUVs in affluent parts of urban areas

The group has grown significantly since its inception and has now carried out extinguishing actions across at least ten UK cities, with international groups springing up across Europe, the USA and Australia.

Although plans from home secretary Priti Patel to introduce the new Public Order Bill could stem this tide. The new bill sets out plans for a significant criminalisation of climate activism by providing the police with greater powers to crack down on protest groups with longer sentences and hefty fines.

Groups involved with climate protest are entering into an increasingly fraught relationship with the government and the stakes for being involved in activism are going up.

According to the Tyre Extinguishers, this wave of criminalisation is simply an indication that direct action is working.

“There is an ongoing criminalisation of direct action because it is effective,” they said. “But we won’t stop – nothing will stop us.”

All photos: Bristol Tyre Extinguishers

Read more: Dozens of cars have tyres deflated 

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: