Hundreds of cars are said to have had their tyres let down by a new group that calls itself the Tyre Extinguishers. The group wants to discourage people from getting - and ultimately stop the urban use of - SUVs and 4x4s, which are known to be bad for the environment.
As such, it is going round deflating the tyres of SUVs in Bristol and other built-up areas. It's important to note that the group is not causing irreversible damage by slashing tyres; instead it lets air out in order to cause what it admits is "inconvenience and expense for their owners".
But is doing so legal? Are Tyre Extinguishers breaking the law in their actions?
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Put simply: it's probably illegal. Letting someone's tyre down without permission is not specifically listed as an offence in law, it could come under a couple of other umbrella terms.
First, the road traffic act 1988 states: "A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally and without lawful authority or reasonable cause ... interferes with a motor vehicle, trailer or cycle." It would be for a judge to decide if letting a tyre down constitutes "interfering with a motor vehicle", since it is not listed specifically in the act, but common sense seems to suggest it would count.
Secondly, "vehicle interference" is also listed in the criminal attempts act 1981, but this act states the interference must be carried out with the intention of stealing the vehicle or something within it. Letting air out would therefore almost certainly not be an offence here.
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Finally, it is theoretically possible that letting air out of tyres could be considered a "public nuisance" - a common law offence (an offence that has been deemed unlawful by precedent in the courts rather than by legislation in writing) that will likely come into the statute books soon under the government's police, crime, sentencing, and courts bill.
Letting someone's tyres down without their permission is definitely a nuisance; the only sticking point would be whether the offence caused a nuisance to the public, or just one individual. Since this group is letting the air out of multiple people's cars, however, it is possible a judge would conclude the actions taken as a whole were causing a nuisance to the public.
Of course, this must be balanced with the right to protest, though the forthcoming police, crime, sentencing, and courts bill tips the scales back away from freedom to protest and towards stopping disruption.
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Why are the Fire Extinguishers doing this?
The group says on its website that "SUVs are bigger and heavier than other cars, [so] they are more polluting and use more fuel", which is true. It's for this reason that the Fire Extinguishers call SUVs "a climate disaster".
The group also claims that SUVs are more dangerous than other cars, and that three-quarters of SUVs are unnecessarily sold to people in towns and cities. It tells followers to leave alone normal- and smaller-sized cars, as well as minibuses and all vehicles used by traders and people with disabilities.
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