Cyclists in the Forest of Dean have been told to beware of booby traps after a rider was hurt when he crashed into branches deliberately put on a mountain bike trail.

The rider sustained “significant cuts and grazes” in the incident on a trail at Staple Edge on Monday 22 August, say Gloucestershire Police.

Officers said that people perpetrating “what they may think is a harmless prank” – some may disagree that an action likely to cause to others should be referred to in such terms – should “stop their behaviour before somebody is seriously hurt.”

Police add that large branches have been placed on the trail for several weeks now, and have urged anyone who has seen “anti-social behaviour” in the area to call them on 101, or on 999 if the see a crime in progress.

Alternatively, incidents can be reported online, or to the charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Booby traps are regularly found on trails used by cyclists. In March, we reported how a mountain biker had found barbed wire stretched at neck height on a route near Maidstone in Kent.

The cyclist, Daniel Webster, said at the time: “I normally come the other way down the hill but I had decided to do it in reverse. I would have been going at 20 mph and I would never have seen it. I would never have stood a chance.”

Last year, police in Sussex warned cyclists riding in Coldean Woods, Brighton, to take be vigilant after wires were discovered stretched across paths used by riders there.

Routes used by commuters and other riders have also been targeted in the past, including the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, where in 2011 a cyclist was knocked unconscious and his bike stolen when he crashed into a clothes line strung across the path.