Late-night revelers get caught doing the unexpected: fixing bike rack

A group of men hanging out in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, were caught on closed-circuit television cameras fixing a bike rack.

The footage shows the inebriated friends discussing a repair strategy before spending almost 13 minutes straightening the metal hook — the rack had been damaged weeks ago when a car reversed into it at 3 a.m.

"We recorded the whole sequence. At first two lads had a go and then encouraged others to help. At one point five were pushing and pulling. To look at the bike rack now, you would hardly know it had been damaged," Peter Hunn, principal community safety officer at Boston borough council, told the Guardian.

"The night-time economy is not all about bad lads doing bad things."

Councillor Stephen Woodliffe, from Boston Borough Council, praised their "remarkable" actions.

"Young people often get a bad press and this shows there are some who want to contribute to their society and do the right thing," he said.

"It shows young people acting in a very positive and constructive manner and shows they have a good and responsible attitude to what's happening in their town. Their actions were very public spirited and impressive."

Since the story made headlines, Woodliffe has been able to personally thank two of the good Samaritans for their actions.

He met with Dean Mason, 23 and Martin Griggs, 24, on Thursday.

Mayor Paul Kenny wants to reward their actions and is considering suitable recognition for Mason, Griggs and their friends, Simon McMillan, 23, and Dan Butler, also 23.

"I think we did a good job. I suppose the CCTV people and the police are more used to seeing people causing damage – especially after a night out," Mason told This is Lincolnshire.

"The feedback we have had has been ridiculous. Random people have sent us messages saying well done. It's come as a bit of a shock," Griggs said.

Griggs shared his version of the story:

"We are both cyclists and had noticed it hadn't been fixed for a few weeks, we were a bit inebriated, so decided to mend it," Griggs explained.

"We did it at the end of a night out, we had all probably had too much to drink and thought it would be a good idea and didn't think anymore of it afterwards," he added.

Mason said it wasn't the first time the friends have used a night out for good.

"It's not the first time we've helped out, we sometimes help drunk people get into taxis," Mason told Yahoo! UK.