[Closed] Malicious Wire/Rope traps across trails

I got caught by one few weeks back. Neck height. I was going fast and only just saw it last second and just managed to get my shoulder in the way. Stopped me dead and cut through my top and pretty deep into my shoulder - would have made easy work of a neck.

OK I wasn't on a bridleway, but it is a wood on the edge of a village which everyone has walked and cycled through for many years. Popular place for kids to ride too.

I'm hoping that someone gets caught and prosecuted for this, and that the Police make a ig deal of it in the press.

I don't care if a biker is riding somewhere they shouldn't be, this is an attempt to injure someone and that is a serious offence. Thankfully the police seem to agree!

I'm hoping that a child or grandchild of a person doing this gets injured by one of these traps.

The type of people doing this have no qualms about injuring or killing someone, and only by the serious injury or death of someone close will they realise what their actions can do.

****s.

Any links to Police views/actions on this?

Are there any known hot spots? Just to avoid them of course, I've no intention of a stake out. Do they appear as incidents on the police crime map website? And if so under what title? If there was a "Booby trap" category and a means to search in an area it would be possible to identify local risks. The capability is there, just needs a category and a search would be possible......just thinking out loud.

Someone in Canada was caught with a wildlife camera http://gearjunkie.com/vancouver-bike-trail-vandal-arrested

I heard about some stuff at Colddean woods.
http://www.sussex.police.uk/whats-happening/latest/news-stories/2015/05/29/danger-wires-warning-for-people-using-coldean-woods,-brighton
Moors Valley
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/12955696.Cyclist_hurt_after_fishing_line_strung_across_path_at_Moors_Valley/

Also heard about tacks being dropped on the ground in various places..
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/saboteurs-sprinkle-tacks-at-redhill-cc-anniversary-road-race-178442
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/8216-Stupid-sickening-dangerous-8217-saboteurs/story-26612920-detail/story.html
http://m.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11810134.Drawing_pins__deliberately__scattered_across_Beckenham_cycle_lane/?ref=fbshr

(all this year)

grim stuff.

Its hard to trace the perpetrators of these sort of 'death traps' as they probably do it at times they know no one would be about, certainly it probably only takes seconds to set one up and then you're out of there before anyone realises.
There's clearly no doubt about the intent behind them; to cause injury - and serious ones at that.
I hope someone does catch one at it and thoroughly rinses them (through the correct legal channels...) as an example for all to see.

I hope someone gives them a kerbing like off of American History X.

Shame there's a lack of kerbs in Chopwell 🙁

a stumping instead?

Cannock chase as well (got posted to facebook hours after seeing this thread!) https://twitter.com/UKCycleChat/status/613451910415302660

Someone is passing that Cannock pic off as their own when it isn't. Seen it popping up on Facebook since MBUK used a Google search with that pic to start a discussion on the original subject. The pic can be found on imgur, but was originally posted over a year ago... Why someone is now reposting and saying it's from Cannock recently is a mystery to me.
(Imgur link: http://imgur.com/gallery/WbdwG?desktop=1 )

cynic-al - Member

Any links to Police views/actions on this?

Here in Belfast a local biker hid out and caught one of our most persistent trail vandals positioning logs on the trail. He has been placing logs on corners and after drops several times a week for years. The police response to the video "It's not an offence to move branches around in the forest".

[i]"It's not an offence to move branches around in the forest".[/i]

Time to move the branches around repeatedly on the guys head then... in the forest of course 😉

teethgrinder - Member
I'm hoping that a child or grandchild of a person doing this gets injured by one of these traps.

I think you need to have a think about what you just wished for.

Someone around Maidstone started putting trees (BIG TREES) over some of the jumps and trails, in the local area.

Not fun on a descent to have to stop suddenly because a tree has been cut down and lodged in the middle of some singletrack.

I think you need to have a think about what you just wished for.

Exactly, get a grip.

