It's two years since a story which had everyone talking across Chester, just who was pinching the love locks from the Queen's Park Suspension Bridge?
A Chronicle reader had filmed the killjoy using bolt cutters to remove the declarations of love.
Luke Moore and a friend paid a visit to the bridge after hearing that more than 70 padlocks, which had been placed there by couples as a declaration of love, had mysteriously disappeared.
When they got there the pair were shocked to witness a man standing at the bridge with large lock cutters, attempting to remove the remaining padlocks.
Luke, 31, a freelance composer from Hoole, described the man as ‘middle-aged, well dressed’ and speaking with a southern accent.
He shot a video on his phone which we have posted with this story. The picture quality is poor but there is a clear audio of the exchange with the man.
When he asked what the man was doing, he became ‘hostile’ and said he had ‘a right’ to cut the locks off the bridge as a Chester citizen because they were ‘defacing’ the bridge.
Luke told us at the time: “He began putting the locks in his pocket and walked off in the direction of Handbridge before throwing the locks on to the ground and into people’s gardens.
“I like to keep my finger on the pulse of all goings on in Chester so I thought I would film it because it’s become a much talked about issue and also in case the man became violent. I believed he was committing a criminal act.
“Yes, you take your own risk by putting the locks out there but you don’t expect this.
“I explained to him it was a lovely thing to do and it meant something to many people, and he just said it was vandalism, but isn’t taking it upon himself to remove them classed as criminal damage?
“The whole thing was just so surreal,” Luke added.
“To get uptight about a bridge that you don’t even own is ridiculous.
“The whole thing seemed to be purely motivated by his anger that he thought it was vandalism.
“When something like this happens it’s like someone’s declaring war on love - I don’t think it’s fair.
“I’m a bit of an old romantic and I'm quite fond of the padlocks, even if it’s not everyone's cup of tea.
“But I don't think it's any individual's place to destroy other people's property, they mean a lot to so many people,” he said.
Cheshire Police never caught the man featured in the video clip.
Cheshire West and Chester Council eventually acted on the love locks, as they began monitoring the bridge and removing them saying they were a potential health and safety hazard.
From time to time the locks have reappeared, but have been regularly removed by the council.
Did you ever place a love lock on the bridge? What do you think about the issue? Let us know in the comments below
