[Closed] Police looking for a MTBer in Ashdown Forest

Knowing this areas as I do, they are probably more concerned about a bike being on the forest than the robbery.

Sounds a bit odd. Be interesting to hear the other side of the story...

Hmmm, what makes me think that theres more to the story than 'mountain biker attacks and tries to steal camera of sweet and innocent dogwalker'

i have the feeling the scenario that occurred was:

1) MTB'er may have been somewhere cheeky.
2) The guy with the camera went to take a pic.
3) MTB'er didn't like it.
4) Words exchanged.
5) MTB'er tried to get the pic deleted.
6) Ruckus ensued.
7) Reporter at the East Grinstead Courier did what local journalists do, and turned everything up to 11.

If this was a robbery attempt, then I'm a plaster cast recreation of the 1920's.

[img] [/img]

There's definitely a lot more gone on there. Why the mention of biker rode into his shot for a start?

My guess is they had a little "discussion" about bikes not being allowed there and things escalated.

i have the feeling the scenario that occurred was the MTB'er may have been somewhere cheeky, the guy with the camera went to take a pic, MTB'er didn't like it and tried to get the pic deleted, and a ruckus ensued.

If this was a robbery, I'm a plaster cast recreation of the 1920's.

Quite, but it is all grist to the mill for those who would seek to ban us from everywhere except the roads.

I suspect it went down like this:

biker riding along
walker: Oi!! You're not allowed to ride your bike on here.
biker: whatever!!
walker: OK, I'm gonna take your photo and give it to the authorities.
biker: Oh no you're not.
walker: oh yes I am.
biker oh no you're not
walker: done it na na na nanana na
biker: gimme that camera you ole biddy
walker: theft!!! help!!

Edit: I live about 5 miles from where this took place.

So someone with 2 bikes and all the kit trying to steal a cheap/old camera (judging by the quality of the pic in the article)? And 'disabled' is a word thrown around a bit too easily of late.

Edit: I live about 5 miles from where this took place.

You realise the police are monitoring this thread.

Better go and move that orange bike out your garage for a few days.

I have an alibi.... plus, no orange bike.

How was he riding 2 bikes at the same time? 😀

Mention of his ownership of a different bike also suggests that this bloke and the walker have previous. I suspect the chain of events was as described at least twice above.

Correct response is not to try to snatch the guy's camera, though. Much better to tell him to **** off and that it is still a long road from taking a photo to getting anything actually done to stop him riding there, or prosecuted.

Unfortunately by rising to the bait, the rider will have made this situation a lot worse, and escalated any likely response from landowner, police etc.

On occasions I have come across walkers who will deliberately place themselves in harms way to provoke an incident, so they can go to the police or whoever. I just slow right down or stop for people now. The mentality of these people is hard to understand, but easy to categorise. Narrow-minded and holier than thou NIMBYism basically.

Unfortunately, that land is owned and run by "these people", which is why mountain bikes aren't allowed on there.

looks like an orange soul to me

The fact the 'victim' knows he has a different bike, doesn't help him to not look like a local busybody.

The victim, 37, who has difficulty walking, was with his pet greyhound taking photographs of butterflies when the cyclist rode into shot.

Doesn't that sound like an idyllic evening out? Shame on that brute of a bicyclist!

As we've essentially got a blurry shot of a cyclist and thereafter it's just hearsay, let's jump our conclusions even further across: Fido, left to fend for himself whilst [b]Victim, 37[/b] rummages about in the bushes for "butterflies" gambols happily around the place. Sees relatively fast moving cyclist and runs along to join in (I've never had a greyhound, but I presume they like running), who's not impressed with this. Some shouting at dog ensues, [b]Victim,37[/b] emerges from bushes flushed and flustered at having his beautifully composed shot of "butterflies" disrupted, some shouting at people ensues, allegation of "is that your dog's shit in the bag on that tree?" levelled, photo taken, much fist shaking and threats all round, cyclist buggers off, [b]Victim, 37[/b] makes it to twitter first.

etc etc.

How's about that then?

Don't worry, although initially reported as attempted robbery due to a confrontation and struggle at the scene, it turns out that [b]Victim, 37[/b] has still got his camera!

[img] ?itok=lRPJrkZw[/img]

He is described as about 5'11", 13-14 stone, tanned, with salt-and-pepper hair and blue eyes.

How did he manage to taste his hair? Can't be too many people around with savoury hair

Don't worry, Victim, 37 has still got the camera!

That must have been a risky google image search...

Already bookmarked for later perusal 😈

I hope his pictures of wildlife are better than the above picture otherwise he needs a new hobby.

