Glasgow “pensioners” admit laying traps for cyclists in park

A pair of dog-walking “pensioners” caught placing obstacles across a trail in Glasgow freely admitted when challenged that they “didn’t want cyclists in the park.”

Alex Osborne, who runs the Acorn Trails running website, posted pictures on Facebook of several obstacles he found in Linn Park in the city’s South Side.

According to the Daily Record, he spotted the couple, whom he said were aged in their sixties, placing a large log on the path on Monday afternoon.

When he approached them and said that the obstruction could cause a bike rider to crash, he was told to his shock that was exactly why they were placing it there, because they “didn't want cyclists in the park.”

The pair were reported to have hurled abuse at him as he dismantled the trap.

The 41 year old said: “I was out for a run yesterday and I was coming back through the park when I came across a couple walking their dog.

“I seen they were carrying this big log but I thought maybe they were taking it home to burn until I saw the man place it down.

“I went over and said that's going to cause a hazard for cyclists and he said ‘that's exactly what it's there for’.

“I said that could cause serious damage and he replied ‘that's the intention, we want to stop cyclists coming in the park’.

“If I hadn't seen them doing it then people would have blamed young folk but they were both in their sixties.

“Most mountain bikers can stop when they see an obstacle but if it is a younger person then they're not as experienced and can crash.”

He subsequently discovered and dismantled several other traps that had been laid along the route, presumably by the same pair.

Dorothy Buchanan, Chair of the Friends of Linn Park, commented: “Linn Park Local Nature Reserve is a lovely place which is open for all to enjoy.

“The key rule to govern behaviour in the park is to consider other users; cyclists, bird spotters, car drivers, dog walkers, runners, horse riders, kids playing or the wildlife itself.

“We should all behave in a way which means everyone else can still enjoy the beautiful green space.

“There is no excuse for the sort of behaviour which seeks to destroy another person's happiness,” she added.

One local got in touch with road.cc to claim that the reason the couple were allowed to carry out the act initially unchallenged was because Glasgow City Council had removed park rangers : "If the council had not got rid of the park rangers, this sort of thing would not have happened. There's no one in the parks enforcing the bylaws", he said. 

We’ve reported on a number of incidents of traps being set for cyclists in parks as well as popular beauty spots such as the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, with such incidents seeming to have become more common since the first national lockdown was implemented in March last year.

Such traps – which if not discovered in time, can cause serious injury or even death – are often believed to be the work of youths ‘playing a prank’.

However in cases where perpetrators have been caught, that turns out to be far from the truth; in May last year, for example, two women aged in their sixties were spoken to by police in North Yorkshire after they were filmed laying traps on a trail on the Bolton Estate.

> Pensioners admit laying traps for cyclists on North Yorkshire path (+ link to video)