# Bristol to Bath railway path: spate of violent attacks



## Sunspots (Jun 5, 2008)

Apparently, in the last couple of weeks, there's been several completely unprovoked attacks by gangs of kids with baseball bats, targeting cyclists and other users of the railway path.   

Specifically, they've taken place between Easton Community Centre and the Gratitude Rd slipway entrance (-just past the Devon Road bridge).

I've personally never had any _serious_ trouble along there myself, but I think it's fair to say that that stretch does already have a reputation for being a bit dodgy, particularly after dark.

Take care out there.

Discussion on the Easton yahoo group (-with local plans for 'reclaim the path' action)


Evening Post story (-with a 'lively' comments section, including several 'deport the foreign savages!' / 'hang 'em!' / 'well, it's _Easton_, isn't it...' responses.  )


Sign the petition (-well, it probably helped to beat the bus route plan!...)


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## Geri (Jun 5, 2008)

Oh, I was going to start a thread on this! 

Luckily I don't use it regularly as I have a more direct route to work, but I had planned (this week in fact) to start cycling that way home (& on further) a couple of nights a week as a way to get more exercise - in fact I did on Tuesday (no sign of trouble), but I have shelved that plan for now.

Fuckign scumbags.


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## gentlegreen (Jun 5, 2008)

Blimey Royce Creasey posting there - he was a hero of mine in my motorcycling days.


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## butchersapron (Jun 5, 2008)

Prime for citizens patrols.


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## gentlegreen (Jun 5, 2008)

That explains why I saw two coppers with trail bikes by the Devon road exit on the way home (5.40) chatting with some kids...

Oh yes and the OB van with feck off satellite dish ....


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## Sunspots (Jun 5, 2008)

*'Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well.'*

I'm trying to maintain some perspective about this; it's still just a few mindless fuckers, and most users of the railway path will thankfully never experience any trouble. 

I do have to use that stretch of the path regularly though (-often after dark too), and in general, I feel safer getting around Bristol on my bike than on foot.  That there are currently gangs using baseball bats to apparently knock random cyclists off their bikes for nothing but laughs is not only totally fucked up, but something I just can't necessarily protect against. 

The council claims it _would_ improve the lighting and general safety of the path, but it can't afford to.  -As somebody has already commented on that petition: funny how the council could find all the money to pay consultancy firms when they were sizing up the path as a bus route a few months ago...  

It's not acceptable that because of incidents like this, the path is just allowed to increasingly become a no-go area.


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## Geri (Jun 5, 2008)

It makes you feel totally powerless, that's what makes me so angry. I would just love it if the little shits got set upon and got a good kicking themselves and see how they like it then.


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## Sunspots (Jun 5, 2008)

butchersapron said:


> Prime for citizens patrols.



_"-Gotham isn't beyond saving."_


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## Sunspots (Jun 5, 2008)

Geri said:


> It makes you feel totally powerless, that's what makes me so angry. I would just love it if the little shits got set upon and got a good kicking themselves and see how they like it then.



-Noooo, you've got to 'hug a hoodie'... 

Tbh, I bet they probably _do_ beat the fuck out of each other regularly, and it probably goes largely unreported, and it's probably a fairly low priority to the police.

But, whoops, something's just spilled out of it's designated container; this latest spate of violence seems to be indiscriminate, and not necessarily even about mugging someone for their cash/phone/bike.  This involves random innocents being attacked, which I expect is why it's making the local headlines this time, and why the police are making themselves so visible this week.


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## hermitical (Jun 5, 2008)

gentlegreen said:


> Blimey Royce Creasey posting there - he was a hero of mine in my motorcycling days.



he's very vocal on the easton yahoogroup


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## Sunspots (Jun 5, 2008)

hermitical said:


> he's very vocal on the easton yahoogroup



So I noticed!  

(-Do you know him?)


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## fractionMan (Jun 11, 2008)

this happened at the bath end for a while.  They battered some poor bloke with bats, in front of his kid too.  I think they caught them but I've no idea what happened after that.


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## Zaskar (Jun 11, 2008)

Royce Creacy - motrcycling ff legend indeed.  Stil riding that cool cx500 ff.

