A note left on a vandalised car accused a driver of being a "piece of climate killing sh**”. The insult was written below another message left on a windscreen, advising drivers how to wash off paint that had been left by climate activists.
Police have confirmed they are investigating 11 reports of damage to vehicles in Clifton this week. High-end SUVs, including a hybrid vehicle, were defaced with messages such as 'climate criminal', 'I cause asthma' and 'this machine kills kids'. Similar incidents of vandalism in Clifton and Stoke Bishop took place in April and May this year.
A Bristol delivery driver who spotted the damaged vehicles in the early hours of Tuesday morning (June 6) said: “I see things going on all through the night. I see all sorts, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
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The driver, who did not want to be named, said the smell of spray paint was still in the air around one vehicle when he made his delivery. He said: “So I knew I wasn’t far behind them.”
He added that in an ironic twist, one of the painted vehicles was a hybrid car. He said: “It was a plug-in hybrid Volvo and they wrote on the door right next to the plug-in, so they don’t seem to know what they’re doing.”
“Right next to that Volvo was a Bentley and they left that one.” He spotted the first damaged vehicle around 4.30am and said the vandalised cars included high end vehicles such as Volvo, Porsche and BMW among others.
Then on Wednesday night, he spotted a note left by one car owner who advised others on the best way to remove the paint. At the bottom of the note, signed off with a smiley face, someone had handwritten: “No one gives a sh** about your paint you piece of climate killing sh**.”
The driver said: “They may have a point to make, but doing it on people’s cars, it’s disgusting. It’s dreadful.”
A spokesperson from Avon and Somerset Police said: "Officers from our Neighbourhood Policing Team are investigating after we received 11 reports of criminal damage to cars in the Clifton area of Bristol. We believe the incidents are linked to an environment protest group, which have spray painted words onto SUVs.
"Officers will be proactively engaging with victims of these crimes and carrying out increased patrols of the affected areas. We are appealing for anyone who is a victim of this kind of crime to report it to us so we can establish a pattern and progress our investigation.
"If you live in the Clifton area and have CCTV, dashcam or doorbell footage, please review this for anyone acting suspiciously. If you have any information which you think would be helpful, contact 101 and quote reference 5223131125."
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