I hope his pictures of wildlife are better than the above picture otherwise he needs a new hobby.

He was focusing on a close-up of a butterfly, which the nasty mountain biker startled away as he tore into shot.

Didn't you read the story?

😉

Unfortunately, the horse riding loonies who control the forest will use this as yet further evidence as to why mountain biking should never, ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever be allowed on the Ashdown Forest.

The fact the 'victim' knows he has a different bike, doesn't help him to not look like a local busybody.

or the victim of repeated attacks by an unhinged lunatic who needs to be locked up before he kills someone (sounds silly but that's how it could be presented if you have an inexplicable hatred of bikes)

A silver helmet? sounds more like a case of attempted anal probing!

mikey 74, you must live awfuly close to me as Ashdown forest is pretty much on my door step, and every thing you say is so true, run by and for the horsey types without a moments thought for anyone, i'm sure if they could ban ramblers and family picnics they would.

Who owns the Forest?

I believe East Sussex council own the forest, but it is managed by an appointed commitee (or similar) who essentialy from what i can tell appoint themselves with bugger all democratic process. There are also several by laws that are unique to the forest if i remember correctly.

Butterflies at 6.50pm, surely it would be going dark / sunset at around that time?

Butterflies at 6.50pm, surely it would be going dark / sunset at around that time?

Probably meant moths.

Is the cyclist giving a Gareth Hunt coffee shake in that pic ? 🙂

Probably meant doggers

Ahh. The rare flashing dogger moth. Make sure you don't touch them, as you'll get a weird residue on your hands.

I believe East Sussex council own the forest, but it is managed by an appointed commitee (or similar) who essentialy from what i can tell appoint themselves with bugger all democratic process. There are also several by laws that are unique to the forest if i remember correctly.

Sounds as though they could be cousins of the New Forest Nazis then! Ghastly lot. 😐

Excellent - so if, as we suspect, this is actually an altercation over cheeky riding, the muppet on the bike has just set back any possibility of permissive riding in the forest by about 500 years.

Terrific 🙄

New Forest Nazis

I think the actual Nazis were a bit more strict that stop people from cycling.

There is an Act of Parliament from 1974ish governing the Forest.

I did read the wretched thing some years back and I think it is Section 2 that deals with bikes, but I remember it being a bit open and could refer to prams and didn't prevent you walking it across the forest, although I am told the wardens go apeshit if you walk a bike onto their car parks.

One arsehole whose dog went for me when I was riding there, had the cheek to then have a go at me for cycling over the forest when I shouldn't, when in reality I was on one of the legal bridleways at the time (Crow and Gate to Kings Standing Clump!!! I think). Another arsehole dog walker challenged me when I was illegal and I said "Wow".

The truth is that both of those Ws were dog walkers and given that the forest is a sanctuary for ground nesting birds such as the Nightjar, dogs are way more likely to do lasting damage than I ever will.

On their signs they tell you bikes are banned because they cause erosion. Horses are allowed and they rip the ground up more than we ever will AND every track on the forest will show tyre tracks from "them" driving their bloody four wheel drives across it to fulfil their official capacities, such as looking after the sheep grazing it, or cropping back trees...why do you need a four wheel drive near you to do either?

In honour of our comrade's dastardly deed I really must get myself back there and put some tyre tracks in their mud just to let them know they are not winning.

In fact I'd love to see a mass bike trespass there.

Bastards......bollocks to them

I'd suggest the Ashdown Forest would be the ideal place for a mass bike trespass.

That and the New Forest 😉

I've just read the article...sounds like a bollocks attempted robbery to me...and you are right, there are obviously several things they are not telling you.

Give them a real robbery and they probably wouldn't do anything about it!!!

Is he riding a Soul?

Nightjars in Surrey? Are you ****ing kidding me?!

With the amount of rambling and off the leash dog scurrying and shitting that accompanies any nice bit of green land near a big conurbation there's not a snowball in hell's chance of such a sensitive bird nesting there.

Usual "if only things were like the 1930s again" bullshit being used to mobilise opinion against biking off road.

This all boils down to NIMBY tosspots who think that just because they have paid a premium for a house in a nice rural area then they should be allowed 'unsullied' access to the local countryside. And no, I've paid a lot for my house, so being required to pick up my dog's shit is beyond the pale. Someone else can clear that up, I pay my taxes, some oik can do that. Etc. Etc.

The rider in the OP has let us all down. By giving the local 'too extreme for the golf club, so has to resort to the ramblers' NIMBYs something to really go at, the repercussions are obvious.

