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Tacks spread at Regent's Park on planned Cycle Superhighway 11 route

Cyclists suffered punctures on Outer Circle in Friday following previous incident elsewhere in royal park

Cyclists riding at London’s Regent’s Park have reported having their tyres punctured by tacks apparently spread on the road surface. Some believe the incidents may be linked to opposition to the proposed Cycle Superhighway 11, which is planned to pass along one of the roads involved.

On Friday morning, a tweet from the Twitter account of Regent’s Park Cyclists, the group set up to represent cyclists who ride and train on the roads within the park, said that there had been “two separate reports of Tacks being thrown down on the road” inside the park.

Group spokesman Justin McKie, quoted in the Ham & High, said: “Five or six cyclists got in touch with me to say they had tacks in their tyres and had spotted the tacks on the road.

“The cyclists themselves picked them up and sorted it. I reported it to the police and the Royal Parks. Luckily nobody was injured.”

The newspaper says that tacks were found on the Outer Circle – which is on the proposed CS11 route – at 7am on Friday, which followed a similar discovery on the Inner Circle eight days previously.

The Outer Circle is particularly popular among road cyclists as a unique location in Central London where laps can be ridden at times there is relatively little traffic around such as early on weekday mornings.

“Cyclists doing laps generally travel at around 20mph, so getting a puncture which causes loss of control will quite often leave the rider on the floor and most likely injured,” said Mr McKie. “If that’s in front of a car, then that’s the big concern.”

The results of a consultation into CS11, which is scheduled to run from the Swiss Cottage gyratory in north west London to Oxford Circus, were published in March this year, with two in three respondents saying they backed the scheme.

> Respondents to CS11 consultation back plans by two to one

Opponents of the scheme, which Transport for London (TfL) is due to make a final decision on in the coming weeks, claim it will displace motor traffic to areas such as Hampstead.

In September, a crowdfunding drive was launched to finance a judicial review of the scheme, despite the final plans not having been revealed yet. Currently, a little less than £5,000 of the £150,000 target has been raised on Just Giving.

Earlier this month they held a demonstration against the plans outside Hampstead Theatre, with people in favour of the infrastructure holding a counter-protest there.

> Hampstead demo and judicial review planned against CS11

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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12 comments

Avatar
burtthebike | 7 years ago
1 like

I think more research is needed into the reading habits of bicycle hating people.  Are they all Daily Mail readers?

Avatar
emishi55 replied to burtthebike | 7 years ago
0 likes

burtthebike wrote:

I think more research is needed into the reading habits of bicycle hating people.  Are they all Daily Mail readers?

 

Certainly rings true with the denialism and delusion that has accompanied anything that benefits the environment, reduces climate change emissions, and threatens the status of the main (car-using) in-group.

 

 

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WillRod | 7 years ago
1 like

What the hell is wrong with these people? I thought deliberate broken bottles on cycle paths was bad enough but tacks?!

What if a dog stood on one? Or what if a cyclist had a tyre blowout and lost control in front of a lorry? 

Perhaps we cyclists could design a broom that sweeps the road infront of our wheels? 

 

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Nick T | 7 years ago
1 like

Residents of the outer circle are generally more opposed to those reckless cyclists going pointlessly round in circles than they are the 2 ton vehicles taking a shortcut. They are also some that are very much against the proposed closure of some road gates before certain hours to restrict the rat runners, as this will make it more difficult for their driver to reach their home.

Avatar
oldstrath replied to Nick T | 7 years ago
2 likes

Nick T wrote:

Residents of the outer circle are generally more opposed to those reckless cyclists going pointlessly round in circles than they are the 2 ton vehicles taking a shortcut. They are also some that are very much against the proposed closure of some road gates before certain hours to restrict the rat runners, as this will make it more difficult for their driver to reach their home.

Seriously? A 'reckless cyclist' (whatever that is ) is more scary than 2 tonnes of just about controlled metal? Bloody weird view of risk some people have.

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emishi55 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Surely the anti-CS11 mob would not dream of doing such a thing?

 

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brooksby | 7 years ago
2 likes

"Toffs near Regents Park act the same as the Chavs of South Wales" shocker - read all about it!

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wycombewheeler replied to brooksby | 7 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

"Toffs near Regents Park act the same as the Chavs of South Wales" shocker - read all about it!

Unlikely to be residents who would probably appreciate their road not being a rat run.

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jestriding | 7 years ago
1 like

Do you not have Z Nails in the UK.? It's a lot more inconvienient fixing lorry and car tyres than it is a bike tyre...

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srchar replied to jestriding | 7 years ago
1 like

jestriding wrote:

Do you not have Z Nails in the UK.? It's a lot more inconvienient fixing lorry and car tyres than it is a bike tyre...

I feel the need to carry a bag of them in my right hand. With a hammer for some plausible deniability, and/or self-defence. What's that? My bag has a hole in it? Oh, I hadn't noticed.

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wycombewheeler | 7 years ago
1 like

I recall the army used to exercise their horses on the outer circle. I assume they still do. Bet the tack droppers didn't consider that.

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oceandweller | 7 years ago
0 likes

Fight back! Go tubeless & laugh at tacks on the road.

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