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Police go door-to-door in hunt for New Forest sportive saboteurs

National Park and councillors condemn locals "taking the law into their own hands"...

Police investigating Saturday’s sabotage attempt at the Wiggle New Forest Spring Sportive are carrying out door-to-door enquiries in their search for the culprit or culprits.

Nails were scattered on the event route where it passed through the village of Bransgore, causing punctures to 15 riders’ bikes, but no injuries, according to the Daily Echo’s Michael Carr.

A rider was reportedly injured last year after sharp objects were scattered on the route of the Wiggle New Forest Spring Sportive. The victim was a local man riding to work, not a sportive particpant, who broke his collarbone after crashing because of a puncture caused by a tack.

It seems police are taking the latest incident very seriously, attempting to trace the saboteurs via house-to-house enquiries.

Bransgore Parish Council chairman Richard Frampton said: “I know there’s been sensitivity over these events, partly because of the numbers, but there’s no excuse for anyone to take the law into their own hands.

“If there are genuine concerns they should go through the proper channels and be looked at in the correct way.”

Cllr Frampton said any genuine arguments against mass cycling events in the Forest were being undermined by people taking illegal action.

A New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) said: “There can be no justification for acts that may cause accident or injury.

“The event was closely monitored and while we’ve heard reports that the behaviour of a minority of cyclists was unsatisfactory, the large majority behaved well and followed the New Forest Cycling Code, which encourages responsible cycling.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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27 comments

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faz. | 9 years ago
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I did a sportive recently and there was a lady standing at a junction. As a friend in front shouted "Clear!" she started ranting... "Every weekend!! Riders shouting on this junction EVERY WEEKEND. IT HAS RUINED MY LIFE  102  102  102 "
I wasn't quite sure what to say so just said "have a great weekend" and carried on.

Not sure what could be done to avoid this? Did make me chuckle though. Rather a lot.

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David Portland | 9 years ago
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Have the pins from the road been compared to the ones used to pin the posters up?  39

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Leodis | 9 years ago
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DNA samples in the village have been taken, it turns out they are all related.

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clayfit replied to Leodis | 9 years ago
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 21

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Paul99 | 9 years ago
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Being a pedant, using the term "taking the law into their own hands" implies that these saboteurs were doing something that someone else (like the police) had failed to do - i.e. stop lawbreaking - when in fact it is the exact opposite. The saboteurs are the ones breaking the law by attemptign to cause damage and potential injury to people going about their perfectly legal and legitimate activity.

Having done the Surrey-London100 last year, I can say there were a few protesters out but the vast majority of people were hugely supportive, and it's probably similar in the New Forest. We shouldn't let the actions of a tiny minority of small minded, petty NIMBYs get so much exposure or suggest they have any kind of legitimacy.

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oozaveared | 9 years ago
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PR from the police. A statement that they are watching. And a notice to some of the local loudmouths to wind their necks in. Also a good opener for a chat when the Chief Constable meets some of the local councillors. It flags up the damage that these acts do to the reputation of the Forest. The message is clear enough to me. The powers that be. The real powers have had enough of the antics of some of these parish councillors.

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Tony | 9 years ago
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Perhaps with Easter weekend coming up and thousands of cars clogging the New Forest roads we should get out there with some stingers (only kidding). I wonder what the Bransgore locals would make of their roads clogged up with stranded cars waiting for all four wheels to be changed.

But if the fuzz nail the perpertrator maybe they'll spend some time with the screws.

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simon.thornton | 9 years ago
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In the past the Police Federation have vigorously supported cyclists rights ....

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congokid | 9 years ago
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"taking the law into their own hands"

What - is scattering nails and tacks on road surfaces now police work?

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jova54 | 9 years ago
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Quote "Bransgore Parish Council chairman Richard Frampton said: “I know there’s been sensitivity over these events, partly because of the numbers, but there’s no excuse for anyone to take the law into their own hands." End Quote

They are not taking the law into their own hands. There is no law against cycling in the New Forest.

They are commiting a criminal offence, putting at risk the lives of members of the public and the wellbeing of livestock.

It was a premeditated act, the only purpose of which was to cause damage to private property in the knowledge that injury might occur.

I would also assume that the perpetrator(s) are not from Bransgore. Unless they really that stupid or arrogant, they probably come from further afield.

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mrchrispy | 9 years ago
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plod - excuse me sir/madam but did you put tacks on the road
muppet- yes.....errrr I mean no!!!!