Sad to say, but killing them with kindness is the best way. Just seeing someone pumping themselves up to have a go and then watching them squirm and backtrack as I am almost embarrassingly courteous really tickles me. Most end up having to ignore my cheery "good morning" and so they are made to feel (rightly) that they are the churlish prudes with the problem. Such moments are worth a hundred "**** offs".

no-one seems to be asking the really big question, namely: what tyres was he using? 😉

By the way, Ashdown forest is legendary for its highly forward thinking, positive and welcoming attitude to mountain bikers. Don't worry, it's only because they can't burn witches anymore.

The sad thing is that the Ashdown Forest is a massive area and there is certainly scope to create a mountain bike loop around the perimeter, whilst still keeping them away from the main honeypot areas for walkers and horse riders. If done properly, it could also be built in a very sustainable way, causing minimal erosion (certainly much less than the horses that use it now).

Unfortunately, sense was thrown out the window decades ago so it will never happen, at least not for several generations.

Of course none of these (or any) restrictions count when it's dark!

What wheel size and tyres for disputing butterfly photography?

the biker is 100% innocent of any wrongdoing.

How do I know?

No bombers.

There was if a local group who were attempting to negotiate some sort of limited access with the managing group and I did for a time think about joining them to help raise awareness etc. however after reading some of the minutes from the meetings that were published online I drew the conclusion that it was merely an exercise on their part of going through the motions, and they ultimately had no intention of shifting from their current aloof position, so I'd didn't bother, I feared I might end up baring my arse to them at one of their meetings.

I can kind of understand that they wouldn't want a Surrey Hills unofficial trail centre type thing there, but the forest is huge and would be an ideal place for a waymarked trail for families/kids away from the traffic, but as above, its run by morons. Hence the numerous signs about bikes causing erosion and danger (whilst horse riding is allowed).

Dannyh

Quite, but it is all grist to the mill for those who would seek to ban us from everywhere [s]except the roads.[/s]

FTFY

[quote=dannyh said]Nightjars in Surrey? Are you **** kidding me?!

Ashdown Forest is in East Sussex I believe.

More chance of getting trails on the moon than Ashdown. I live a few miles away and have been chased by a ranger in his truck for riding my mtb on a tarmac road through the forest. There are two bridle ways through it which are not governed by the absurd local bylaw which prevents cycling and I've been rudely challenged by horseriders, walkers and forest rangers multiple times on both of them too. There is a widely known aggressive policy against mountainbikers in the forest and I guarantee this 'disabled wildlife photographer' was nothing of the sort.

So according to the consensus, a rider was riding where he shouldn't be, someone takes a picture of him, the rider then trys to take the camera by force to at the very least delete the picture. It sounds a nasty incident to me, not the end of the world but the rider has acted like a thug and is plainly wrong. I can't see how thus is anything but a big step back for those riders trying to get access to the forest 🙁

[i]a big step back for those riders trying to get access to the forest[/i]

There's idiots in all walks of life but I can't see this rider's actions doing anything to harm bicycle access - it's never going to happen anyway 🙁

Shocking photo quality for someone calling himself a photographer... 8)

big step back for those riders trying to get access to the forest

I think the funniest thing to do with a photo-taker would be to take your phone/camera out and take load of photos of them. You chuckle while you do it and ask them to pose.

Imagine the impotent rage! 😀

For interest, what would be the actual sanction for being caught riding in there? Is it just the shouting?

Is it just the shouting?

So just to clear. Due a local law its more illegal to ride in this wood than any where else. I'm excepting the bridleways of course

So just to clear. Due a local law its more illegal to ride in this wood than any where else. I'm excepting the bridleways of course

Pretty much. Oh, and you aren't allowed to use the bridleways going through the forest either.

And it's more like a heathland than a forest. 😀

I used to work down that way, and was amazed I couldn't ride my Bear Valley back there in 1993. Thought things might have changed by now.

We should all get in touch with the Police and say it was us "I am the Mountain Biker" "No, I am the Mountain Biker". In a show of solidarity.

So victim37 was taking photo's of butterflies, when the mountain biker rode into shot. Now as someone who does a little bit of photography, I have to ask what size where these butterflies because in my experience you have to be pretty close to them to get a decent photo, even with a BIG lens, usually inches away 🙄
Secondly if I had 1p for every person that walked in front of me or in some cases even stood in front of me when taking a photo, I'd have an Orange 5 by now 😉
However there is really no excuse to try and grab the camera, this does sound like a local hack over egging a story though to pander the NIMBY busy body brigade. 😈

So many things wrong with this story..
Butterfly's at 6:50pm at this time of the year..
He's got two bikes

The disabled victim probably caught the cyclist having a pee.. Got a sneaky PIC of his cock from the bush he was hiding in.
Cyclist didn't take kindly to a pervert in the bushes and rightly so tried to take his camera away to delete the pictures.

