AN EXTINCTION Rebellion petrol pump sticker campaign in Bradford on Avon was quickly extinguished on Tuesday.

Staff at Texaco petrol stations in Woolley Street and Trowbridge Road removed the health warnings placed by local supporters.

Stephanie Laslett, of Conkwell, voiced disappointment after the stickers were quickly removed.

She said: "It is very disappointing that the stickers were taken down so quickly but not surprising."

The health warnings had been placed as part of a national campaign led by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion.

The ER campaigners are calling for greater transparency about the damage to health caused by fossil fuels at a time when there are strong links between the Covid-19 pandemic and air pollution.

The purpose was to convey a clear and overdue health warning without disruption or confrontation.

Graphic images on the labels imitate existing cigarette packet health warnings; the government’s “Stay Alert” coronavirus banners; and the wartime “Your country needs you” posters, with David Attenborough’s face replacing that of Lord Kitchener.

Bradford on Avon has notoriously poor air quality in certain areas such as Market Street and Masons Lane, with nitrogen dioxide levels exceeding the EU and national legal limit as recorded by local air quality monitors.

Local resident Viv Talbot said: “I’m glad to see health warnings on our petrol pumps here in Bradford on Avon.

"The air pollution here is atrocious and well above legal limits in some places, like Masons Lane.”

A spokesperson for Doctors for Extinction Rebellion said: “We want to make it really clear that this is not a disruptive action.

“In the same way that the health warnings on cigarette packets don’t actually stop you smoking the cigarettes, we don’t want anyone to be impeded from filling up their car with fuel. The point of this action is to tell the truth but not to disrupt.”

Supported by notable public health officials, Extinction Rebellion is calling for people to sign a petition published on August 26 on the UK government petitions’ page calling for health warnings to be required on all petrol pumps.

These “eco-labels” were introduced in Sweden last month and Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the USA, will be next.

To sign the petition, go to https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/333388