As for the cycle track - nightmare.

Mug the muggers I say.  Last person tried to rob me on the track got a right twatting - but i am 6 foot 4 and easily irritated and have little fear - and there was only two, and they only had a tiny knofe.

A group of lads with bats... I guess it needs a group of vigilantes to get em back.  What are the chances of that ever getting organised or coming off?

Glad to see the rozzers are upping thier presence - maybe soem cameras would help - well help to record the crime... ho hum...


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## gentlegreen (Jun 11, 2008)

I made a point today of including that stretch in my journey home, I'm thinking I might need to carry an extra large can of WD40 in these hot conditions ...


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## Zaskar (Jun 11, 2008)

A friend tols me the EP had nes in a few days ago that five youths had been arrested   -  but they were out on bail :-(


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## gentlegreen (Jun 18, 2008)

Has anyone spotted the new (and very real) hazard on the cycle track since the mounted police started patrolling ?

They're biiiig horses .


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## Geri (Jun 19, 2008)

I haven't been on there recently - are they there often? I might risk it if it's a bit safer now.


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## gentlegreen (Jun 19, 2008)

I've yet to actually see a horse. I'm guessing they patrol more in the evening.
I've caught a glimpse of coppers on trail bikes at around 5.30.

Doubtless I will start looking out for specific piles of poo and then know if it's an ongoing operation.

You would have thought police horses would wear some sort of catching device.

I wonder where the stables are ....


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## Geri (Jun 19, 2008)

I'm pretty sure the stables are in Ashton, near the beginning of the cycle track alongside the Avon Gorge. Or maybe that's just the dogs?


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## gentlegreen (Jun 19, 2008)

Geri said:


> I'm pretty sure the stables are in Ashton, near the beginning of the cycle track alongside the Avon Gorge. Or maybe that's just the dogs?



I knew about that one ... that's a hell of a way - and a lot of poo - they must be carrying nose bags. 

I wonder what horse shoes will do to the dodgier bits of the track.


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## Sunspots (Jul 1, 2008)

Another baseball bat mugging: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7482814.stm

Fuckers.


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## gentlegreen (Jul 1, 2008)

I wonder where that is - presumably the path along the ring road ?

The country yobs trying to copy the city yoof ...


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## Sunspots (Jul 1, 2008)

> ...between Warmley and Hanham...



As far as I know, Hanham isn't even on the cycle path.  The closest it passes is Oldland/Bitton, which is at least a mile and a half from Hanham.  -It'd be helpful if the report was a bit more specific. 

I remember a couple of years ago cycling back one night (-probably 9 or 10 ish) from an Urban meet up in Bath.  Once I got beyond the edge of the city, the vast majority of the path was pretty much unlit, so for miles at a time I was cycling in almost total darkness.  

A few times, there'd just be random people walking along the path in the dark, and you couldn't see them until you were a few metres away.  Even with bike lights and the occasional overhead street lamp, once you got to those bits near Bitton, Saltford, Warmley, etc, there were long stretches where you couldn't see who's ahead, behind, or (-more likely in the case of this latest incident) who's to the side of the path.  

Basically, it's easy pickings for would-be muggers.


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## Geri (Jul 2, 2008)

Reading the article again, it says "a track between Warmley and Hanham" so I reckon it's probably a small path and nothing to do with the Bristol - Bath path (despite that one being mentioned in the article).


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## Sunspots (Jul 2, 2008)

Geri said:


> Reading the article again, it says "a track between Warmley and Hanham" so I reckon it's probably a small path and nothing to do with the Bristol - Bath path (despite that one being mentioned in the article).



I reckon you could be right.  According to the local bobbies:



> Staple Hill police are appealing for the public's help following a robbery in Longwell Green.
> 
> The incident happened between 1.10-1.30am on Sunday (June 29) on the cycle track between Warmley and Hanham, near to Aspects Leisure.



Aspects Leisure centre is still _over a mile away_ from the nearest stretch of cycle track (Oldland/Bitton/Warmley). 

