Heads up - B'ham canal/towpath safety

Rockhound

Felt I had to share this and warn others:-

Wife works in Birmingham (NHS) across multiple hospitals. She told me today that quite a few of her colleauges who ride to work have been victim of thugs loitering along parts of the canal towpaths - smashing riders in the face/chest with metal pipes, one of the neurosurgeons got hit on the head with a machete (irony, pun intended!?). Thankfully he was wearing a decent helmet which took the full brunt of the hit and he managed to get away unhurt and still in possession of his bike, and the machete still stuck to the helmet!

Not everyone has been lucky to escape unhurt - one of the nurses affected is still undergoing multiple facial reconstruction surgeries after being hit across the face with a baseball bat - thankfully a dog walker came by afterwards to find her motionless bleeding and called an ambulance. They left the bat at the scene.

Plods didn't seem interested in doing (or don't have time to do) anything other than provide case references (after much persistence).

When I mentioned this to my LBS guy this morning in Warwick, he warned me that he's heard of riders being hurt from barbed wire being tied across the towpath, from hedges/fences to mooring posts/rings.

Thankfully daytime is lasting longer so hopefully this nonsense will not be as common/widespread.

Safe commuting to you all.

cougie

People are getting hit with machetes and steel pipes and baseball bats and the police aren't paying attention to it ?

I'd be raising hell about this with my local MP and the papers.

Jeezuz.

Long_Time_Lurker

You sure it's not one of those; "I heard from a friend of a friend" stories ?
Because if someone (especially a surgeon) was attacked with a machete, it would have made the national news.
Likewise someone left in a pool of blood after a bat attack.

Rockhound

Does it have to be on national news to be legitimate? :?

Just some of the other thefts which went unreported (except in the local papers/websites) - been happening since 2015 at least:-

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/doctor-beaten-up-birmingham-canal-10208079

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/cycling-group-left-devastated-after-13909589

http://www.birminghamcyclist.com/forum/topics/muggings-on-ncn5

http://www.birminghamcyclist.com/forum/topics/grand-union-canal-mugging?commentId=3004025%3AComment%3A176888&xg_source=activity

To be fair, there was increased localised police presence for some time back then. But, the odds are not in our favour:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/how-many-bike-thefts-birmingham-12723573

Most claims require an incident case reference number though right?

Long_Time_Lurker

Sorry - apologies for the tone. Just asking, not judging. Winking smiley didn't help.
But yes, if you were to make a claim, the insurance company will need a ref number. I have heard that some forces don't always have the manpower for a face-to-face visits so have given numbers over the phone. The insurance company will want photo evidence though, so always take photos with date evidence (newspaper etc).
(The missus works in insurance law)

Rockhound

Hey Long Time Lurker,
No need to apologise as no offence taken. I kinda agree with you: in today's day and age, it seems prudent to 'challenge' information - what with 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' being so prevalent. Very unfortunate that in this instance the information is very much current and real.