West Sussex: Foxes addicted to brake fluid endangering drivers by chewing car cables

Motorists are in danger from foxes hooked on brake fluid, with the animals chewing through the vital car cables in order to get a fix.

Vehicles in a part of south-east England have been targeted by foxes craving to drink the sweet-tasting fluid - with potentially disastrous results.

The foxes pose a furry menace to drivers, after apparently chomping through cars' brake cables in pursuit of a hit.

BMW owner Sam Craig, 36, said: "I checked my car every day last week and on Friday found bits of rubber under it. I took a proper look at it and found the brake cables have been chewed to bits."

The canine habit creates the hazard of a potential catastrophic brakes failure while a vehicle is on the road.

A mechanic in Crawley, West Sussex, reported recovering a crashed car and discovering tell-tale teeth marks on the cables that make the brakes work.

"I had to recover one car because the brakes had completely failed," Justin Peters said.

So serious is the problem, The Times reports motorists in the town have been forced to wrap chicken wire around brake cables in order to repel the voracious foxes.

But motorists in Crawley may be largely powerless to stop the brake fluid-addled foxes because law protects them from being culled. The local authorities have advised residents to use pellets instead.