A Dundee garage manager has warned that customers are paying hundreds of pounds to replace tyres damaged by disposable vapes.
Iain Kinnear is the wholesale manager at Kenway Tyres in Dundee.
He said customers come in once a month with burned or punctured tyres, caused by disposable vapes – costing them around £100 per tyre.
“It’s a needless expense given the cost of living these days,” he said.
“People are already struggling and they’re having to fork out for a new tyre.”
Disposable vapes are popular with young people. The Scottish Government has commissioned a review into the environmental impact of these devices.
This “could” end with a ban on disposable vapes.
Discarded vape ‘burned a hole’ in tyre
Iain, 44, said they have seen a “sudden influx” of customers with this issue.
He added: “They’re so readily available now, all the youngsters are using them.”
This comes after a Dundee man got in touch with The Courier to warn of a £360 bill after a disposable vape burned through his wife’s tyre.
The man, who did not wish to be named, said: “Last week a group of yobs hanging about outside a takeaway in Broughty Ferry threw something on the road in front of my wife’s car.
“A few minutes later she heard a loud hissing noise from one of her tyres and a flat tyre warning light came on.
“It turned out a vape a burned a hole through the inside sidewall of one of the tyres.”
They had to pay £360 to replace the pair of matching tyres.
He added: “Obviously we’re wary now if we see a group of youngsters hanging about on the street.”
So how do vapes burn and puncture tyres?
Laura Young is a Dundee-based climate activist who has been fighting to get disposable vapes banned.
She said the lithium inside disposables vapes can burn through tyres.
“If it looks anything like a burn, that will have been the lithium battery,” Laura explained.
“When lithium batteries are damaged and the insides are exposed to earth’s materials, like water and air, it can cause a chemical reaction which is almost like a mini explosion.”
“It is very common,” she added.
“I always find them [disposable vapes] at the sides of the road. That is one of the main reasons why I keep picking them up – I worry about the drivers.”
Lib Dem councillor Craig Duncan of the Ferry Ward sees this problem in Broughty Ferry.
“It’s a real and growing issue,” he said, “especially around certain areas of The Ferry that are much visited by younger people.
“When [disposable vapes] are thrown away, they get run over and eventually the metal strips inside are laid bare and they can also cause punctures.”
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