Who are the 'Tyre Extinguishers' and what is their cause?

An anti-SUV group known as the Tyre Extinguishers have taken credit for the sabotage of more than 60 4x4 vehicles at a Land Rover dealership in Exeter.

Claiming responsibility for Sunday night's damage, the group posted grainy night-vision footage on X (formerly known as Twitter) showing activists sneaking up to the cars and deflating their tyres.

It suggested the attack was carried out in retaliation to an incident in July which saw a Land Rover smash through the fence of a prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London, killing two eight-year-old girls and injuring 15 other people.

Tyre Extinguishers said Monday night's wreckage was intended as a "peaceful and non-violent demonstration to draw the attention to the presence of grossly inappropriate private vehicles in our towns and cities".

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However, their agenda goes beyond preventing accidents involving large SUVs, with the group also rallying against their contribution to climate change.

Activists have damaged vehicles well beyond the UK, with the group now believed to be operating in 18 countries.

Here Yahoo News explains the Tyre Extinguisher's goals, methods and what we know about them so far.

Who are the Tyre Extinguishers?

The Tyre Extinguishers describe themselves as a "leaderless, autonomous movement of groups that act independently".

Their modus operandi is fairly straightforward: under the cover of darkness, their activists deflate tyres of parked SUVs and leave a note for the owners to explain what happened.

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With the heading "Attention – your gas guzzler kills" the note tells how 4X4s are a "disaster for our climate" and how they are far more likely to kill people during collisions. They add: "You'll be angry, but don't take it personally."

The group, is believed to have started in the UK, first hitting the streets from March 2022 and gradually expanding their network of countries.

Why are they doing this?

The Tyre Extinguishers' main goal is to "make it impossible to own an SUV in the world's urban areas", in the name of "climate, health, and public safety".

Following their recent mission at Jaguar Exeter in Devon, on Sunday night, the group made reference to the recent crash at The Study Prep School, which resulted in the deaths of Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau.

On their X profile, they said: "SUV's are 8 times more likely to kill children in crashes than smaller cars... This act of retaliation is intended as a peaceful and non-violent demonstration to draw attention to the presence of grossly inappropriate private vehicles in our towns and cities.

"TX firmly believes that their action is a necessary escalation to try and stop these vehicles from wrecking further lives and continuing to push the worsening climate crisis of the cliff edge."

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Citing an International Energy Agency report from December 2021, the group says on its website: "The increasing pace of SUV buying is cancelling out all the carbon savings from people switching to electric cars. If SUV drivers were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter in the world."

It adds that at a local level, heavier air pollution produced by SUVs puts people at risk of illness, while pedestrians and cyclists are at more danger of injury, with studies showing drivers of these vehicles are more likely to take risks on the road.

How have they been criticised?

Other than people who take issue with criminal damage, some have criticised the group for deflating the tyres of electric and hybrid vehicles, which they see as counterproductive.

But as Tyre Extinguishers say on their website: "Hybrids and electric cars are fair game. We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis – there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone’s car and the mining of these metals causes suffering. Plus, the danger to other road users still stands."

Others have said that the damage caused often results in more CO2 emitting vehicles being driven on the road in order to handle the situation.

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For example, 28-year-old fitness instructor Carly Bateman, from Didsbury, Manchester, was left unable to get to work when her Skoda Yeti was deflated and ended up getting an Uber while her father drove over to pump her tyre.

She told Sky News: "Worst-case scenario someone could have a really bad health condition or be on their way to meet someone who is dying… and because they've deflated their tyres they can't get there.

"At the end of the day, they've not really done much good there because I've had to involve two vehicles instead of one."

What is the Tyre Extinguishers' method?

On their website, the group encourages people to target "posh/middle class" areas of towns and cities in order to find SUVs to sabotage.

It tells activists to unscrew the cap on the tyre valve and to drop a small bean, such as a lentil, inside the valve cap.

They are then instructed to put the cap back on and tighten it until they hear air hissing out, as the lentil pushes down on a pin inside.

"Even if it’s only hissing out a little bit, that’s enough – it will deflate slowly. The whole process should take about 10 seconds," says the group, who refer to their activists as "bean bandits".

The group also invites activists to print out a template note from their site and to inform the local press of their actions using secure email services.

How big are Tyre Extinguishers and where have they targeted?

It's hard to put a number on the Tyre Extinguishers' membership given their decentralised nature, but they are now thought to be operating in 18 countries.

They have claimed credit for deflating tyres in several cities in the US – where SUVs are particularly popular – including New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal are also among the countries to be targeted by the group.

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To give an idea of how many cars they are hitting, a recent post on X describing action undertaken in Berlin says: "ANOTHER 100 SUVs hit in last 2 nights in the Wannsee and Kladow areas.

"Berlin is challenging Paris for most-extinguished city!! 4th action in last 2 months, 350 SUVs made safe."

On July 28, the group said it had deflated the tyres of 70 SUVs in Turin, Italy the previous night. It added: "SUVs need more space, and their disproportionate size worsens the city traffic.

"They don't make everyone's life more difficult only in Turin, they're also a disaster for our climate."