A wire has been strung across a mountain bike course in Belfairs Wood, near Southend, in a prank that "could have easily killed someone", locals say.
The thin length of wire was discovered yesterday (10 August) by Hadleigh Mountain Biking Club member, David Murray, stretched across a path some mountain bike riders approach at speed.
We've been sent this photo of a wire across a path in Belfairs Wood today, apparently to catch cyclists. Take care. pic.twitter.com/NSZEikTH1q
— Your Southend (@YourSouthend) August 10, 2015
The Club’s chairman Chris Hyde, from Leigh, is reported by the Echo as saying: “It goes without saying it’s utterly disgusting behaviour and dangerous to anyone who uses the woods".
“The height of it looks to be about the level of a six or seven-year-old’s neck while riding a bike, but this would have been dangerous to anyone cycling down there, or even the horse riders that use the woods.
“It’s beyond unthinkable that anyone could do that.”
Be careful out there! Report any activity like this that you find- Its important that we catch idiots behind this https://t.co/FdIfPIiehn
— The Comfy Saddle (@ComfySaddle) August 10, 2015
Richard Toomey of the Comfy Saddle, a cycle hub at Southend Railway Station, told the paper he had cycled in the woods yesterday afternoon.
He said: “You would hope that you’d see something like that but who’s to say with a piece of wire?
“I can only hope that this was the work of some children who will change course when they realise what they’ve done.
“Thankfully the cycling community is very strong in Southend and I think people will keep an eye out, as will dog walkers and others, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Local councillor, Stephen Aylen, has promised to speak to the council's parks department about the incident.
He said: “I know there are some people who are fed up the paths being used by motorbikes, quadbikes and some mountain bikers who come down there at speed, but this is not the way to deal with it.
“I’m very worried that this has happened because it could easily kill someone and you have children cycling down there.”




















11 thoughts on “Wire found strung across mountain bike course near Southend”
What have the Police said?
What have the Police said?
Given in a similar incident
Given in a similar incident where a guy was placing logs across a run at angles after high speed turns on a approved MTB trail, exactly where they would throw cyclists into trees, the police when given the persons name, vehicle reg, address, and video footage did precisely nothing. . . . I would not hold my breath for much.
StuInNorway wrote:Given in a
Complain to the IPCC ..
https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/complaints
Good luck.
They are pursuing several
They are pursuing several lines of enquiry…………..
I wouldn’t hold out hope the
I wouldn’t hold out hope the dog walkers are on “our” side…
I wonder if “locals” would
I wonder if “locals” would consider dropping breeze blocks off motorway bridges a prank
Saying something is “at the
Saying something is “at the level of a six or seven year old’s head” just started me thinking about the lift capacity of an African Swallow, for some reason.
I’d like to think that the local police will treat this seriously and do something about it, but I doubt it (unlike if someone was dropping bricks off a motorway bridge, as aforementioned)
‘A six or seven year old’s
‘A six or seven year old’s neck’ would seem to be a rather peculiar measure of distance from the ground. Why not just tell us how high it was in some kind of more traditional unit?
crikey wrote:’A six or seven
To bring a human element into it. Telling people that a child could be injured or killed by these actions will gain more sympathy than telling them about a string 1.2m from the ground that could hurt some cyclists.
If road.cc decide to call
If road.cc decide to call this a “prank”, what hope is there that other organisations like the police will take this incident seriously?
The word prank has been
The word prank has been subject to inflation. YouTube is all the evidence you need of this.