Stop these bully boy bikers

Police are gearing up to clamp down on quad biking youths after they terrorised a family who were simply out walking their dogs.

Jamie Stoddart (41) and his daughter Breanna (5) were walking along the paths near their home in Stevenson Avenue, Polmont, in an area referred to locally as “the bing” when the incident happened.

Jamie said a quad bike suddenly appeared on the footpath and started heading straight for him.

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When he tried to hide Breanna behind him to protect her he touched the quad bike riding teenager’s helmet to warn him to take care because there was a child behind him.

The rider then started shouting abuse at him and, when Jamie walked further on, the teenager appeared with five of his friends, who Jamie believes would have physically attacked him if it had not been for the fact he had two large, and quite protective, dogs with him.

Jamie’s wife Ceri Stoddart (41) said: “We’ve lived here for 12 years and this is the first time we’ve experienced anything like this.

Motorbikes have been using that area for years – zooming along the paths at high speeds – but the level of aggression they showed towards my husband and daughter was frightening.

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“My husband felt if they did not have the two dogs with them then the youngsters would have attacked him in front of Breanna, who was utterly traumatised by this – the boys were shouting abuse at her too.”

The family was less than impressed about the initial police response to the incident.

Ceri said: “We phoned the police straight away and they said we had to book an appointment four days later.

“Then they said sorry we are going to have to put it back a week. It was 11 days after the incident when we saw them and they said there was nothing they could do about it now.”

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A Police Scotland spokesperson: “Community officers in Polmont are aware of an incident involving a quad bike and pedestrians on the track behind Stevenston Avenue on June 21.

“Officers visited the complainer, but unfortunately there was insufficient evidence to proceed.”

Sergeant Jim Dougall, of Braes Community Police, added: “We are aware of off-road motorbikes causing a nuisance in the Lower Braes area and are taking steps to address this.”