Machete-wielding thug stole my son's bike

Blackpool Gazette

A teenage boy had his brand new bike stolen by a thug armed with a machete.  The robber threatened to set his dog on Callum if he didn't hand over the bike, and then pulled out the weapon on the terrified youngster.  After sharing a post on social media, Callum's dad was approached by LiveLikeRalph, a local community interest company, who have saved the day.

Transcript

00:00 Called me crying on the phone, said his bike took off him.

00:05 They threatened him with a dog, to set the dog on him.

00:07 He said give me your bike or I'll set the dog on you.

00:10 Callum said it's not going to happen.

00:12 But he had his coat open and he had the big machete.

00:16 He described the handle and everything and he reached for it.

00:20 Callum says just take the bike.

00:23 He's had a tough year, there's been a lot of family stuff.

00:27 But I thought I'll just treat him to this.

00:31 And I got him the bike and I was just made up with it.

00:35 I loved it. He wanted to put it in his bedroom instead of garage.

00:38 Because it will get dusty in the garage.

00:40 So to hear him crying on the phone that it had been took off him,

00:45 it affected me.

00:48 The fact that some grown man had just come up and took it at knife point from him.

00:53 Just around the corner there on Seasiders Way.

00:55 It's just at the side of the building. It's all lit up, it's camera'd up.

00:59 He put a cone down and he used to practice around the cone and stuff.

01:03 He was just packing up, ready to come home.

01:06 And that's where the guy turned up.

01:08 Just come round the corner, out of nowhere.

01:11 I was sharing it on social media.

01:14 Neil got in touch with me, explaining they've liked Ralph, what they do.

01:19 And what had happened to his son unfortunately and everything.

01:22 And they said, "We're willing to replace his bike."

01:27 Well, I was speechless.

01:30 It got to me. We've never had anything like that.

01:34 These guys are absolutely amazing at what they do.

01:37 It must have been awful for Callum.

01:40 His bike had been taken in awful circumstances.

01:46 We just thought it was terrible.

01:48 I spoke to my co-trustees at Live Like Ralph.

01:52 We said, "Look, if we can do something to help here,

01:56 it would be good if we could replace his bike and put a smile back on his face."

02:00 So, tell me why you're here in Halfords today then.

02:03 Neil, he said, "Look, I'll take you to Halfords at weekend and let him pick a bike."

02:10 Which, yeah, we're another shop realer.

02:14 Callum has chosen a bike not dissimilar to the one that he had,

02:18 that he'd only had a couple of months.

02:20 And we have paid for a new bike for him and every credit to Halfords.

02:27 They gave us a generous discount as well.

02:29 But Live Like Ralph have replaced his bike.

02:31 It'll be ready for him in a couple of days.

02:33 And he'll be out and running again with insurance this time.

02:37 So, yeah, we're very pleased that we can help him out.

02:41 And we sincerely hope that the horrible person that did this crime will be caught as well.

02:48 I'm a great believer in karma.

02:50 You know, if you do good, good things will happen to you.

02:53 But equally, if you do bad and treat your fellow human being the way Callum was treated,

02:59 things do come around again.

03:01 And I'm sure they will for this horrible person.

03:04 So, yeah, you know, and I would encourage other people to do good

03:09 and maybe get involved in Live Like Ralph and support us as well.

03:12 If it weren't for these guys, then we'd still be, you know, saving up for a new bike for him.

03:19 It's his birthday in two weeks, so that would have probably been looking along them lines.

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