THE fund-raising efforts of a big hearted Redditch woman nearly came to grief after she cycled into fishing line stretched across the road by yobs.
Helen Tuite, who is in training for an Olympic triathlon in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, had gone for a swim at the Abbey Stadium and was cycling home along the bus lane in Church Hill when the incident happened.
Caught in the fishing line, she fell off her bike, banging her knee and elbow – fortunately there was no vehicle following at the time.
“It was a complete shocker,” said Helen. “Luckily I was going uphill otherwise if I had been going down it could have been far worse or even killed me.
“At first I didn’t know what it was, the fishing line was practically invisible and there were strands of it stretched right across the road and pavement from the central board.
“I tried to break it but it was incredibly difficult to do so.”
However a paramedic then came along and after flagging him down the two began to collect the fishing line just as a partially sighted person with a guide dog, walking along the pavement, also got tangled in the line.
“He was really stuck but the paramedic managed to free him and together we cleared the scene,” said Helen, who reported the incident to the police.
“If anyone knows who may have had anything to do with this act of complete stupidity, they should ring 101 to report it.”
