Hundreds of cars across UK have tyres deflated overnight by activist group

Claiming to be 'defending ourselves against climate change', the group's stated aim is 'to make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world's urban areas'.

For six months the group has targeted the tyres on SUVs, which they believe to be unnecessary and bad for the environment, and marked their half-year of activism with their biggest night of deflations.

They say they've deflated the tyres of at least 600 cars in one night, while over the past few months they claim to have struck thousands of vehicles.

We know it's the same group because they leave letters covered in their logo explaining their campaign on the cars they've hit.

In a statement they said: "Courageous citizens all over the world last night deflated tyres on at least 600 SUVs, exactly two months before the opening of the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

"Six months ago, the Tyre Extinguishers movement launched in the UK, using lentils to deflate SUV tyres in 13+ UK locations.

"That movement has since spread all over the world to the United States, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, and New Zealand."

Last night the group said they deflated cars in Bristol, Edinburgh, Dundee and London across the UK, as well as vehicles in other major cities around the world.

The activist group also argues that hybrid and electric cars are 'fair game' for getting their tyres deflated, claiming that the mining of the materials involved in the production of such cars 'causes suffering'.

What they say they won't target are 'normal' sized cars, traders' cars, vehicles belonging to people with disabilities or minibuses.

The group have said they will keep deflating people's tyres until politicians do more to tackle the climate change crisis, including banning SUVs, imposing heavy taxes on polluting vehicles and big investment into public transport.