Source of Photographs:
At approximately 3 a.m. on 30 August 2013, five young men in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, noticed a metal bike rack that had been damaged when a car had backed into it a few weeks earlier. One of the metal loops to which bicyclists locked their bikes had been bent. The young men discussed how to fix the bent metal loop, and then, using their muscles for approximately 13 minutes, they bent the metal loop back into the correct position. All of this was captured by CCTV (a Closed-Circuit Television Camera). Peter Hunn, Boston Borough Council’s principal community safety officer, said, “We recorded the whole sequence. At first two lads had a go and then encouraged others to help. At one point five were pushing and pulling. To look at the bike rack, now you would hardly know it had been damaged.” He added, “The night-time economy is not all about bad lads doing bad things.” Councillor Stephen Woodliffe, from Boston Borough Council, said, “Young people often get a bad press, and this shows there are some who want to contribute to their society and do the right thing. It shows young people acting in a very positive and constructive manner and shows they have a good and responsible attitude to what’s happening in their town. Their actions were very public spirited and impressive.”
Four of the young men were Martin Griggs, age 24; Dean Mason, age 23; Simon McMillan, age 23; and Dan Butler, age 23. The story of their good deed went viral, and Mr. Griggs said, “I can’t believe all the attention — it’s ridiculous.” He explained how he and his friend Mr. Mason got the good deed started: “It was about 3.15 in the morning — we’d had a lovely evening and as we are both cyclists decided to mend the bike rack, which we knew had been broken for a while. It was as simple as that.” They weren’t able to mend it by themselves, so they asked some other men to help. Mr. Griggs added, “Most people expect negative images in the news and Boston gets quite a lot of bad press. I think that’s why the press have grabbed hold of it — it’s a good news story for a change.”
For Further Information: “Boston bike rack fixed by group on night out.” BBC News. 11 September 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-24047706
For Further Information: “VIDEO: Partying Boston youths turn Good Samaritan to fix bike rack.” This is Lincolnshire. 12 September 2013
For Further Information: “Boston bike rack repair group surprised at attention.” BBC. 12 September 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-24071177
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