Warning issued after cycle tyre tracks found on frozen lake

A community first responder group in Shropshire has issued a warning after bicycle tyre tracks were found on a frozen lake – just days after the tragedy in Solihull in which four children died when they fell into the water while playing on ice.

Posting on Twitter, Telford First Responders said: “It’s incredibly sad to see bike track marks on the ice at Newdale Pool in Lawley.

“Has nothing been learned from recent tragic events,” it added, with the tweet also tagging the accounts of local police, fire, search and rescue and ambulance services.

It’s incredibly sad to see bike track marks on the ice at Newdale Pool in Lawley.
Has nothing been learned from recent tragic events.😟@OFFICIALWMAS @LawleyCops @SFRS_TelfordCtl @WestMerciaSAR pic.twitter.com/bbNurDxIxd

— Telford First Responders (@TelfordCFR) December 17, 2022

According to its profile on Twitter, Telford First Responders is “a voluntary Community First Responder Team that attend emergency 999 calls on behalf of West Midlands Ambulance Service.”

Last Sunday, brothers Finlay and Samuel Butler, aged eight and six, their 11-year-old cousin Thomas Stewart, and friend Jack Johnson, 10, were pulled out of Babbs Mill lake in Solihull after falling through the ice.

They were taken to hospital but Finlay, Thomas and Jack died later that day, with West Midlands Police subsequently confirming that Samuel had also died.

The tragedy sent shockwaves through the local community and beyond, but despite being the lead item on national news on TV and radio and making the front pages of the mainstream press, emergency services have had to repeat warnings this week about the dangers of venturing onto frozen bodies of water.

On Thursday, a tweet showed footage of children and adults playing on a frozen pond on Clapham Common in south London, and there have also been incidences of people taking to the ice elsewhere in the country, including Liverpool and Middlesbrough.