A TOTAL of five off illegal road bikes have been seized in a police swoop after several “near misses” with walkers.

Off-road bikers had been causing problem on Bickershaw Country Park in recent times with residents complaining about a more and more cases disturbing the peace.

In response, police launched a crackdown over the last weekend which resulted in officers seizing five bokes and the van used to bring them to the park.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “We’ve posted recently about the increase in incidents at Bickershaw Country Park involving illegal off-road bikes.

“Not only have they been disturbing the peace and quiet of the nature reserve, they’ve also been involved in near misses with walkers and other people using the area.

“In response to concerns from the community we ran an operation last weekend and quite literally pounced on a number of bikers who were committing offences.

“We seized five off road bikes and a van that had been used to transport some of them.

“All of the bikers had come from the Merseyside area.

“We've also been sending out notices of intended prosecution in the post to those bikers we've missed previously

“So there is nowhere to hide, if you don't respect our community, we will take action against you.”