Reckless youths put on dangererous '˜stunt display'

Teenage bikers horrified onlookers with a potentially deadly Wigan stunt show.
One of the bikers pulling a wheelieOne of the bikers pulling a wheelie
One of the bikers pulling a wheelie

The lads, on powerful motocross machines without number plates, were caught on camera circling the wrong way around an often busy mini-roundabout in Orrell.

And then, at a signal, the six riders hoisted the bikes onto the back wheels for a series of high powered “wheelies” and “stoppies”.

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Stunned motorists were forced to halt at the junction and not enter the roundabout while the impromptu display of incredibly reckless road-riding progressed.

The bikers in actionThe bikers in action
The bikers in action

Other members of the group not on bikes filmed the incident on their mobile phones - undoubtedly for uploading onto social media.

The bikers didn’t bother with crash helmets, but took the trouble to cover their faces and identifiable features with ski mask-type coverings, presumably with a view to thwarting any future attempts at prosecution if police start to study the YouTube.

The incident happened at the Orrell roundabout now serving the junction of Up Holland Road and St James Road (B5206) on the approach to the former Billinge Hospital site.

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It has caused some residents to speculate that a craze sweeping the high rise council estates of inner city London, in which organised gangs of teenage bikers hold illegal stunt shows and compete to outdo rivals with the hair-raising results then broadcast on YouTube - has now migrated to Wigan.

The bikers in actionThe bikers in action
The bikers in action

Because of the impromptu nature of such events, the lads have invariably cleared off on their screaming two-stroke machines by the time the traffic police arrive.

The issue was recently the subject of a Channel 5 documentary.

A resident who filmed the two wheel mayhem, but who asked not to be named, is calling for action before one of the young bikers is killed showing off.

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He said: “Something needs to be done before one of these bikers ends up being seriously hurt, or worse.

“I wanted to share the video to highlight the behaviour of the mindless idiots in what used to be a lovely village to live in.

“It’s happening a few times a week now – they always seem to be riding without helmets and sometimes they are wearing just face masks.

“It is not the first time this has happened. Another neighbour says that the bikers had been spotted earlier in Skelmersdale doing the same thing around a roundabout.”

Motocross bikes are for off-road use only and it is against the law, unless they are modified and registered with the DVLA, to drive them on the highway.