There's someone locally to me who likes pulling sticks across the trail, I had thought about possibly waiting about and having a word, but tbh it's not the best bit of trail and they are never big sticks, maybe 4-6 inches dia at the very biggest. It's always in the back of my mind that if these folk are unstable enough to put logs in the way, stringing wire at neck height is not a huge jump for them, so decided to leave it in the end.

we had a guy in huddersfield die a few years back of a heart attrack after being taken off his bike by a wire.

the police didn't prosecute but just wanted to know why it had been done.

Lots of logs appearing around halifax area at the moment.

It's a hoax innit (the Cannock one)

It didn't happen to the person who posted the pic it happened to "someone they knew"

The picture being used is a year old (and what's in the pic is clearly rope not wire) and was taken in the US not Cannock.

cynic-al - Member

Any links to Police views/actions on this?

When it happened near us (Saddleworth) 2 years back the police took it very seriously. There was a lot of publicity and it made it onto the Beeb aswell as lots of local news.

Which is why (IMHO) it's particularly important that MTBers i)[i]don't[/i] spread hoaxes and ii) [i]do[/i] photograph/make safe & then and report any stuff like this they find

So who are the most likely candidates for such stupid behavior?

Local scrotes / chavs, or militant walkers?

Middle aged to elderly dog walkers and walkers seem to be the most active round here.

Middle aged to elderly dog walkers

Defo. The kind of tits that get all upset because you scared their dog, despite the fact they have absolutely no control over the thing. Wallopers.

This was the repsonse from the local council when we reported some booby traps in the local woods recently (I've redacted it slightly as I think this will be progressed up the chain a bit). The way I read it is - you shouldn't be there, so people can do whatever they like to you. Whilst he's right that there's no "cycle route" in the woods, I think the tone of the response is a bit off.

Your complaint has been brought to my attention as part of my enforcement role.

What you have witnessed is possibly a kick back from either land owners or legitimate users fed up with the actions of non legitimate users which would include motorbikes and mountain bikers. There is no bridleway or legitimate cycle route in these woods for mountain bikers however they continue to do as they please with little regard for the legality of the situation or the concerns of other users. The land is not owned by the authority.

It appears from the images that legitimate users (walkers ) may pass through the route safely.

We will seek to contact the land owner to have the items removed however this will be a low priority matter for the authority in terms of my own involvement. The Countryside team are aware of the situation and are also seeking to remedy the situation.

We recently had barbed wire strung up by some incomprehensible fool on a trail around Longleat/Shearwater the same weekend the Warminster Wobble was on. It's a festi thingy to encourage people, kids n all to go out and ride. Go! Have fun! Just be weary of the boobytraps.
Logs are another regular. I've ended up faceplanting a bed of nettles trying to hoik the bike over one. I also believe some chap from Charge broke bones in a similar incident on his way home from work a few years back.

Saw some photos of a guy (I believe a motorbike rider) who had a large section of his neck sliced open by wire across a trail. The guy was lucky to be alive.

teethgrinder - Member
I'm hoping that a child or grandchild of a person doing this gets injured by one of these traps.

Are you actually serious?

^ my thoughts exactly. Why would you want anyone to come to harm like this?

Best and only resolution is the people responsible are court and dealt with by the law and hopefully given a custodial sentence.

Are you actually serious?

^ my thoughts exactly. Why would you want anyone to come to harm like this?

Best and only resolution is the people responsible are court and dealt with by the law and hopefully given a custodial sentence.

I don't think they're being serious, I certainly didn't read it that way. Just the sentiment of karma and getting their comeuppance.

Middle aged to elderly dog walkers and walkers seem to be the most active round here.

That's where my money is too.

I very nearly caught an old-ish bloke at it a few weeks back. I couldn't be absolutely sure it was him, but I rode back up a stretch of trail that I had only ridden down five minutes or so before. He was walking up too - quite slowly - and there were two large-ish branches across the trail where there weren't any a few minutes before.

Because he was in sight, I made a point of picking up the branches and lobbing them as far as I could back over into the undergrowth. As I rode past, I just cheerily said "morning" and carried on. I expect this matter of fact approach and the fact that he'd have to go well out of his way to put them back would have been the most likely to wind him up.

Random branches etc across tracks are the domain of miserable old(er) gits. The really lethal stuff I would more likely put down to scrotes and or genuine nutters.

woody2000: The tone of that council response is pretty insulting - especially the blanket assertion that riders behave with no sensitivity to the land or other users, which I'd say is generally untrue.