Disabled pervert who has difficulty walking had no difficulty running away..or walking around a "forest"
What really should be investigated is benefit fraud.

I was wondering how the photographer finished up being disabled? Can't think........

Nedrapier talks about SANCTIONS. I'm told that the wardens/police have the power to take your bicycle away. Something I don't think I would allow without a fight first!

Nightjars........yes, definitely there in reasonable numbers every year for the past several in my limited experience and probably for many centuries before that. And that's despite drongo dog walking dicks etc etc

It occurs to me that reading the interview in court is going to be fun:

'the defendant is alleged to have been on an orange mountain bike, he is also thought to own a white mountain bike''

'But I don't own either an Orange mountain bike, or a Whyte one'

'OK, so what colour are your bikes?'

'well, my Cotic is orange, my On-One Inbred is white'

'but you just said you didn't own either an orange bike or a white one!'

'Yeah, I know, I don't own either an Orange or a Whtye, I own a Cotic and an Inbred, I just told you that'

'but you said that one was orange, and the other one was white?'

'Yeah, but I don't own an Orange or a Whyte'

'So now you're saying that you don't own either an orange bike or a white bike?'

Etc. 😀

Bit of an odd one for sure, funny how you lot are all defending him just because he rides a bike though. He could have stolen the bike else and then tried to rob the disabled bloke?

I don't think anyone is defending him, just guessing that the article isn't telling the whole truth about the incident, given the issues surrounding bikes on the forest and the somewhat emotive language used in the article.

Bit of an odd one for sure, funny how you lot are all defending him just because he rides a bike though

They've always been very protective over Ashdown, I was chucked off years ago by the ranger, he swooped on us in the car park before we'd even got our helmets on, it was way way over the top.

To be honest though it'd be rubbish, the place is full off thorns and sand, theres even a place called isle of thorns. seriously though it's a real shame, especially with the stunny 360 vista's on the top, plenty of room for all. I was thinking of moving to Hartfield or Forest Row but having Ashdown on my doorstep and not being able to ride it is too tormenting.

There is other riding nearby though.

Greyhound half an hour before last light - I'd be rather suspicious of poaching. If not hope the thing was on a lead as there is no way you can stop one from chasing deer which is much more serious than cycling.

Horses allowed but not bikes....

How about a tandem ridden by a pantomime horse?

Looks like he has fled to the wintry north:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-29519266

It occurs to me that reading the interview in court is going to be fun:

'the defendant is alleged to have been on an orange mountain bike, he is also thought to own a white mountain bike''

'But I don't own either an Orange mountain bike, or a Whyte one'

'OK, so what colour are your bikes?'

'well, my Cotic is orange, my On-One Inbred is white'

'but you just said you didn't own either an orange bike or a white one!'

'Yeah, I know, I don't own either an Orange or a Whtye, I own a Cotic and an Inbred, I just told you that'

'but you said that one was orange, and the other one was white?'

'Yeah, but I don't own an Orange or a Whyte'

'So now you're saying that you don't own either an orange bike or a white bike?'

Etc.

he he quality 😆

hels - Member
Looks like he has fled to the wintry north

One of the staff went to summon assistance and the robber fled the shop on a mountain bike ...
...He was wearing dark clothing, possibly a hooded top with a dark jacket and trousers.

There is other riding nearby though.

Where?

Sorry for bumping up an old thread, but what gets me about AF is this mess created by the forest rangers. Photo taken today.

[IMG] [/IMG]

So how does riding an mtb on there make more mess than the above, or even the horses, and dog walkers that let their dogs crap everywhere without picking it up. Mix that with walkers dropping litter, and I would have thought that mtb riders would actually have the least impact.
I don't consider the riding on there to be massively great, but there are some good routes, and it's certainly convenient for any of us that happen to live close by. Allowing mtb use on there could help to sustain the area, especially if riding by permit was introduced. I'd happily pay to ride it, and if the local tea rooms etc had any sense, they could also capitalise upon it. The trouble is that the conservators don't actually want anyone to use it except for themselves. The only way that it will ever change, is if a load of mtb riders became conservators, and forced change. I'm not volunteering for that one.

In respect of being stopped for being on the forest, we had someone rant at us on Xmas day morning and take our photos. Some people really need to get a life. I guess that said person was having a worse Xmas than us out enjoying ourselves.
Pippingford Park offers some good riding, but obviously you need to pick your moment carefully. 😉

Salt and pepper hair?????