Bristol tough guy hospitalised after assault from savage city centre seagull

You wouldn’t want to mug off a man like Allan Plaister. He’s a typical British hard man: six foot tall, weighing in at fourteen stone, working as a security guard.

But in this never-ending summer of seagull terror, even a man with these tough guy credentials can become just another face in a seemingly endless parade of victims.

Allan, 48, was cycling home from work through the city centre when a gull attacked him. The ruthless bird’s aerial assault sent fourteen stone Allan flying, and resulted in a spell on crutches.

The attack left Allan on crutches

The father of four, from Wilder Street in St Paul’s, says the experience has left him nervous of birds, gulls in particular.

He told the Bristol Post: “It was absolutely massive. When you get up close to a bird coming at you like that, it is absolutely humongous.”

“I was riding my mountain bike home from a day shift at the Harbourside, about 6.35pm. I was outside Turtle Bay restaurant in the city centre. I was riding along and this bird just flew down and dived onto my chest. It took me off my bike and I was left sprawling in the road.”

Allan called his partner immediately after the attack, to let her know what happened, then called an ambulance. After a check by paramedics he was taken to Accident and Emergency at Bristol Royal Infirmary and remained at hospital for three hours.

He said: “My partner brought some money down so I could get a taxi home. She then wheeled my bike home, she has been a diamond.”

Allan has been left shocked by the experience. He said: “It has made me quite nervous of seagulls – and birds in general. What happened was something straight out of a Hitchcock film. There was no reason for it. I think there should be more culls – it is getting out of hand.”

Bristol City Council is set to spend £200,000 to examine new ways of controlling the gulls who live in the city centre. Plans could include bringing in even bigger birds of prey to take out their bothersome avian cousins.

A council spokesman said there was a ten-year management programme aimed at reducing the gull population by replacing their eggs with substitutes.

The spokesman said: “There are no quick fixes to the gull issue and there are limitations to what action we can take due to licence conditions, but Bristol City Council is one of the few local authorities taking such action.”