I'm always finding large branches, logs etc placed across the trails in my local spot (this is somewhere so quiet that I've probably met less than a handful of walkers in the last 5 years). I just can't understand the mentality of someone treating a public space like it's their own property. Would love to hear them justify themselves.

No - not serious, [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chopwell-nail-traps ]but when someone is doing this to multi user trails, including horses[/url] it starts to gall a bit.

Regularly come across logs and branches on a couple of trails in Chopwell, and reports of sharpened/shapped sticks embedded into the groung against the flow of the trail are not unheard of.

I now have a very sharp lockable hand saw which gets used to saw the **** out of the logs and branches before they go back into the undergrowth; it's getting tiresome, and only a matter of time before clash of trail users ends in injury.

Random branches etc across tracks

woody2000, that response is unreal.

especially the blanket assertion that riders behave with no sensitivity to the land or other users, which I'd say is generally untrue.

[b]Devil's Advocate:[/b] But isn't trespassing acting with little or no sensitivity to the land or other users?

I certainly don't condone these traps (quite the opposite: I had a friend who died following a crash resulting from a deliberate trail blockage), but if you are trespassing, don't be surprised if things like this happen.

I know, must have caught them on a bad day I guess. I suppose it gives me the green light to start using stinger strips on the road when I'm pissed off with cars cutting me up or passing too close. Or shooting dogs when their owners don't pick up the poop. After all, if I'm a legitimate user and someone has upset me, I can do as I please, right? 🙄

I know, must have caught them on a bad day I guess. I suppose it gives me the green light to start using stinger strips on the road when I'm pissed off with cars cutting me up or passing too close. Or shooting dogs when their owners don't pick up the poop. After all, if I'm a legitimate user and someone has upset me, I can do as I please, right?

Nice one!! Twisting words to suit. I didn't say that, I was just responding to the comment that not all bikers who use land they aren't supposed to be on are insensitive to the land and other users. Again, it's not necessarily my view, but one that I can see from another perspective.

Where did I say putting up traps was OK? Please point that out, because I certainly didn't type anything of the sort.

Lots of logs appearing around halifax area at the moment.

It wasn't/isn't near Hebden is it? I've been assaulted by a dog walker there who apparently got a rep. Wouldn't surprise me if he went the next step.

Edit- actually he has- STW'er Podge smacked his head because of him/an obstruction.

mikey - my response was to the previous poster, not you.

mikey - I agree, when it comes to clear trespassing, but usually things aren't so black and white. I don't know the background to woody's case I was just disappointed by the local authority's language.

Background - local woods (privately owned with public paths on them), used by walkers, bikers, kids, pissheads, occasional horsey types. Everyone really. Up until relatively recently, all getting on ok as far as I was aware (I've been riding there for 12 years or so). Then someone started digging holes on downslopes, or piling up rocks, pulling down branches across the paths - all just minor annoyances really.

We contacted the council because someone had pulled down a wall across the path. It seems deliberate as the blockages tend to re-appear after clearing.

[img] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t19Ouv7FHHOzn_2YYToZR_aLWh6ET8Q1mur4_nwn4NBB=w300-h400-no [/img]

How kind, a rock garden! Seriously though that is rather mental.. at what point do you start tearing walls down? Before or after a letter to the local paper?

woody is obviously near me as thats in our area too.

its getting a bit silly. The run down into rastrick woods was covered in rocks the other week. elland has had trees pulled across it.

mikey - my response was to the previous poster, not you.

Oops, sorry.

I've met a 5mm steel cable on a run down a trail in the alps...luckily for me it wasn't serious as someone had placed it just after a bend, by pure chance I'd slowed to check out the view and watch my line before starting to get going again and - twang! thing was properly fixed.
Tell the police out there and it's treated very seriously and actively. If I recall they have caught a few people and banged them up.

All these stories make for sad reading. There's obviously a very twisted group of self-righteous, lonely and grumpy arses out there with nothing better to do than attempt to harm others because their own lives are so pitifully dire.

