Yobs torch 100+ bikes

Over one hundred bikes have been torched in the last month in a spate of arson attacks in Italy; with police no closer to catching those responsible.

The attacks have happened mostly at night in Rome and are thought to be a disturbing fad among drunken Italian teenagers. Youths pour petrol on the bike or the bonnet of a car then flick a match on it as they ride off on a scooter.

Police initially thought the burnings were the work of one determined pyromaniac but after several arrests the attacks have continued and the blame is being laid squarely at the foot of gangs of yobs.

There has been a marked rise in binge drinking among Italian youth with gangs reported to have ditch bike-to-bike intercoms in favour of shouting at each other through loud hailers in the small hours of the morning.

It is apparently becoming popular to end a night’s fun by torching a bike on the smallest of the Italian back streets.