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Tour o the Borders (via Vimeo).jpgFarmer who stopped Borders sportive says the event is "a waste of police time"
One of the men alleged to have held up and attacked riders taking part in the Tour o’ the Borders sportive has claimed that he was attempting to stage a peaceful protest but was grabbed by a “bearded hooligan”. He also suggested that the men he was with were shoulder-charged by other cyclists.
A number of riders reported men with sticks blocking the Tour o’ the Borders route at around the 26km mark last Sunday. Several said that the men had swung at cyclists.
Deadline News reports that 60-year-old John Marshall has admitted to being the “ring leader” of the group of farmers.
“Four of us organised it. I don’t want to name the other three but I was the ringleader. We waited until the police bike and tour car had gone round.
“We blocked off the road and had draining rods in our hands but they were basically touching the ground so we weren’t appearing violent. It was meant to be a peaceful demonstration so they would stop and we could have dialogue.”
He said: “We tried to shout at them that we were pedestrians and one of them shouted ‘morning’ thinking we were there to support.
“I started to say we were pedestrians again but they started to push through. Two of us got shoulder-barged and I got grabbed so I shouted back at the guy who I could only describe as a bearded hooligan.
“From what I saw nobody touched the ground, nobody was pushed except for ourselves. For them to say what they have – I hope they can back it up.”
Marshall believes that motorists are “held up every day of the year” by cyclists and sees the road closures for the sportive as an added insult.
“We’ve been getting more and more abuse from them when we’re just trying to go about our daily lives, and for the cyclists to suddenly shut off the road is a bit of an indignity as they get the police to monitor the event and it’s basically a waste of police time.”
He says the police investigation into the confrontation is also a waste of time for “what is basically a storm in a teacup.”
Nevertheless, he remains unhappy with the event’s impact.
“I had to have words with the organisers last year because they’d taken up the whole junction – you should still be able to get two articulated lorries round it side by side so to shut off the whole junction last year was regrettable.”
He also questioned the nature of the sportive.
“The other thing is that they were racing – it’s supposed to be a ‘tour’ and it even says on the pamphlet ‘this is not a race’. If they were just touring they would’ve been able to stop and have dialogue.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- ktache 45 min 26 sec ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 1 hour 41 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 1 hour 48 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 1 hour 52 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 2 hours 38 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 2 hours 47 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 3 hours 55 min ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 6 hours 35 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 6 hours 52 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 7 hours 18 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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77 comments
If nothing else, I would question the veracity of anyones claims that they were protesting peacefully when they turned up with sticks.
With all the land they own, you'd think they'd be able to get from A to B using it and not the road...
Obvious question to both these points: Why?
Road closures are not approved at the drop of a hat, which is why most sportives aren't on closed roads and most running events will either not be on closed roads or only close one lane where possible. If the farmers can prove their livelihood is seriously affected by the road closure they should share this with the authorities, not block the roads for a 'dialogue' which consists of moaning at the participants for being 'the problem'. And if agricultural vehicles have a complete right to ignore road closures, where do you draw the line? Surely delivery drivers or road hauliers could claim similar detriment to the operation of their business? How about taxi drivers, or plumbers, or pizza delivery men?
And why should residents have a right to a veto? They should certainly have a say and have their views genuinely considered, but a veto would be absurd. How many objections would be required for a veto? 50% of residents? 10%? 1 person? That's what the term veto suggests, after all.
it's an interesting point - where I live there's a 20 mph limit, but as the road has been a backstreet cut through from the main road for many years, people regularly exceed 20mph, skidding round 90 degree corners, and also can become very impatient sounding their horns at 3am in a residential area etc...
I myself have considered going out and having a "peaceful dialogue" - armed with various tools -and have imagined the various outcomes to such scenarios - clearly, the adage to avoid shitting on one's own doorstep has given me cause to ponder the best response in this case.
I know quite a few farmers. Most are anti-cycling except for the few smallholders that have enough spare time to actually ride themselves.
Most older farmers are grumpy old sods at the best of times.
