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Barbed wire booby trap found on Kent cycle trailBarbed wire on bike path Kent

Barbed wire booby trap found on Kent cycle trail

Police are investigating, after local cyclist said he "never would have stood a chance" if he'd approached the wire coming downhill...
by Laura Laker
Sun, Mar 13, 2016 11:32
5

A barbed wire booby trap has been found placed at chest height across a bike trail in Wormshill, Kent.

Kent Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident after cyclist and father of two, Daniel Webster, found the wire while mountain biking near Hollingbourne, on Thursday.

Kent Online reports 39-year-old Webster was cycling his usual mountain bike route in reverse when he spotted the barbed wire stretched across the path between two trees on a hill. If he had approached the wire from the other direction, and travelling downhill, he says he "never would have stood a chance".

He said:  "It was something out of Mad Max. It was definitely a trap."   

"I was riding with my head down and I happened to look up when a glint caught my eye and I realised something was stretched across the road. 

"The wire was tied between two trees. It was neatly cut and stretched tight. 

"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." 

The route runs between Pilgrims Way and Ringlestone Road, a trail popular with not only cyclists but horse riders and walkers.  Webster says there have been incidents of logs placed on mountain bike trails but never wire before now.

Barbed wire on bike path Kent2

He said: "This didn't look like the work of kids, it was so tidy. I don't really understand why people do this sort of thing." 

The incident marks an alarming escalation in a series of wire booby traps stretched across bike trails across the country, and tacks strewn on roads.

 

booby trap
Kent Police
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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5 comments

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Cumisky | 8 years ago
0 likes

This was quite common back when I was regularly riding mountain bikes, 10 years or so ago, so much so that we would take turns walking a bridleway or trail prior to riding it to ensure all was well, logs and trees lain across bends were more common than wire traps though.
We always put it down to the local horse riding fraternity, though it would have also stopped them using the trail too so a little self destructive;
I have see this story in several places and the wire is described as being between neck and chest height, though the last photo appears to contradict this;
Still very dangerous, but I wish journalists would fact check first if they wish to be taken seriously, one wrong fact so easily casts doubt on others.

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bikebot | 8 years ago
7 likes

I do hope someone has shown this photo to Matthew Paris.

I'm not fond of hyperbole, but if someone is purposefully trying to maim and injure others just because they're cycling. Well...

Quote:

Hate crime involves any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic. Hate crime can be motivated by disability, gender identity, race, religion or faith and sexual orientation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-polic...

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whobiggs replied to bikebot | 8 years ago
0 likes

I do hope someone has shown this photo to Matthew Paris.

I remember him recommending this and blaming cyclists for Red Bull cans everywhere too!

I once encountered barbedwire like this when riding a motorbike on a legal green lane, luckily i was standing up so it merely cut through my clothing to the skin. If I'd been sitting it would have ripped my throat out!

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mrmo | 8 years ago
0 likes

what chance of the police catching the perpertrator and what chance of a custodial sentence if they do?

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brooksby | 8 years ago
2 likes

Barbed wire across the trail? I'd suggest that the police have a word with the adjacent farmers/landowners, before anything else.

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