"Be vigilant, there's an idiot kicking about again": Cyclists warned as latest wire trap "clearly intended to do harm" found on trail

Cyclists in Sheffield were warned to "be vigilant" after a dog walker reported finding "a length of wire-filled electric fencing mesh" strung tight and at head height near a popular beauty spot, the homemade trap "clearly intended to do harm".

A photo of the trap was shared in the Ride Sheffield Facebook group by John Butterworth, the man who found and removed the trap. He found it while on a dog walk on the morning of Friday 8 November at Wharncliffe Woods between Wharncliffe and Grenoside, a popular wooded area several miles to the north of Sheffield.

The wire "tied tight and well" at head height and "clearly intended to do harm" is the latest grim instance of homemade traps being strung across or placed on routes popular with mountain bikers. Numerous sickening traps have been spotted across the UK in recent years, with one particularly disturbing case from South Wales in 2021 seeing a cyclist left needing 17 stitches for a wound to his neck caused by a barbed wire trap.

Now, raising the alarm about the trap found in South Yorkshire, Mr Butterworth warned riders who use the area to "be vigilant as there's an idiot kicking about again".

"Please be aware," he said. "Been out with the dogs this morning, along the path that runs beside the wall between the woods and the chase, someone has tied a length of wire-filled electric fencing mesh at riders' head height.

"It's been removed and taken away. But it was tied tight and well and clearly intended to do harm."

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A local councillor for the Grenoside ward told The Star the trap is a "really dangerous act" and the person responsible "needs to think again about what they are trying to do".

"If someone has concerns about where cyclists are riding, they should come to us, the local councillors and members, if they're not happy," Mike Levery said. "What has been done here is dangerous, and if you're on your bike going at speed, you're not going to be able to stop in time."

South Yorkshire Police told the local paper that the force has not received a report regarding the trap. We've contacted the force to confirm if that is still the case, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

One rider commenting on the situation asked if it had been reported to the police as "our local councillors organised a community police meet and greet recently" where "wires across cycle routes was raised and the police said they want to know when this happens" as "if nothing else, this gives them an idea of how often and where it happens".

Another thanked the dog walker for sharing the news and said it is especially worrying now the evenings are darker and similar traps might be less visible than during the day.

Numerous traps targeting cyclists have been reported across the UK in recent years, one in the Rhondda Valley made from barbed wire causing cuts to a rider's throat that needed 17 stitches and left their partner "so glad I'm not planning a funeral right now".

Tony Roberts "had to unwrap the wire from around his neck", the trap having been "hidden in a tree line so it couldn't have been seen". The 39-year-old was treated by specialist doctors who initially wondered if he would need surgery but fortunately managed to treat the injury with stitches instead.

Earlier in the same year, police in Northumbria investigated a horrific "medieval" trap using sharpened stakes that was placed on a mountain biking trail near Newcastle.

More recently, a cyclist in North Wales was seriously injured, suffering a concussion, a broken collarbone and three fractured ribs, after being brought down by a wire trap stretched across a bike path. In September 2023, a Berkshire cyclist shared photos of trail "sabotage" on a popular bridleway in the county, a rope and bramble trap laid on the route.

The topic of traps targeting cyclists was thrust into the spotlight during lockdown when columnist Rod Liddle wrote in the Sunday Times that it is "tempting" to stretch piano wire across the road to target cyclists.

Cycling UK complained to the newspaper about the column, saying it was "inflammatory, in seriously poor taste" and condoned criminal act. The Sunday Times responded saying the column was "not intended to be taken seriously".