Latest news with #motorbikes
BBC News
2 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Stolen motorbikes worth £350k found at Tilbury thanks to tracker
Police discovered about 20 motorbikes inside a shipping container thanks to a tracking Metropolitan Police said the haul at Tilbury docks in Essex, believed to have been stolen, was worth about £350, Taylor, the founder of the tracker company, told the BBC he was "absolutely elated" when the collection was said they were trying to trace the vehicle owners. Mr Taylor explained that his company, BikeTrac, had been tracing one bike for several weeks that had been stolen from Richmond in south-west was not expecting police to find more bikes at Tilbury on 21 May."When we started 15 years ago, the average recovery rate in the industry was about 40%... now it's over a 90% chance of getting your bike back if you've got a tracker on it."A Met Police spokesperson said no arrests had been made. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Isle of Man TT 2025: Ferry passenger numbers up as bike bookings drop
Passenger numbers on Steam Packet ferry sailings for this year's TT are up on last year but the number of motorbike bookings have fallen, the company's chief executive has said. Brian Thomson said 2025 bookings were about 4.5% up from 2024, when more than 37,800 passengers booked to travel to the island during the can arrive on the island via flights to the Isle of Man Airport or on ferries from Lancashire, Liverpool, Dublin and the numbers of bike bookings were down, Mr Thomson said he believed "more people are bringing their bikes in vans and on trailers", noting those vehicle bookings had risen. About 40,000 people were expected to arrive by boat throughout the TT fortnight, which runs from 26 May until 7 the final figure surpasses the 2024 total, it would become the third year in a row that figures surpass a previous high recorded in 2007, when 47,000 visited. While the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic, the firm has since "seen increased passenger numbers every year", Mr Thomson said, adding that the Manxman had enabled that with its increased is the second year the vessel has been operational for the event, with an extra 400 passenger spaces available than its predecessor the Ben my Chree, which is currently running freight Thomson said: "The pressure on freight is huge because everything that's coming for TT, all the equipment, the fairground, the TT village, all of that's come on the boat, and keeping the island supplied."Staffing is increased over the two weeks and extra sailings are fitted into the daily schedule, Mr Thomson explained. At the Isle of Man Airport passenger numbers have remained level at about 60,000 over the two-week period. Interim airport director Geoff Pugh said that figure, while consistent with last year's numbers, is about 19% lower than pre-pandemic levels in said: "We're still some way off the numbers back in 2019, but that's the same throughout the year as well, not just the TT."Two scanners are being replaced in the security area, upgrading them to meet standards set by the UK's Department for Transport. While one machine has now been upgraded, work has been paused during the TT fortnight with the second machine until after racing ends. Also, after the event has finished, new flooring will be fitted, walls painted and new seating installed in the departure lounge as part of ongoing refurbishment works. Mr Pugh said they were trying to make the airport "a welcoming place" and a motorsport display had been placed outside the departure lounge for the races."People will come through the airport and get their first taste of the motorsport vibe," he said. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Meet Sarah Lezito, the French farm girl who became Hollywood's top motorcycle stunt double with 30 million fans
EPERNAY, May 29 — When Sarah Lezito began messing around with motorbikes at 13 she never dreamed that one day she would become the stunt double of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. The French winemaker's daughter has stood in for Scarlett Johansson — twice — on Avengers 2 and Black Widow and appeared in a dozen films including The Batman. The 32-year-old is one of a very rare breed of motorcycle stuntwomen, with a massive social media following that helped bring her from the vineyards of France's Champagne region to Hollywood. AFP caught up with her on her own personal training track amid the otherwise tranquil vineyards near Epernay, the Champagne capital in northeast France. Barely astride her red chrome Kawasaki, she was off down the track performing stunts with disconcerting dexterity, her long brown hair trailing out of her helmet in the wind. 'This is kind of my temple,' she said after performing a series of gravity-defying tricks including standing with both feet on top of her 200-kilo (440-pound) machine and then flipping herself onto the handlebars. 'People think I'm working, but it mostly allows me to release all the pressure,' said Lezito, whose lucky charm — a plastic beaded bracelet — is wrapped around the throttle of her bike. 'Doing wheelies in a field' The woman now popularly known as the 'world stunt champion' (although there is no recognised world championship) began her acrobatics career young on the family holding near Epernay. 'I fell into stunts by watching videos,' she told AFP. 