On that council response, while yes basically the bikes may not be on a right of way, first it's only trespass if the landowner says so, second trespass isn't a criminal offence and third regardless of trespass, any attempt in the UK to kill someone trespassing is attempted murder. "Trespassers will be shot / garrotted" is not legal in this country.

But there lies one of the problems with access, because so many land owners are aware of this and realise they are liable for injuries to trespassers. So they do all they can to keep people out (to be fair that's their requirement anyway to be able to prosecute trespass).

If on the other hand liability was waived and it's purely at the rider's risk if they enter land they have no right of way to, then perhaps more land owners would be tolerant.

I guess that's the trouble with this story. It won't be land owners setting the traps but they could restrict the access if they risk being liable. So the miserable dogs who actually do set them could get their way if the threat is seen to be high enough

but it may not be that they want to stop ALL access, just bikes. but thanks to their actions it could cause that particular route to be barred indefinitely...

Trespass or not, the punishment for trespass is not murder!

Had that happen here in New Mexico several years ago and a couple riders got pretty cut up on fine gauge, stainless steel wire strung across fast, steep downhill sections. They caught the guy and he was prosecuted by the Feds as it was on National Forest land. If I recall correctly, he was fined $3000 and spent 60 days in the slammer.
He got caught as someone saw him doing it a second time and shadowed him back to the trail parking lot and got his license number.

Woody - so your riding on a private land on a footpath?

What did the land owner say when you contacted them to say that some one is disturbing your riding on their private land, where your not supposed to be?

Whilst I don't agree with whatever the person is doing, maybe you should just stay away from the trails for a bit, after all your not supposed to be there in the first place?

Hopefully the land owner will pursue it with the Police

Firstly I am not condoning this. However there are other things to consider.
1. Sticks. So trivial as to be irrelevant. Unless your route is a totally dedicated and constructed cycle track then other users have as much right to put sticks down as they like. I suspect some do it to slow bikes down. That's their choice and so what. Other mays be kids for a laugh. Other may well be horse riders who do so to get the horse used to this for a variety of reasons . a) they can do so and slowing a rider down is to many people a good thing and b)its a bike ride, get off and walk round. Can't stop? Then you are going too fast. As a cyclist I have pushed trees into unofficial tracks where they suddenly shoot out onto a path used by elderly dog walkers. I ensure that this isn't behind a blind bend as I know that many riders are not clever enough to ride within their stopping distances. However if it slows some dimwit down where they should be a bit more responsible then job well done.
Cables and wire are another thing. Agreed there will be some nutters out there and these need stopping of course, but again a lot of these will be kids not thinking it through. They will have seen some film or pc game where this happens and that's it. a bit of education isn't a bad idea and if you do get knocked off or hurt contact the local press. I bet even the most rabid wire stringer doesn't actually want an injury but they haven't thought it through.

Police of course if its dangerous and of course the landowner. Not happy talking to the landowner? Tells me you shouldn't be there.
As I said, not condoning it, just reacting to the fire breathing.

andybrad - Member
Lots of logs appearing around halifax area at the moment.

Is any of that up on Norland? I've run into arsey dog walkers up there, we all got to the top of a trail at the same time, they leapt to set off ahead of us then got arsey when we (politely, slowly) wanted to pass a few seconds later.

not a lot up norland appart from arsy dog owners. ive had the same issues. Dogs out of control (off leads so need shooting 😉 ) but they dont want to share it. A few times ive had "should you be riding a bike on here" tbh im not sure....?

Ive personally had it a lot. there seems to be a lot of people which an agenda against bikers (be that road or mtb) in our area. I wonder if the reason is because its such a good riding area we get a lot of people out.

The main areas where ive had trouble are elland / binns / the canal (especially and its a cycle route!), rastrick and some parts of fixby. Thankfully i live near fixby so blocking the path provides me with wood for my fire 🙂

a lot of them are just logs mainly. trouble is its always on a downhill and if its wet it can be an issue. the thing is people i meet seem to be getting more agressive with it. what used to be a "show down" is not "get out of my f88king was you f t ill rip your head off etc etc"

worrying