SOLVED. YA Fiction fantasy/scifi- a scene with slashing tires

[Willy]

So the only scene I remember is a character going to slash a (car?) tire and in the excitement he ends up slashing all of them.

The genre is fantasy or post apoc or sci fi with a darker tone. I believe it was part of a series.

The phrase "to and fro" is used a lot. I read this about 10 years ago so must be pre 2008.

I want to say the author is English/ British and I feel like the 1960's was when it was written.

I also want to say that a movie was made about the book or at least about the series( no idea really).

[Willy]

I looked through wikipedia and went thru English fantasy novels and The Dark is Rising series seems outstandingly right.