Tim Bracken, 14, said it took a month of hard shovel-work to construct the ramps, which are made from tightly packed soil piled over a log framework in woods near the Green Lane estate in Heathfield.
Do the woods belong to him or his family? Reader, they do not.
But Heathfield and Waldron Parish Council said it had received complaints about the “dangerous” jumps and intends to replace them.
But Tim was shocked.
Well, yes. I bet he was. It's probably the first time he's ever been told he can't do something.
“They’re destroying the ramps,” he said. “I’ve been coming up to these woods with my friends for two years and it’s taken us weeks to build them. Now, they’re just flattening them. I’m so frustrated.”
Awww, dry those eyes, kid!
Tim had been campaigning to save the jumps and an online petition to protect them attracted almost 800 signatures.
Is that all? And how many are idiots from other parts of the country or the world?
He said he “gets moaned at for hanging round town, moaned at for riding the jumps and moaned at for sitting at home” – and wonders what else he is supposed to do.
“The jumps actually get us out of the house,” he said.
Before they were razed, he said:“The ramps are what makes me happy and what helped me get through this pandemic – and there (sic) just gonna be destroyed like it’s nothing.”
But...that's not true, is it? They are going to be replaced with safe ones, at taxpayer expense:
A parish council spokeswoman said: “The Parish Council received a complaint regarding the jumps that the boys had built, they visited the site and having consulted with their insurance company are due to remove the jumps as they are considered dangerous, however at the same time they will be replacing the original jumps with safe earth jumps.
“The parish council are working with the community and the young people to ensure that there is a safe facility whilst at the same time ensuring that the close local neighbours aren’t impacted by an increased number of young people visiting the site.”
Learned a valuable lesson about civic responsibility, you have, young Tim. Personally, I'd have billed your parents for the removal cost if it was up to me...
Tim is a little shit and his parents are lowlifes and scumbags.
ReplyDeleteWe used to do stuff like that all the time without interference from the state. We'd get some scrapes and bruises but no more than playing other sports. The council 'round our way didn't like kids climbing on walls around the estates and courtyards so they topped them with metal spikes. The kids still climb on the walls, they're just higher and sharper now.
ReplyDeleteI hope this plants an anti-statist, freedom loving seed in little Tim. He's gonna need it.
My mum and dad retired to a small seaside town but their summer evenings were somewhat spoiled by the clickety clack of the local skateboarding community who found the kerbs on their cul-de-sac ideal for 'tricks'.
ReplyDeleteIt took that town Council 20 years to build a Skate Park so good luck to Tim.
"We used to do stuff like that all the time without interference from the state."
ReplyDeleteDifferent times, though...
"It took that town Council 20 years to build a Skate Park so good luck to Tim."
Some barbed wire stretched at neck height might have hastened the process...