Yes they want to drive around during harvest to get the crops in, but they often leave mud on the road causing havoc or they try to squeeze last cyclists before they get a chance to pull over. Several round my way remove footpath signs and then shout at you for trespassing (even though I am on a definite footpath)
Farmers, car drivers and also cyclists need to remember that they don't have exclusive use of the road, especially farmers as tractors don't pay road tax!
google finds plenty of agricultural shows in september - memory says they cause traffic problems for people like me from the city who have no idea about country ways
http://www.stackyard.com/orgs/agricultural_shows/dates.html
looks more like confrontation than protest - well done to those taking part for just ignoring
The slightly amusing thing is that once he loses his EU subsidies and whatever it is that he produces is uncompetetive in the free market of international trade, then his farm will be sold at a knock down price to some ex investment banker and his wife, looking to escape the big city rat race and start a B&B business catering for recreational cyclists.
Have you done much farming? If you've got a 48hr window to get your crops in and you lose 6hrs of said window then it can be highly disruptive. You might not think that we need to consider the needs of the local community but a quick glance at the shambles that is Velo Birmingham shows what happens when you don't. If this event really did coincide with the farmer's harvest then they do have a genuine grievance as the financial costs associated with the disruption could be huge.[/quote]
I may be being obtuse but how do you harvest sheep?
I may be being obtuse but how do you harvest sheep?
[/quote]
They weren't farming, they were standing in a road with some sticks.
This chap is clearly wrong.
A waste of police time would be ,for example, checking that all 'the man with the stick's' untaxed tractors are 'used for short journeys (not more than 1.5 kilometres) on the public road between land that’s occupied by the same person.'
Report here saying that they did attack cyclists and that one was injured. I do hope the police will be treating this as a premeditated violent crime.
http://www.scotsman.com/regions/dumfries-borders/idiots-beat-us-with-sti...
Are we sure he was a farmer? There's plenty of other cyclists who detest the idea of sportives.
Even if they are sheep farmers (I haven't seen that stated anywhere) they may still have hay or similar to harvest.
More likely silage, which is unlikely to be time pressured realistically.
The point surely is that these guys are, at best, trying to put their interests ahead not only of the riders, but of the many people who probably do support the ride's existence, either because they will directly benefit or because they want the area to be well regarded.
As an example!e, the area I live in hosts every year a thing called Thunder In The Glens ( how I wish the last word was Strath), in which a thousand or so old men in leather ride their Harleys up and down the minor roads for three days, interrupted by beer drinking. Effectively I'm barred from the road for three days. But if I went out and belaboured them with a large stick, or laid planks with six inch nails hammered through them in protest, would you try to 'understand', or would you just expect the police to lock me up as a dangerous nutter?
Some comment from the event organisers:
It's worrying that Pedal for Scotland was affected by potentially dangerous 'protest' action too. Legal action against this sort of activity is now overdue. Those responsible don't seem to realise or care about the potential dangers, and they discuss their activities like it's their legitimate right to behave in this way, or a bit of insignificant mischief against cyclists - who they see as an irrelevant nuisance.
Let's not forget Tour O The Borders brings well over £350k to the local economy each year - and that's not counting repeat or other visits by cyclists inspired by the event. Tour O The Borders is also the Scottish Borders' biggest mass participation sports event.
The road these guys protested on was closed for 3h 40m in total, early on a Sunday morning, and was opened 40 mins ahead of the advertised closure schedule. There was no harvest going on (according to info from other local farmers) and no-one in that area had made prior contact with us (the organisers) to discuss a grievance or discuss access issues before the event.
We trust the Police will prosecute if they can, and also the community will recognise the people responsible for what they are. Anti-cycling aggression has no place either here in the Scottish Borders or anywhere else, but some education seems to be needed to make that clear to some parts of society.
No different than any motorist with more than two wheels complaining about others creating traffic.
Says motorists are “held up every day of the year” by cyclists and sees road closures as “an indignity”
Uh? I say 'Cyclists are held up every day of the year by motorists and see motorists killing, maiming, and polluting as an indignity'.
Why is there always an assumtion that people in motor vehicles somehow 'own' the road and people on bikes are some sort of hindrance and don't have any real right to be there?
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