BIKERS beware! A cycle path-prowling panther has been spotted in York.

Cycling grandfather Terry Cullen, 60, nearly fell out of his saddle when his bike light picked out the large black cat alongside one of York's busiest roads.

"I live in Bishopthorpe and was cycling out on the Tadcaster Road when I noticed a shadow in the centre of the road," said Terry.

"A car turned towards Bishopthorpe and then this shadow moved and started running towards me in the centre of the road. It seemed to be the size of a black labrador, but leaner.

"The creature leapt from the road into a hedge - so I took my bright cycle lamp and shone it across.

"I was amazed to see a cat's eyes staring back at me. It was a big black cat like a panther.

"When the car passed I thought it would disappear but it stayed there staring at me for about a minute."

Terry, a keen cosmologist, was out last Thursday night studying the stars when the encounter happened.

He believes the cat is the same one dubbed the Beast of Ryedale, its territory being closer to York than people realise.

In the past two years, there have been at least a dozen sightings of mega-moggies, including a panther-like creature roaming gardens off Hull Road.

"The cat is obviously living much closer to York than people thought," Terry surmised.

"It has previously been seen out in the countryside but here it was very close to the city.

"There is a cycle path from York to Selby at one end of Bishopthorpe and it seems it has been using this."

Let's hope it doesn't get its paws on a bike, or we're all in trouble.

"I wouldn't want to alarm anyone," Terry says, "and I'm sure panthers are nocturnal animals so it is unlikely children will meet it.

"But I'm certain of what I saw."

u GCSE results get better every year. This is because, supporters say, the teaching improves every year and the pupils work harder every year.

Not so, counter the critics: the exams are getting easier every year and standards are falling every year.

As it is now 20 years since your Diarist's generation sat our O Levels, that means we must have been either a) 20 times lazier than the class of 2005, with teachers who were 20 times worse; or b) 20 times cleverer with far smarter teachers. But which is it?

With my schooling, I can't even make an educated guess.

AS folk arrive home from exotic summer holidays, they bring with them all sorts of souvenirs. One colleague brought back a Spanish newspaper, Info Aqui, which serves Nerja in Andulucia.

It is the English language version, which gains a great deal in translation. With our lack of language skills, the Diary does not mean to mock - we don't even know the Spanish for ol - but hopes you enjoy these headlines as much as we did...

"There has been an earthquake"

"The council charged the receipts after 5 years without passing them on"

"Two professors were paid homage to because of their retirement"

"The streets of town centre with remaining close all through the summer"

Updated: 11:38 Friday, August 26, 2005