Fury over bikers' ride along river bank

TWO trail bikers have been riding at high speed along a quiet riverside footpath beside the River Waveney causing a hazard to walkers and churning up the river bank.

TWO trail bikers have been riding at high speed along a quiet riverside footpath beside the River Waveney causing a hazard to walkers and churning up the river bank.

The bikers left the A146 at Burnt Hill Lane, which is a bridleway, on Friday.

According to Suffolk Wildlife Trust wardens they opened a five bar gate, and 'bombed down' the bridleway onto the river wall and across Peto's Marsh, which is under crop, where they rode for about an hour.

They continued along a public footpath beside the river at high speed, driving fast round blind bends, where a local landowner at Barnby saw one of them fall off.

'We heard them before we saw them,' he said. 'They had no number plates. A few seconds later the rider came off. I jumped on the tractor to help him but as I approached the biker rode off. One was driving dangerously fast round blind bends. If anyone had been out walking there could have been a terrible accident. It was reckless. The footpath is very muddy and slippery and driving on it causes a lot of damage to the bank.'

A member of the public also reported the incident. Police were called but were not able to reach the bikers and air support was not available.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust warden Matt Neal eventually caught up with the bikers in a 4x4 and asked them to leave.

Volunteer warden John Mummery said they had had previous trouble with trail bikers 'roaring round' the SWT reserve at Carlton Marshes.