Climate protesters let down tyres on hundreds of SUVs across Bristol and London in pollution protest

An environmental campaign group have let down the tyres of hundreds of vehicles around the world to protest high pollution levels.

In the UK, the group targeted mainly SUVs and deflated the tyres of 80 vehicles in Bristol and a further 58 in London on the night of Monday 27 February.

The international group of campaigners, who have dubbed themselves The Tyre Extinguishers, also let air out of the tyres of cars in France, Italy and Germany.

In total, the protest affected 215 cars.

A spokeswoman for The Tyre Extinguishers said: "We won’t stop until these polluting vehicles are history.”

It is not the first time the group have hit Bristol, they claimed to have deflated the tyres of hundreds of vehicles in the city in March last year.

Avon and Somerset Police told ITV News West Country these incidents are classed as criminal damage due to the damage that can be caused to cars if left on deflated tyres.

The force says it has had a "small number" of reports of cars having their tyres deflated in Bristol.

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