Maybe it's expedient to highlight/attribute muggings etc to the 'lawless' cycle path; if only somebody would propose a complete overhaul of it, with CCTV, floodlights, and _maybe_ even a shiny new bus-route...


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## gentlegreen (Jul 2, 2008)

I'm guessing it's *A *cycletrack rather than "THE" :-







It's rather close to Banjo Island 

Click for suitable musical accompaniment


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## Sunspots (Jul 2, 2008)

Wherever it actually occurred, I think that by specifically mentioning the Bristol-Bath cycle path, the BBC report doesn't make it at all clear.  -Not helpful!


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## Sunspots (Jul 2, 2008)

And just to confuse matters that bit more, The Evening Post reports it as happening in Longwell Green... 

(-I _love_ reading the online comments section of Evening Post stories; always full of material for _spEak You’re bRanes!!!!_... )


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## gentlegreen (Jul 2, 2008)

.


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## Geri (Jul 2, 2008)

gentlegreen said:


> .



Spit it out, man!


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## gentlegreen (Jul 2, 2008)

Sorry - just realised I might be exceeding the bandwidth of my free webspace, so I updated the previous picture 

Time to buy some decent hosting - if only I could choose a domain name ....


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## cesare (Jul 2, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> As far as I know, Hanham isn't even on the cycle path.  The closest it passes is Oldland/Bitton, which is at least a mile and a half from Hanham.  -It'd be helpful if the report was a bit more specific.
> 
> I remember a couple of years ago cycling back one night (-probably 9 or 10 ish) from an Urban meet up in Bath.  Once I got beyond the edge of the city, the vast majority of the path was pretty much unlit, so for miles at a time I was cycling in almost total darkness.
> 
> ...



Yes, I remember you doing that. Wouldn't fancy it meself.


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## Geri (Jul 2, 2008)

At least you weren't tripping (were you? ) I cycled home on acid once when it was dark, it was quite freaky - especially as we witnessed a rather spectacular car crash in Warmley, at the bit where the path crosses the road.


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## gentlegreen (Jul 2, 2008)

Stoned, with pounding music is doable - I'm guessing if you thunder through with sufficient pace it might scare them off.

*contemplates scary "devil eyes" lights for bike*


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## hermitical (Jul 21, 2008)

another one, 21yr old attacked by a group near the Russell Town Avenue junction, knocked to the ground, kicked in the stomach and bike nicked, 6:15pm yesterday so still light 


> The police officer that came round to take my son's statement said that they are asking for CCTV cameras to cover the whole Barton Hill/Easton/Greenbank stretch of the path but lack of resources are being sited as the reason not to do it.




also 3 days ago old guy mobbed by 5 youths trying to push him off his mobility scooter


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## Geri (Jul 22, 2008)

Bah, just as I was thinking I might get the nerve to cycle along there again.


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## gentlegreen (Jul 22, 2008)

Oh dear, that's a bit grim. I may have to start packing a sand-filled bicycle pump.
They'd better not try it on with me.

Sounds like cyclists need to establish some sort of informal arrangement of travelling in pairs / groups.


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## Sunspots (Jul 22, 2008)

hermitical said:


> another one, 21yr old attacked by a group near the Russell Town Avenue junction, knocked to the ground, kicked in the stomach and bike nicked, 6:15pm yesterday so still light





hermitical said:


> also 3 days ago old guy mobbed by 5 youths trying to push him off his mobility scooter



Fuck.  This.  Shit.


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## jusali (Jul 24, 2008)

Time these "youths" had their teeth removed, anyone?


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## gentlegreen (Jul 24, 2008)

jusali said:


> Time these "youths" had their teeth removed, anyone?


Makes a change from taking it out on the petrolheads.


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## jusali (Aug 20, 2008)

My mate got attacked last night with a load of ute's throwing stones at him. Nasty bruises all over his back etc, he got away pretty sharpish, said "he saw no pint in taking that many on"


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## Geri (Aug 20, 2008)

Was this on the same stretch?


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## jusali (Aug 22, 2008)

No, just after lawrence hill b4 devon road


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## Sunspots (Aug 22, 2008)

jusali said:


> No, just after lawrence hill b4 devon road



That basically sounds like the same stretch that's been mentioned on this thread; anywhere between Lawrence Hill and the painted bridge just past Greenbank cemetery.

