AN Okehampton man says a dangerous prank could have caused a fatal or serious injury to a motorcyclist. Chartered architect Nils Westman was driving down Station Road at around 8.45pm last Thursday when he saw a piece of string tied across the length of the steep, wide road. Mr Westman said the string was tied at neck-level to a motorcyclist. The string snapped as Mr Westman drove through in his car, but he immediately stopped to see what had happened. He said: ?I came to a grinding halt. I stopped to see what was going on, because it was all very confusing at the time.? He said he saw two teenagers standing at the side of the road and a girl of around the same age in the porch of a nearby house. Mr Westman said: ?It is very dangerous. Someone could have been killed. Luckily I was driving a car but I don?t like to think what might have happened if I had been on a motorbike.? The string had been tied between a parked van and a lamp-post around 20 yards after the junction on Station Road. He said thick string had been used which could have caused a major accident if a motorcyclist had driven into it. Mr Westman tried to contact police and then went to the station to report the incident. Sgt Richard Nettleship of Okehampton Police said: ?This is the first time we have had an incident like this. ?We are not treating this as criminal matter, more as a prank that could have gone horribly wrong.? He said police had traced the two youngsters involved, and warned them of how potentially lethal their actions had been.
