Barbed wire has been stretched across a bike trail near Crewe in Cheshire. Posting on Reddit on Friday, thefrenchstokey captioned a photo of the wire “They don’t like us bikers up here!”
The wire was stretched across the entrance to a trail and the person who posted the photo said they didn’t believe the land was private property.
“More like he’s claimed this land but actually it’s councils. Been through the drama already with it,” they said, adding: “They really aren’t bothered it seems. We tried to get it resolved without any progress despite this.”
In October, Twelve50 Bikes shared a photo on Facebook of seven sizeable stakes driven into the ground at a dangerous angle on a trail in nearby Delamere Forest. While the trail was unofficial, the Forestry Commission had always been tolerant of it.
The comments on that post suggest that at least one rider has been seriously injured as a result of trail sabotage in the area.
In November, a mountain biker in South Wales said he was “almost beheaded” by barbed wire stretched across a trail.
The victim had to unwrap the wire from round his throat after it had initially struck him in the chest and slid up.
12 thoughts on “Barbed wire stretched across bike trail near Crewe”
Bring back hanging.
Bring back hanging.
Ramuz wrote:
For trespassing on private land? Seems a bit harsh, but ok.
Or have you just assumed that the aggrieved individual is definitely in the right just because he owns a bicycle? Despite even road.cc hedging their language on this one.
kevinmorice wrote:
You mean people on bikes should be ‘a bit more open-minded’ because barbed wire, placed at chest height, or pointed stakes set into the ground (both of which have achieved the wilful intention of causing grievous injury – with the obvious potential for even more serious harm) might have been put in place as some kind of benevolent action you mean perhaps a public service eh! An act of kindness!
When Ramuz wrote ‘Bring back hanging’ he was doubtless expressing his anger and outrage rather than a desire to see the perpetrators strung up.
And surely you see must have had enough of the reports on here of malicious intent or unacceptably poor standards of behaviour going unpunished time and again, all because the target group/recipients of acts murderous behaviour are people who ride bicycles !
Ok. The main story above is about barbed wire used to prevent people accessing a previously accessible track – but you can see the thinking that goes on.
Is this trail a legal right
Is this trail a legal right of way for cyclists ? If not why are cyclists using it ? If it is a legal right of way then take it up with the local rights of way officer. The barbed wire fence looks to me have been built to stop access rather than to cause harm.
Photo makes barbed wire
Photo makes barbed wire appear as if its been erected by someone who knows what they are doing, i.e., officialdom, in which case the title of the article is a bit misleading inasmuch as it impies it was done by member of the public intending to injure/being reckless as to same.
But in response to Batchy – question isn’t really whether its a legal right of way and (as photos demonstrate) cyclists are using it, question is who put the wire up. If its local authority or similar with powers to do so then fair play (although they have a duty of care to users, which makes choice of barbed wire interesting). Similarly if its private landowner (although they have same consideration to bear in mind). But if its just individuals who are bothered at cyclists not following the rules then its really not on. No one gets to engage in self help, the state has a monopoly on violence.
Be nice if road.cc could do a
Be nice if road.cc could do a bit of journalism and determine what the legal status of this land really is. If it _isn’t_ private or if it’s a legal right-of-way (whether for bikes or not), then I hope there will be further developments in this story. Otherwise, it isn’t much of a story (other than, maybe, the very old story about the history of land-ownership in this country)
This is a ridiculous article.
This is a ridiculous article. It’s obviously a proper fence built to stop access, not to injure people.
As FK said, why can’t road.cc look into it and investigate rather than rehashing just one side of the story based on Reddit comments. Too much like hard work?
I would suggest that if this
I would suggest that if this had been carried out by the council or the land owner that fence posts would have been used rather than stringing the wire between trees. I would also have thought a sign would have been posted saying something like, “Private Property, no public right of access, Trespassers will be Prosecuted”.
As this would seem to not be the case, from the single photograph shown, I suggest that this is the work of a group or individual who don’t want bikes in an area they feel it is solely their right to use.
But yes contacting the local council may be a good idea and finding out the status of the area before reporting something like this?
1961BikiE wrote:
Yeah – no signs seems to suggest it’s that. It would help if the original photographer had said exactly where the track was. The rights of way for that area are easily viewable online. (As a sidenote, there aren’t very many bridleways .)
The barbed wire would restrict access to walkers or anyone using it, not just those on bikes.
Can’t see it being the
Can’t see it being the council as there would have been plenty of warning in the form of workmen hanging around for a week working out how to pass health and safety whilst installing this.
You have to admit that this
You have to admit that this is a pretty shoddy piece of journalism. No confirmation of the staus of the land for example or wether either the complaining cyslists or the person who erected the barrier has any legal right to the land.
To be honest it comes across as an attempt to hint that the wire was strung in such as way that its was designed to harm the riders. Its not. Its there to keep some one out. We are not informed by RoadCC as to the legality of this, so are not in a position to comment or hypothosise, and I bet that RoadCC doesn’t know but saw it as click bait.
As there is no mention of any right of way being obstructed, and I am damn sure that this would be mentioned, there is no reason for any of use to object and indeed for RoadCC to even print it. The world is full of people prevening unauthorised use of private land.
As others there is a lot of
As others there is a lot of questions.
that is a lot of barbed wire, and that old wall persumably is a boundry line, but without knowing where this is? and thus checking rights of ways all one can do is be wrong/right on the internet….