WITHOUT warning, thugs grabbed a boater who was cycling on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal in London and flung him and his bike into the waterway.
The cyclist, Peter Bettell was returning to his narrowboat moored at Kensal Rise when a gang punched him and slashed open his jacket, then literally slung him and his bike into the waterway, Roger Fox tells us.
Saved his life
Peter told the Evening Standard:
"I was cycling home along the towpath and saw this group who looked really menacing. I thought of turning back but I guessed that these people fight other gangs and would not worry me.
"The next thing I knew I was in the water struggling to breathe. I was attached to the pedals of my bike with clips so struggled to release them. It was touch and go whether I could get out.
"Then a young girl hauled me out. I don't know how she did it I am 13st and she was not that big—it was a superhuman effort. Thanks to her I was on the towpath and someone called an ambulance. The gang left me for dead. She probably saved my life."
Rope across towpath
This was not the first incident on the towpath in the area, as a group tied a rope across the towpath from a boat to a post, causing a cyclist to come off his bike and land on his face on the hard towpath, needing hospital treatment.
There have been other similar incidents reported, with many believing there is a concerted effort by gangs to stop cycling on the towpath of the area, which is becoming something of a no-go area as word spreads of the danger.
Too dangerous
As for Peter, he says 'enough is enough', he is moving his boat out of London, claiming that the towpath is too dangerous, remarking that the gang did not mug him, it was 'violence for the sake of violence'
The suspects are described by the police as black males, aged in their late teens or early 20s. Boaters cruising the area are advised to be on the look-out and not cycle on the towpath alone.