'No one in my family was in the motor sports world. My father only had an agricultural quad, not at all made for sports, but I started trying to do wheelies with it in a field.' Then she began posting her stunt videos on YouTube. The French winemaker's daughter has stood in for Scarlett Johansson — twice — on 'Avengers 2' and 'Black Widow'. — AFP pic But she seemed destined to follow her family into wine and viticulture until she posted a video of a medley of tricks one day in March 2013 called 'One out of Billion Girls'. 'It was thanks to this video that they noticed me,' she said. The 'they' being the team from the Hollywood blockbuster Avengers 2. A few months later, she abandoned her winemaking studies to fly to South Korea to perform Johansson's stunts in the movie. Because she 'adapted quickly' to stunt work, Lezito decided to go professional, appearing in several major movies, including Inferno, Millennium and The Batman with Zoe Kravitz. 'I met all the actresses I've doubled for,' she said. 30 million followers She has had her moments on some of the movies, although she insists she has never felt fear on those she does 'at home' for social media. 'I had to ride through flames for 'Bad Girl', a film which was never released. On paper, it was very simple, but I didn't have a helmet,' she recalled. And in the summer of 2023 while filming David Fincher's The Killer in Paris, starring Michael Fassbender, Lezito had a severe fall. 'I flew off the motorcycle, I wasn't going very fast but fast enough to land on my head and the helmet cracked.' She ended up in the emergency room with a head injury. It 'made her think', she told AFP, and she 'decided to take a break' and put her Hollywood career on hold. Lezito now devotes herself to her social media channels, posting videos of her stunts to her more than 30 million followers — including 9.5 million on Instagram, some two million more than MotoGP star Marc Marquez. Her garage doubles as a studio, with her YouTube trophies and gifts from her fans displayed on the walls. But it is also where she gets her hands dirty repairing her fleet of roughly 10 motorcycles. 'As long as I enjoy sitting on the motorcycle, I'll keep doing this,' she said. — AFP
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
Unruly Edinburgh youths in balaclavas speed through city, swerving past cars
A group of unruly balaclava-clad Edinburgh youths were seen riding on the back of motorbikes and scooters without helmets. Footage circulating on social media shows the gang cruising through the city, with a seeming disregard for safety. In the TikTok clip, uploaded by an unnamed account, a youth on a moped can be seen filming the group while they ride through Gilmerton. READ MORE: Dad's deathbed confession 'destroyed everything daughter knew about her life' READ MORE: Edinburgh braced for week of wind and rain as scorching heatwave comes to an end The group travel along Newtoft Street, by the community centre, before turning left onto Drum Street where they overtake a bus and motorist. The TikTok involved one youth riding a moped with two youths on a motorbike and two on a scooter. All of the young males can be seen wearing balaclavas without helmets as they travel at speed down Drum Street. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. At one stage, the moped rider points the camera at the other four members of the crew behind him while also steering the vehicle. The video was uploaded on Sunday May 25 and has been watched over 100 times. Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Russia's motorbike squads may be suicidal but they are hurting Ukraine
The roar of engines rumble across no man's land before a pack of Russian soldiers mounted on motorbikes emerge from a cloud of dust on the horizon. Ukrainian drones spring into action and the race is on. Without any cover, the riders have just minutes to zigzag across mines and craters to reach an enemy trench-line before they are picked off. The odds are not in their favour. Since they were trialled over a year ago, most motorbike attacks have ended in failure, with the majority of riders killed before they can reach their target. Yet, those that are successful solve a key tactical challenge in Ukraine: how to cross an open battlefield under constant surveillance from above – and fast. Russia's military is said to be planning to systematically integrate motorbikes across the front ahead of new offensives. Run, stab, escape Plenty of lives will be lost, but Russia's precious armoured vehicles will be saved – an apparent victory in the eyes of a military that has a steady stream of manpower, but is forced to draw on a rusting stockpile of Soviet-era tanks that have proven unsuitable for the battlefields of Ukraine. The first reports of motorbikes squads started to appear in April 2024. It began as an informal, ad hoc response to persistent drone strikes, which now kill or maim up to 70 per cent of all soldiers and destroy more armoured vehicles than all other weapons systems combined. Since autumn last year, there has been a considerable increase in bike-led attacks in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region and Donetsk to the east, where Russia largely abandoned armoured vehicle usage after suffering unsustainable losses in the winter of 2023 to 2024. The attacks are fast-paced, but deeply flawed. For months on end, drone footage has shown the remnants of such failures, which have turned the edges of fields and Ukrainian trench lines into a junk yard of twisted metal and burnt tyres. It is not just bikes, but all kinds of unconventional unarmoured vehicles turning up at the front, including quad bikes, civilian cars, Chinese-made buggies and electric scooters.
