Police insist regular action taken to tackle violent bike robberies after coming under fire for advising victim to avoid route in future

Police in Birmingham have addressed the backlash over advice given to a victim of a violent bike robbery on one of the city's canal paths and insisted that "regular" action is taken to prevent crime on towpaths.

The cyclist, whose bike was stolen during a shockingly violent robbery which saw him repeatedly struck with a hammer by masked thugs, this week spoke out about the incident which happened in 2021, the attackers still not caught.

The 66-year-old man was left asking, "What sort of message does that send out?" His response, to police advice following the "brutal attack" to avoid the route in future, mirrored concerns heard from road.cc readers who read the story.

> "What sort of message does that send out?" – Cyclist mugged for bike on Birmingham canal advised by police to avoid route in future

One reader said the West Midlands Police advice was "admitting there are 'no-go areas' on their patch", while another suggested the force "should put more resource into these crimes".

A spokeswoman for the force has since told Birmingham Live that a man was "arrested on suspicion of robbery in October 2021 and was later released without charge".

Inspector Gary Everitt addressed the comments made to the victim at the time and accepted "no-one should be made to feel unsafe when they are using the canal towpath".

"We regularly have officers and PCSOs walking along the canal towpaths at different times of day for high-visibility reassurance and to deter criminals from using them," he said.

"We also work closely with the Canal and River Trust and Birmingham City Council to further improve safety along the canal towpaths and put in additional measures such as improved CCTV and cutting back bushes along the towpath so that the public feel safe when using them."

The victim's bike, worth £500, was taken by the muggers as he rode through a tunnel along a canal near Small Heath. He believes the attack was assisted by an accomplice who had texted the masked men to let them know he was cycling in their direction.

"I was coming up to Small Heath and there was a guy sitting on one of the lock gates with a phone just before a tunnel. And I said to the police 'I think he texted the people in the tunnel'," he recalled.

"As I went through the tunnel a guy pushed me and I nearly went into the canal. If I'd had gone in the canal that could have been 'Goodnight, Vienna'. He came up and hit me a few times and then I was trying to sort of hold him off and then someone came up behind me and whacked me on the head with a hammer.

"I fell down and as I got up they were going away with the bike and I grabbed the back tyre and they were going up the ramp to get on the road towards Small Heath and another hammer blow came on my head. I staggered into the road and my head was like that photo I showed you; all the cars were stopping."

Money and a mobile phone were also taken, the cyclist left suffering with "flashbacks" of the attack.

"I've come out alright but I do get flashbacks from it now and again where I think I'm fighting them — I think it's the trauma of it sometimes," he said.

"There's been quite a few attacks on there and police said to me 'don't do that route again': what sort of message does that send out? You see the odd police [officer] now and again but they're too stretched aren't they?"

Numerous attacks have been reported on cyclists on Birmingham's canal paths, one in November 2021 seeing a rider pushed into the water by men wearing balaclavas who tried to steal his bike.

Police stepped up patrols in the autumn of that year due to multiple reports, including the one detailed in this story, another victim saying at the time that the situation was "getting worse now" and warning that "someone's going to get badly hurt".

Please note the image is for illustration purposes only and does not show the exact location of the incident.