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Cyclist sprints away from knife-wielding mugger – and warns others to be vigilant

Incident in Ashford, Kent is latest in a series of attacks on riders across the country

A cyclist in Ashford, Kent, has spoken of how he was forced to sprint away from knife-wielding muggers whom he believes wanted to steal his bike.

The victim of the attempted robbery, Oliver Hamilton, aged 19, told Kent Online that he was cycling through Victoria Park when he saw two men ahead of him close to Gasworks Lane last Monday.

Each had a glass bottle, and one of them threw the one he had been holding to the ground, smashing it, in what Mr Hamilton believes was an attempt to make him puncture.

He was able to avoid the broken glass, but found a third man in his way close to the junction with Sackville Terrace.

Mr Hamilton, who works as a gardener, said: “Maybe 20 metres away there was another man and he started running at me.

“As he got closer he pulled a knife out of his pocket and started sprinting at me so I just pedalled as fast as I could around him.

“I don't doubt they would have taken my bike, my bag and my wallet if they had the chance.”

He is warning others who ride through the park or go there on foot to take care.

“I always cycle that way and I don't really think much of it but when that happened it shook me up a little bit,” he said.

“I know kids cycle that way on their way home from school, and mums with small kids walk by, and it was around school finish time so I want people to be careful.

“I got super lucky because I was able to get away but I'm worried there won't be people as lucky as me next time,” he added.

“Even if I could stop one or two people from going down there, I’ll be happy.”

Kent Police have asked anyone who has information about the incident to contact them on 01843 222289, quoting reference 46/243629/21 or to call the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

During the past couple of months we have reported on a number of robberies and thefts of bikes across the country, often happening in daylight hours and with witnesses present.

In October, the Metropolitan Police arrested a youth following a string of bikejackings by robbers on mopeds in Richmond Park, southwest London, in some cases threatening the victims with machetes.

> Youth arrested in connection with Richmond Park bikejackings as local MP raises concerns over policing levels

Meanwhile, in Birmingham, West Midlands Police have increased their patrols on canals in the city following a number of cases of cyclists being mugged for their bikes as they rode on towpaths.

> Birmingham cyclist attacked by gang in violent bikejacking with thieves stealing £3,500 bike

We reported on two particularly brazen bike thefts earlier this month, one in south London, the other in Edinburgh.

The former saw thieves at Surrey Quays shopping centre in Rotherhithe use an angle grinder to cut through a lock to steal an e-bike, with a bystander who filmed the theft sharing footage with the bike’s owner and the police to try and help them track down the gang.

> “Possible ID” on member of Surrey Quays angle-grinder bike theft gang passed on to police

And a fortnight ago, footage shot from a house in Edinburgh showed thieves jumping over a fence to make their getaway after breaking into a bike storage unit and making off with two bicycles after cutting the locks.

> Shocking moment thieves break into bike store and vault fence to make getaway caught on camera

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

Avatar
Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
0 likes

I lived in Ashford 30 odd years ago.
Nice to see its still a shithole.

Avatar
srchar | 2 years ago
4 likes

Happened to me on Tower Bridge. Guess how many shits the met gave? Hint: fewer than one.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
8 likes

Garage at Large wrote:

Every day occurrence in London though isn't it

London crime rate 2020, 83 crimes per 1000 population, Essex 2020, 78 crimes per 1000 population (Statista). Considering London is one of the world's largest cities with a population of 8M+ and the largest town in Essex has a population of around 185,000, and major metropolises inevitably, for obvious reasons, have higher crime rates than the provinces, that makes Essex look pretty shit, doesn't it?

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
6 likes

Garage at Large wrote:

As the original poster wrote, the reason London crime looks artificially low is because the Met Police simply don't record it.

They said the Met didn't take sufficient action, which I can well believe and is something that's common to all police forces in the UK, unfortunately, they didn't say they didn't record it.

Ah yes, statistics prove me wrong so the statistics must be wrong....tell me you're a Brexiter Tory without telling me you are...

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
9 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

Garage at Large wrote:

As the original poster wrote, the reason London crime looks artificially low is because the Met Police simply don't record it.

They said the Met didn't take sufficient action, which I can well believe and is something that's common to all police forces in the UK, unfortunately, they didn't say they didn't record it.

Ah yes, statistics prove me wrong so the statistics must be wrong....tell me you're a Brexiter Tory without telling me you are...

amazing how much resource can be applied when the wealthy lose their luxuries,  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/15/tamara-ecclestone-burgla...

but when everyday people lose theor essentials, not so much.

 

 

Avatar
Flintshire Boy replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
0 likes

Our famous mind-reader is at it again.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Flintshire Boy | 2 years ago
2 likes

.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Flintshire Boy | 2 years ago
3 likes

So your racist boo outright states someone wrote something they hadn't (totally not the first time something he wrote was totally false btw), but Rendel is the mind reader for correcting him on that?

Avatar
joe9090 replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
0 likes

Are you a cabbie?

Avatar
Sriracha replied to srchar | 2 years ago
8 likes
srchar wrote:

Happened to me on Tower Bridge. Guess how many shits the met gave? Hint: fewer than one.

Maybe next time gloss over the detail about the cycling. Just say that you were making your way along wherever, and you had to sprint to escape the knife wielding thugs.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
1 like

Sriracha wrote:
srchar wrote:

Happened to me on Tower Bridge. Guess how many shits the met gave? Hint: fewer than one.

Maybe next time gloss over the detail about the cycling. Just say that you were making your way along wherever, and you had to sprint to escape the knife wielding thugs.

Say they looked were shouting something like "Akhba", were carrying backpacks and looked a bit Middle Eastern - might focus attention.

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