Motorcycle clubs have stepped in to deter looters from targeting flood-hit homes and businesses in the Calderdale Valleys region of northern England.
Nighttime patrols of Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd are being carried out by bikers who have come from Bradford and beyond to help, with the blessing of police.
“We saw people post on Facebook that they were trying to deter looters and I thought who better to do that but 20, 30 burly bikers,” said Dave Cariss of The Drifters MCC, who has been organizing the patrol with his motorcycle club chairman, Lloyd Spencer.
Photo: AFP
The pair said they had been “overwhelmed” by the response from other clubs, including Pyratz MCC, Broken Bones MCC and Nuntii Mortis MCC, and had been out for the past two nights.
More than 30 bikers were expected to gather on Tuesday night to keep a watchful eye into the early hours.
“We are not there to hurt anybody. We are not there to scare anybody. We are just there as a presence to deter people who are trying to take what’s not theirs,” said Cariss, 30, a waterways worker from Bradford.
Spencer, who runs the Northern pub on Bradford’s Halifax Road, said the bikers in their leathers and hoodies, and most standing more than 1.8m tall, might look intimidating to would-be looters, but had been welcomed by the local community, who kept them topped up with hot tea and chip butties.
“We spread out and go wherever needed. The police understood what we were doing. We are not there to offer anything physical. We just show our faces. Obviously, we are not vigilantes. A lot of us are quite big, chunky lads, so that helps. We don’t have to really say anything, just turn up,” said Spencer, 57, who is 1.96m and weighs 127kg.
He said members patrolled in 4x4s, vans and on foot — but not on motorcycles because they were too dangerous on the water, sewage and diesel-soaked roads. They were gathering each evening at Mytholmroyd community center, and on Monday night they believe their presence scared off would-be burglars at nearby Calder High School.
“We got there, found a window open and footprints on the window, so I think they ran off,” Spencer said. “You go into Hebden Bridge, and in parts there is no light, it’s like a warzone. Everybody has dumped everything out on the road because the insurance companies have said if they don’t see it, they won’t pay out. So people are putting fridges out and, of course, it’s scrap metal.”
“We didn’t want to go knocking on old people’s doors. I am 6 foot, 5 inches [1.96m] and Dave’s 6 foot-odd, and knocking at some old dear’s door at 9:30pm would probably scare them to death, but we are going to go round tonight and ask if they need anything from shops, because if they are stuck we can nip out and get them some teabags, and things like that,” he said. “We are out until the early hours. Last night it was about 1am, and it will probably be the same tonight, We just drive, park, walk, drive, park, walk. With our torches, looking for anything suspicious.”
Spencer said he was planning a fundraising evening at his pub on Saturday to drum up money to replace some of the children’s toys lost in the flood at the Mytholmroyd community center.
“As the cleanup of Mytholmroyd, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge continues, we are being made aware of persons attending the area and removing items which are being left outside properties either for disposal or to dry out,” a spokesman for West Yorkshire police said. “In order to ensure the safety of empty properties in the area, additional police resources have been drafted in from other districts and areas. In addition to this, several motorcycle clubs from Bradford and surrounding areas have volunteered to patrol the area as extra eyes and ears on the ground.”
However, for one business it was too late.
The Cycle Factory of Todmorden, which only opened recently and was damaged by the Boxing Day floods, has already been looted.
In a Facebook post, a company spokesman said: “Struggling for words here we got flooded on Saturday as did a lot of people. Last night we were robbed by the scum of the earth preying on flood victims.”
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