A man’s life was left in tatters by a suspected arson attack on his precious e-bike. The bike, valued at £15,000, was set on fire around 3 am on Sunday, August 11th.
Jeff Luther, a resident of Bathford who had owned the bike for 20 years, was informed that the flames had surged as high as a house. Luther, who was working in Oxford at the time, received a distressing phone call from his neighborhood the following morning. “I was away in Oxford working and I got a phone call from my neighbourhood in the morning saying ‘your bike got torched at three o’ clock last night'. The fire brigade came out and apparently the flames were as high as a house,” he described.
Luther expressed how devastating the loss of the bike is, as it affects both his livelihood and family life. He relied on the bike for transporting and selling oysters at the Bath market, as well as for taking his children to school.
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Avon and Somerset Police are conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire, suspecting it was an arson attack. They are appealing for information from the public.
A police spokesperson stated: “We received a call at around 10.15 am yesterday (Sunday 11 August) reporting a suspected deliberate fire overnight in High Street, Bathford. Enquiries are ongoing into an incident which saw an e-bike set alight. If you were in the Bathford area sometime between 2.30-3.30 am and witnessed anything suspicious, please call us on 101 and quote reference 5224210352 to the call handler.”
Fortunately, no injuries were reported. However, Luther voiced his concerns regarding the potentially disastrous outcome, emphasizing the highly explosive nature of the bike’s batteries. “Luckily these batteries exploded upwards, not outwards. But they could have killed someone, quite easily.”
The incident also caused distress to Luther’s neighbor, who was petrified by the ordeal. “Obviously my neighbor was scared stiff, she woke up at three o’clock to see these massive flames. She was the one that called the fire brigade,” Luther recounted.
A fundraiser has been initiated by Luther’s neighbor to assist him in raising funds for a replacement bike. Those willing to aid can contribute online.