A cyclist has been advised to grab the metal of her bike every time she rides under an overhead power line because it gives her a severe electric shock.  Laura Pike took up cycling after she broke her kneecap as she was forced to give up running because of the injury.

She rides a regular route around her home village of Iwade, near Sittingbourne, Kent, but was puzzled when she kept getting a jolt through her body.

Now she's been advised to hold the metal of her bike so that she's in electrical contact the whole time and no electrical charge can build up in her body.

Ms Pike put the shock down to the way she sat on the bike however even after changing the position the problem still continued and left her confused until she realised it was happening at the exact same place every time.

She said: 'The shock goes through my whole body. It starts at the back of the top of my legs, around the saddle area, and makes me jump out of my seat.

'I must be charged for about five seconds. The only way I can describe it is, it feels like your body is being pinched between two bars of metal.'

Laura believes she isn’t the only one that has experienced these powerful shocks as dog walker Sharon Naylar had a similar jolt which walking her dogs near the same power lines.

She said: 'Because I was walking, it took me longer to get through it so I would be hopping like a wally. When it rained it was worse.

'It’s like pins and needles around the ankle area or a bee sting, but lots at the same time.

The dogs never showed any signs of being affected by it but I was worried it wasn’t safe. Now I walk them down by the river.'

The national grid released a statement and they believe that the jolts are not harmful but cyclists are advised to grasp the metal on their bike to prevent a shock. The electric fields can charge up objects and when they touch each other they can discharge a small spark something very similar to a static shock.

'They do not indicate that there is any safety problem or hazard with the power line but just to be absolutely sure, we sent an engineer on Tuesday to inspect the pylons in question to check there are no problems.