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Machete-wielding men on electric motorbikes attack teenage cyclist, chasing him into “busy” Tesco in attempted bikejacking

The 16-year-old cyclist suffered cuts to his arm and was chased into the store which had several customers in it, with the police issuing an appeal for witnesses

A teenage cyclist was attacked by two men wielding a machete and equipped with electric motorbikes in an attempted bikejacking in Liverpool, with the 16-year-old having to rush inside a Tesco which was filled with customers.

The attack took place in Mossley Hill, Liverpool on Sunday 15 September around 6:30pm, with officers and ambulance service being called to the store on Allerton Road shortly after.

The teenager was reportedly chased into the Tesco Express by the two men, who then attacked him with a bladed weapon. He suffered minor cut wounds to his arms and his head, in what the police have described as a “shocking incident” during daytime, in a shop that would have “busy with customers”.

Merseyside Police confirmed that no one else was injured and the attackers, described as white males, aged between 18-20, with one was wearing a grey tracksuit and he other with a black tracksuit, made it out of the store.

The police report added: “There were customers in the store at the time but nobody else was injured during the incident. An investigation is underway and CCTV, forensic and witness enquiries are being carried out.”

> Bikejackers kick "poor kid" and steal his cycle from BMX track, leaving other children traumatised

Detective Sergeant Clare Walsh said: “This was clearly a shocking incident in a shop which would have been busy with customers.

“We are currently carrying out a number of lines of enquiry to establish what has taken place in the lead up to the assault. We believe the victim was in Calderstones Park and was chased by two males, possibly on a Surron bike. The males then made off towards Garston Park.

“This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will do everything within our powers to find those responsible and bring them to justice.

“If you were in the vicinity of the Tesco Express store on Allerton Road and saw or heard anything suspicious please get in touch as a matter of urgency.”

Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerpolCC on Twitter or give a call to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 24000795668.

> British Cycling, Rapha and Brompton join call for more police action for cyclists being “systematically targeted by criminals” in violent bikejackings

Teenagers and young children have increasingly been targeted by bike robbers lately. Just last month, children riding their bikes at a BMX track in Leeds were left traumatised after a bikejacking attack in which two teenagers pushed and kicked a young cyclist off his bike, before stealing it and running away.

In May last year, an 11-year-old boy was left terrified after a masked man threatened him with a machete and robbed his bicycle in broad daylight, while he was playing in a park in Grimsby.

The victim’s grandmother said that the incident left her grandson — who has autism and ADHD — so scarred that he thinks if he leaves the house, the unknown man will be there and will find out where he lives.

And then in August, a 13-year-old boy was threatened with a machete, and told to hand over his mountain bike or “I will stab”, in a shocking bike theft in Merseyside.

> Cyclist fights off gang who threatened him with hammer during attempted bikejacking

The older boys, described as 16-year-old white males wearing tracksuits believed to be from the Monitrex brand and riding green and white electric bike themselves, then threatened the boys with a machete before stealing the 13-year-old’s mountain bike, a Specialized Status 140.

“They said ‘hello’ and a couple of minutes later they came back with one on foot,” the boys’ father, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “They had stashed the other bike which police later found. Then they went up to [the 13-year-old].”

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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6 comments

Avatar
ErnieC | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Sounds like Johannesburg to me.  

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to ErnieC | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

ErnieC wrote:

Sounds like Johannesburg to me.  

It doesn't to me. In Johannesburg the victim would've been shot. Comparing violent crime levels in any British city to those of any large US city, let alone Johannesburg, is ridiculous.

Avatar
Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
5 likes

Pursued him for two miles and then chased him into a shop in order to attack him? Sounds like rather more than "just" a bikejacking…

Avatar
open_roads replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
1 like

Sounds exactly the same as a bike jacking - the bikejack gangs in london do the same - and have zero concern for the level of violence used.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to open_roads | 4 weeks ago
7 likes

open_roads wrote:

Sounds exactly the same as a bike jacking - the bikejack gangs in london do the same - and have zero concern for the level of violence used.

I can't remember a bikejacking in London where the perpetrators chased someone into a shop to harm them...I may be on very dodgy ground here and apologies to the victim if so but talking to police officers it's not uncommon for criminals wounded by other criminals to claim they were just the unlucky innocent victim, you're not going to say to the attending police, "It was Fred and Dave, they come after me 'cos I gave them short weight on our last coke deal", are you? The level of dedication of the assailants in chasing the victim for two miles (how did that happen if they were on a Surron and he was on a pushbike?) and then into a shop to harm him makes me think there may be more to this than meets the eye...

Avatar
pmb1 replied to Rendel Harris | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Were they robots in disguse?

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