Motorbike gang terrorising walkers on New Lambton, Jesmond, Wallsend path
A motorbike gang - mainly of youths - is terrorising Newcastle residents using a local cycle path. A woman with a pram was nearly hit, while an elderly woman was clipped while walking.
Newcastle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Newcastle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Kicked, punched, abused and spat on.
This is the appalling behaviour residents using a cycle path from New Lambton to Jesmond and through to Wallsend have had to put up with.
A motorbike gang — mainly of youths — is terrorising locals who are just out for walk or on their push bikes, some now too scared to venture out.
A concerned local resident — who didn’t want to be named — said he too has copped it pretty bad.
“They’ve sworn at me, kicked at me, they abuse you,” he said.
“If you’re on the path, they’ll just ride straight towards you and you have to jump out of their way.
“I have seen a woman in a pram have to push her pram off the track quickly otherwise they would have taken her out.
“I have heard of an old lady who has been clipped as well. There are near misses daily.
“Countless people have been punched, kicked, spat on and had threats and abuse from the gang.”
The local resident said it’s been going on for at least a year with a group of up to six teenagers, some as young as 10, illegally using the cycle path to ride their motorbikes recklessly.
Those who go out walking have to run the risk of getting run down.
“They fly down at full speed following the path to Jesmond Park and then they take the back way to Wallsend,” he said.
“They don’t care who is on the path.
“It used to be an extremely busy walking track, you would always see people cycling on it and a lot of people exercising on it,” he said.
“That’s now changed and even before COVID you could really notice the difference.”
He said it’s only a matter of time before they run someone down and kill them.
“We’re really at our wits end, we don’t know what to do.”
Newcastle Police confirmed they received reports about this type of activity late last year and again earlier this year and are aware it’s still happening.
While it’s an ongoing problem, police are finding it difficult to catch the perpetrators who quickly disappear into bushland or further down the track.
Police have been increasing patrols in the affected areas including officers patrolling on push bikes.
They’re asking anyone who sees any illegal activity to report it or call Crime Stoppers.