What's the point?
Homemade nailed-board stinger device found submerged in puddle on West Yorkshire bridleway.
We spotted this alarming tweet from a user called @mintimperial on Sunday January 29 that shows a photo of said item of trail sabotage…
Found this home-made trap lurking in a puddle on bridleway above Holmfirth on today's ride. Reported to police. pic.twitter.com/tDtQrv5EZa
— Tom (@mintimperial) January 29, 2017
Although this trap is more likely aimed at illicit 4×4 and motorcross users – the size of it and its location submerged in a puddle suggest this to be the case – it is still a reckless bit of trail sabotage that a mountain biker or someone on feet could have fallen victim to.
.@FL600 Found here: https://t.co/YsjBuCNrcN Busy well used bridleway, lots of horses, dogs, kids, bikes etc. Probably aimed at 4x4s/MXers.
— Tom (@mintimperial) January 29, 2017
We’ve contacted @mintimperial (his name is Tom) and we’ve got another pic of the offending item and some more info from his blog.
“I nearly rode straight over the little piece of craftsmanship pictured above, which was floating in an icy rut on a public bridleway, earlier today. It’s a big old chunk of wood with twelve 4″ nails bashed through it, clearly contrived as some sort of homebrew stinger device intended to puncture the tyres of any vehicle driving over it. Fortunately I was bimbling along slowly enough to be able to stop in time, and I fished the item out for a closer look.”
“I carried the offending article out of the quarry, and then rolled down the hill to find a safe place to store it. On getting home I called 101 and the police took sufficient interest that they’re going to collect it and investigate further.”
The location of the trap was near some quarries in a place called Hade Edge near Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.