Gang on bikes try to knock runner into Birmingham canal

The incident happened on the towpath by the Somerset Road steps

A runner is warning of pushing by canals after he was nearly knocked into the water in Birmingham by a gang of youths on bikes.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said he was on the towpath close to University station when one of the group tried to push him in.

He managed to right himself but one of the group then spat in his face.

Police said they had received a report of the incident and were appealing for information.

The jogger said it was similar to an incident two years ago when two women on bikes were pushed in the water by a gang of youths, also on bikes, on the same stretch of the Birmingham to Worcester Canal.

He said a group of six or seven youths on bikes passed him when he was close to the Somerset Road steps, not far from University station, on Thursday evening.

"They forced me pretty near to the water by basically taking up the whole path and then one near the front tried to push me in while he rode past," he said.

A similar incident took place close to The Vale, near the University of Birmingham, two years ago

When he did not go in, the cyclists passed him in tandem with one of them spitting at him.

The group were described as aged between 14 and 16. The one who tried to push him in the canal is described as a smaller, white boy and the one who spat in his face a bigger, black boy.

He said it had not let him stop using the canals but he wanted to warn other people.

"I use the canals to run on about once a week and I've been using it as normal since," he said.