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Mangotsfield Old Railway Station on Bristol and Bath Railway Path - via Matt Buck on Flickr Creative CommonsConcerns mount after latest wave of attacks on Bristol and Bath Railway Path
Several cyclists have reported large sticks being left or thrown on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path in recent days in what appears to be another wave of attacks on the popular route. The Bristol Post also reports that a man was robbed of his electric scooter at knifepoint last week.
Writing on the Bristol Cyclists Facebook page, a woman who wishes to remain anonymous recounted a horrifying experience she had while riding from Bristol centre to Warmley last Monday.
While riding in the early evening, after dark, she said some very large tree branches came onto the path near Mangotsfield Old Railway Station, “and I realised that they were being thrown at me.”
She stopped to look around and saw a teenage boy hiding behind a tree.
“I expressed my annoyance and started to move on... I heard other voices behind me that shouted out, 'Rape her! Rape her!'
“Understandably I started to panic and realising that there was more than one adolescent present, I cycled as fast as I could. I didn't know if that was their intention or an empty taunt – but either way it was horrible.
“When I got home I was shaken up and reported the incident to the police.”
Responding to the post, several others said that they too had encountered large branches left on the path, apparently deliberately.
One said they had been riding near the same spot on Wednesday and found a branch across the path as well as three people nearby. “I just jumped the branch and carried on. There were a few shouts but nothing audible.”
Another user said there had been regular instances of branches being left on the path since the summer.
The e-scooter theft occurred on Thursday November 19.
The 26-year-old victim said he was surrounded by a group of teenagers, one of whom threatened him with a knife. He ran to a house in nearby Junction Way, Mangotsfield to report the incident.
The Bristol and Bath Railway Path has regularly suffered waves of attacks on cyclists, many of which we have reported on.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that 29 offences were reported on the route between March 2019 and March 2020.
Police have tended to respond by increasing patrols and have on occasion made arrests. In March 2019, a 15-year-old boy was given a 12-month referral order and ordered to pay his victims compensation after stealing three bikes.
Avon and Somerset Police have been contacted for comment.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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15 comments
Worth remembering it's 17ish miles long; any (very rare) aggro tends to be at the Bristol bandit country end (that end does have lighting). I've been on there a bit recently in the dark; before 7pm there tends to be quite a few cyclists so I doubt anyone would try anything on. The only time I remember there being a raised police prescence (quite a few in fact) was a few years ago when there was a phantom gooser (ie pinching womens bottoms); can't recall anyone getting aprehended though. You're more at risk of coming off on ice or leaves at this time of year, or having a squirrel run in front of you, than feral youth hassle.
As the martial arts gyms were closed for Covid restrictions, perhaps they could do some outdoor exercise along these paths. They might get some unexpected and initially willing training partners, in the style of Kato from The Pink Panther. I suspect the number of such would diminish over time, but at least the martial artists would get some realistic combat training
I've been sorely tempted to do this at times, perhaps in drag to make me a more likely target. But then, even being fit and with 20+ years of martial arts and black belts in two, I know I'm not guaranteed to win, and I have responsibilities and people who care about me.
Also, you never know if they're carrying a knife.
I've trained against that, but that's part of the "not guaranteed to win" and "people care about me" factor. After even a couple of weeks of training against rubber knives, you realize that even if you win, you'll probably come away with some bad cuts.
I think a freedom of informaton request for number of cases going back 10 to 15 years would show a change of tact is required to solve this specific issue.
Sadly, this is a risk with fully segregated paths. Without the volume of traffic seen on roads, miscreants know their chance of being caught is small.
What can be done? CCTV everywhere is a bit Orwellian.
Well, sensible penalties wouldn't be a bad start. A 12-month "referral order" for basically mugging three people, causing "significant injuries" and stealing their bikes is unlikely to act as much of a deterrent.
Public hanging sounds about right. After the second or third hanging it should stop.
I think generally you only need to hang someone once. Two or three times seems a bit excessive, like hung-drawn-and-quartered
I don't know... have you ever tried killing a cockroach? I think two hangings minimum, just to be on the safe side. Probably one of the reasons they invented 'hung, drawn and quartered'.
Make roads safer for cyclists. eg. Punish drivers who intimidate cyclists on the road in a way that will deter them in future. Make cycling a prerequisite for taking the driving test. Make it more difficult for motorists so that cycling is encouraged.
Unfortunately, CCTV is probably the best answer for the Bristol-Bath path. Having a police presence along there is unlikely to solve anything as it's a long path with many entrances/exits, so having a CCTV camera capturing everyone entering and leaving the path is likely to be the only way to have a good chance of catching the criminals (assuming that they're too dumb to wear masks).
Considering most of the scum wear hoodies and long stretches of the path are unlit, I really doubt CCTV will do much. I'll be keeping a can of mace in my cage the next time I head down the path at night...
I doubt you'll ever need to use it. There's only been a handful of problems with the path and it carries a LOT of traffic, so you'd be very unlucky to be targetted. I imagine that the crims are looking for easy targets, so just looking confident may be enough to protect yourself.
Remember, our minds are optimised to amplify unusual risks and ignore the everyday risks (e.g. crossing the road, food poisioning, slipping in the shower, squirrel attacks etc.)