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bikebot replied to mrchrispy | 9 years ago
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mrchrispy wrote:

plod - excuse me sir/madam but did you put tacks on the road
muppet- yes.....errrr I mean no!!!!

Ah.. how about the undercover approach.

plod - excuse me sir/madam, we're putting up some posters in the area to warn the public about dangerous cyclists speeding about all over the place like maniacs. Unfortunately, we've run out of tacts to pin them up, I don't suppose you would have bought a box of them recently that we could use?

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md6 | 9 years ago
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You know I'm sure that this will wok, after all it will be really obvious who it was. They'll open the door in a 'dath to cyclists' t-shirt holding a big box of nails labeled - anti-cyclist shrapnel'/ Of course, there won't be enough evidence to prosecute but they might just get a bit of an earbashing from the terribly annoyed police who will be looking to do whatever they can to protect future events from such wanton acts of stupidity

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jmaccelari | 9 years ago
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At least they're taking it a little more seriously than last year...

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levermonkey | 9 years ago
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Did they ever find the idiot who sabotaged the Etape Caledonia a few years back? No? Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

However. If more is made of the possible injury to dumb animals rather than inconvenience to law-abiding cyclists then there might be a more promising outcome.  19

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Sniffer replied to levermonkey | 9 years ago
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levermonkey wrote:

Did they ever find the idiot who sabotaged the Etape Caledonia a few years back? No? Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

However. If more is made of the possible injury to dumb animals rather than inconvenience to law-abiding cyclists then there might be a more promising outcome.  19

Maybe they have a pretty good idea who it was.

http://road.cc/content/news/4410-solicitor-charged-connection-alleged-et...

Charges were, however, dropped later on.

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jmaccelari replied to Sniffer | 9 years ago
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Sniffer wrote:
levermonkey wrote:

Did they ever find the idiot who sabotaged the Etape Caledonia a few years back? No? Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

However. If more is made of the possible injury to dumb animals rather than inconvenience to law-abiding cyclists then there might be a more promising outcome.  19

Maybe they have a pretty good idea who it was.

http://road.cc/content/news/4410-solicitor-charged-connection-alleged-et...

Charges were, however, dropped later on.

Maybe they should search his computer to see if he drew up the anti-ride posters put up last week.

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goggy replied to jmaccelari | 9 years ago
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jmaccelari wrote:
Sniffer wrote:
levermonkey wrote:

Did they ever find the idiot who sabotaged the Etape Caledonia a few years back? No? Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

However. If more is made of the possible injury to dumb animals rather than inconvenience to law-abiding cyclists then there might be a more promising outcome.  19

Maybe they have a pretty good idea who it was.

http://road.cc/content/news/4410-solicitor-charged-connection-alleged-et...

Charges were, however, dropped later on.

Maybe they should search his computer to see if he drew up the anti-ride posters put up last week.

Ann Sevier made it clear to me in her email that she printed them and stuck them to trees. Maybe they should start with her...

 7

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jaymack | 9 years ago
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This type of activity is as futile as it is dangerous; a rider or perhaps livestock could have been injured. One of the participants or perhaps the event's organiser ought to contact Mrs. Sevier (she of poster campaign fame) and invite her, as someone concerned with road safety and animal welfare, to use her "good offices" to identify those responsible and condemn such behaviour. If she's really concerned about the area in which she lives she'll respond positively, if not...

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allez neg | 9 years ago
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There'll be hammering the overtime looking for the nefarious ne'er do wells.

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Stumps | 9 years ago
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The Police need to get to the point and use the right tacktics to pin the blame on the offender, after all its a pointless exercise if they dont nail the offenders.

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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We know there's not a great hope of finding those responsible this time, but good to see the Police making an effort.

Though I suspect they're more annoyed about someone taking the law (their idea of it...) into their own hands. That will often piss the Police off much more than the specific offence itself.

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andylul | 9 years ago
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Bloody Road Tacks

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Leodis | 9 years ago
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I wonder who they will pin this on...  40

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Dapper Giles replied to Leodis | 9 years ago
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Leodis wrote:

I wonder who they will pin this on...  40

Whoever he or she is. They'll needle a good lawyer.

I'll get my coat.....

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gimrie | 9 years ago
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Where is the information about door to door police enquiries coming from? I can't see any police statements in your story or in the Daily Echo article.

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Gashead | 9 years ago
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Love one reader's comment on the Daily Echo article

It's not like a 1000 Hells Angels are descending on Lyndhurst and burning it to the ground.

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