Got to be honest, I've pretty much avoided that entire stretch for the last couple of months.


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## Sunspots (Aug 18, 2009)

**year later bump!**

_'Stabbing attacks leave eight hurt'_

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8206348.stm

As I seem to have said this time last year too, I generally avoid the path these days ().  For once though, I happened to be cycling from the centre just after 5:30 this afternoon.  As I got to Lawrence Hill though, I was diverted by the police.

Same stretch 'as usual'...


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## butchersapron (Aug 18, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> **year later bump!**
> 
> _'Stabbing attacks leave eight hurt'_
> 
> ...



It's getting daft now and it's spreading, meeting soon. Presurre building. Meeting and action soon (another one)


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## free spirit (Aug 18, 2009)

hmm, I walk across the cycle track by easton community centre pretty much every night on the way home from work, often fairly late in the evening as well.

must admit I have seen a few goups of 'youths' hanging around that have made me a bit uncomfortable, but none of them have actually said or done anything - must be my invicibility cloak that's scaring them off

driving home tonight anyway


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## Sunspots (Aug 18, 2009)

butchersapron said:


> It's getting daft now and it's spreading, meeting soon. Presurre building. Meeting and action soon (another one)



I think there was (-another) open meeting at Easton Community Centre a couple of weeks ago about the continuing muggings in the area.  <?>   

Re-reading the comments on this thread from this time last year, I'm getting déjà vu; not much seems to have changed in a year.


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## butchersapron (Aug 18, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> I think there was (-another) open meeting at Easton Community Centre a couple of weeks ago about the continuing muggings in the area.  <?>
> 
> Re-reading the comments on this thread from this time last year, I'm getting déjà vu; not much seems to have changed in a year.



Uh-huh, massive turnout apparently, (steve  -good job), watch this direct space very closely.


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## Sunspots (Aug 18, 2009)

free spirit said:


> hmm, I walk across the cycle track by easton community centre pretty much every night on the way home from work, often fairly late in the evening as well.
> 
> must admit I have seen a few goups of 'youths' hanging around that have made me a bit uncomfortable, but none of them have actually said or done anything - must be my invicibility cloak that's scaring them off
> 
> driving home tonight anyway



Take care on that particular bit, seriously; that's the very worst stretch of the track. 

There have been loads of muggings and attacks there in recent years.  Many don't even get reported.


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## free spirit (Aug 18, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> Take care on that particular bit, seriously; that's the very worst stretch of the track.
> 
> There have been loads of muggings and attacks there in recent years. Many don't even get reported.


now you tell me... I finish work tomorrow


*jinxed myself now tho haven't I...


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## Geri (Aug 18, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> _'Stabbing attacks leave eight hurt'_
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8206348.stm




Completely mental, but I'd hazard a guess that it was domestic incident that spilled over onto the cycle track as 54 year old men are not normally muggers. 

Still, doesn't fill you with confidence about using it (although I did use it a few weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, and it was fine).


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## Sunspots (Aug 18, 2009)

Geri said:


> Completely mental, but I'd hazard a guess that it was domestic incident that spilled over onto the cycle track as 54 year old men are not normally muggers.
> 
> Still, doesn't fill you with confidence about using it (although I did use it a few weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, and it was fine).



It does sound, as you say, like this was something other than a mugging spree, or the random beatings by gangs like before.  Most of the time, it _is_ safe to use that stretch, but I can't be the only one who increasingly decides to take an alternate route rather than risk it.  This latest incident only adds to the bad reputation.

People just being indiscriminately attacked by a man with a knife on the street/path though; fuck that.


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## gentlegreen (Aug 18, 2009)

I suppose I'm lucky in that I don't need to use that bit apart from when heading into town or back during the day on a weekend. Quite an annoying diversion - Johnson's Lane (or earlier) to Lawrence hill - with the Russell Town Avenue entrance being a bit of a focus for trouble due to the school ...

The worst I've had to contend with along the Easton stretch is groups of kids with poor lane discipline.


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