Barbed wire booby trap found on Kent cycle trail

A barbed wire booby trap has been found placed at chest height across a bike trail in Wormshill, Kent.

Kent Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident after cyclist and father of two, Daniel Webster, found the wire while mountain biking near Hollingbourne, on Thursday.

Kent Online reports 39-year-old Webster was cycling his usual mountain bike route in reverse when he spotted the barbed wire stretched across the path between two trees on a hill. If he had approached the wire from the other direction, and travelling downhill, he says he "never would have stood a chance".

Nightmare. Barbed wire traps set at cyclist neck height on Kentish trails around Wormshill. Please RT. pic.twitter.com/oVuGr4izqa

— Bikesy Bargainfinder (@BikesyUK) March 11, 2016

He said:  "It was something out of Mad Max. It was definitely a trap."   

"I was riding with my head down and I happened to look up when a glint caught my eye and I realised something was stretched across the road. 

"The wire was tied between two trees. It was neatly cut and stretched tight. 

"I normally come the other way down the hill but I had decided to do it in reverse. I would have been going at 20 mph and I would never have seen it. I would never have stood a chance." 

@cycleoptic Local officers are aware of this and making enquiries. Any further incidents of this nature should be reported by calling 101.

— Kent Police (UK) (@kent_police) March 11, 2016

The route runs between Pilgrims Way and Ringlestone Road, a trail popular with not only cyclists but horse riders and walkers.  Webster says there have been incidents of logs placed on mountain bike trails but never wire before now.

He said: "This didn't look like the work of kids, it was so tidy. I don't really understand why people do this sort of thing." 

The incident marks an alarming escalation in a series of wire booby traps stretched across bike trails across the country, and tacks strewn on roads.