A cyclist caught riding his bike in Mansfield town centre, where cycling is banned under a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), has been ordered by a court to pay almost £600 in fines and costs, with Cycling UK saying that it reinforces the perception that “people on bikes aren’t welcome” there.
Christopher Cobb, aged 22, was spotted by a council neighbourhood warden heading on his mountain bike from Market Place to the Nottinghamshire town’s library, reports the Mansfield Chad.
He got off his bike after being told to do so, but 10 minutes later the same warden saw him riding on West Gate and given a fixed penalty notice in the sum of £100.
After failing to pay it, Cobb was summonsed to appear at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court but failed to appear and, with no plea entered, was fined £440 plus £100 costs and a victim surcharge of £44.
Mansfield District Council’s portfolio holder for safer communities, Councillor Bill Drewett, commented: “Cycling has been prohibited in the pedestrianised area of Mansfield town centre to protect pedestrians.
“There are alternative routes around the town centre or cyclists can act in a responsible fashion and get off and push their bicycles through the town centre.
“This cyclist had the opportunity to pay a much lower fixed penalty of £100 but chose to ignore it which is why he is now facing a much higher penalty as a result of the case having to go to court.”
Introduced last year in a bid to combat anti-social cycling, Mansfield’s PSPO received national attention in August after road.cc reported that Stage 4 of last month’s Tour of Britain was scheduled to start in the part of the town where cyclists are banned, with BBC News among the outlets that subsequently reported on it.
> Council that bans cyclists from town centre … hosts Tour of Britain stage start in town centre
Last year, Cycling UK, acting through the cyclists’ defence fund, said it was supporting an appeal by six cyclists against the PSPO in what is believed to be the only legal challenge yet brought against a local authority in connection with the controversial legislation.
That appeal has not yet been heard, with the charity telling road.cc that the case has been adjourned since the Home Office were revising their guidance on PSPOs, and the circumstances in which they should be made, and because Mansfield Council were prepared to consult again, with a view to varying the PSPO.
That consultation has now been launched in response to the revised Home Office guidelines. It remains open until 25 October and Cycling UK is currently drawing up its response.
The council proposes changing the times the PSPO is in effect from 24 hours a day to between 6pm and 7am, as well as reducing the area to which it applies.
Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, told road.cc: “A fine of nearly £600 for cycling in the town centre sends a very simple message: people on bikes aren’t welcome in Mansfield, unless of course the Tour of Britain’s coming to town for a stage start, when all of sudden cyclists aren’t a menace and a danger to pedestrians, but can be welcomed with open arms.
“Hopefully Mansfield Council will reflect on the reputation they’ve created for themselves as the town that doesn’t like cyclists, and consider the revised Home Office guidance on PSPOs during its new consultation on proposed variations to the existing bicycle ban,” he continued.
“They might like to ask themselves whether they’re really tackling anti-social behaviour, or just imposing a ban because they think they can.”
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81 comments
"One has a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws" MLK said that. He was always riding his bike in town centres I reckon.
Anyway do these neighbourhood warden chaps have the power to detain, or to order you to identify yourself?
Why on earth would you think that Wardens should be able to pick and chose what restrictions to enforce?
I for one do not want a Warden deciding not to enforce parking fines for cars parking on double yellows in a cycle lane because they believe it's "a bullshit rule implemented for bullshit reasons"
I have a lot of respect for Wardens, they do a job in very bad circumstances and get no recognition for it. I would like to see more Wardens out there enforcing traffic regulations and making it harder for drivers (and other road users) to ignore the rules that are there for a reason.
*Edit
I may be confusing Neighbourhood Wardens with Traffic Wardens (as I am not sure what the difference is or if there even is one)
*Edit part II
I was confusing the roles as a Neighbourhood Warden seems to deal with community wellbeing and issues fixed penalty notices for antisocial behaviour such as dropping litter, graffiti and dog fouling. So a better analogy would be, should a Neighbourhood Warden be allowed to not enforce graffiti laws because he is a Banksy fan? My opinion is no, because it is not their role to pick and chose which rules to enforce, it is their role to enforce them. If anyone has issue with this then they should take it up with the relevent authority and not bully the person trying to make a difference to the community.
Having been to Mansfield a few times I've always thought it was an unfriendly dump. This confirms it.
I'll do my best to avoid it in future. There are much nicer places to visit and spend my hard-earned.
Pretty silly to be cycling in a toilet anyway.
Because the law is ALWAYS right, as Mrs Pankhurst used to say.
I don't.
I'm second-guessing the type of unemployable little Hitler that applies to be a warden in the first place, then continues in the job, unquestioningly enforcing the rules that other social deviants in the local council have come up with.
The rule is horseshit. The warden is a genital.
The alternative route is the inner ring built back in the 70's when the idea of getting around on a bike had no place in the modern world of the Austin Allegro.
Which is sensible, and actually follows the (home office ?) guidance brought in a decade or more ago.
New around here are you ?
Look, as much as RLJer's annoy me to a minor degree for the same reason, the fact remains that the same usual twats will find the same usual shite to throw at cyclists despite how few offenders there are. Likewise the same old 'road' tax, insurance, blah fecking blah. I've had arguments on my local area forum with these same sort of knobbers and all they see is 'arrogant' cylsts for daring to be cluttering up 'their' road.
*sigh*
Home office guidance. Helps if you read it, it was released when fixed penalty fines for riding on the pavement were brought in.
The reasoning behind the introduction of the PSPO was to remove a minority of individuals intent on causing trouble whilst in possession of a bike from a shared user space . The PSPO cycling restriction banned cyclists from this area 24 hours per day 7 days per week
The effect was to force responsible commuter cyclists onto a busy ring road with little or no cycling provision whilst pedestrian areas at commuter times remained deserted. Induviduals intent on causing trouble whilst in possession of a bike ignored the PSPO.
Mansfield District council are currently out to consultation proposing the no cycling restriction is relaxed to allow cycling before 6.00am and after 7.00 pm. Not sure how this will benefit the average commuter?
The ironies:-
a) Vehicle access for loading and unloading is permitted Sunday to Monday all day and before 10.00am and after 4.00pm Thursday to Saturday.
b) Vehicle access for persons with mobility difficulties is still allowed
c) The PSPO was recently withdrawn when the Tour of Britain stage was started within the PSPO area. This means that cyclists are welcome in a Mansfield but you must be a member of a professional cycling team to be welcomed!
d) Mansfield has recently been awarded the title of the most obesee area in Nottinghamshire and is regularly in the top 5 areas in the country for adult obesity.
The facts!!!
are you sure? - the above article says, "The council proposes changing the times the PSPO is in effect from 24 hours a day to between 6pm and 7am..." which makes more sense, even though it's some unsociable hours for those wardens to work through
the article is wrong. The PSPO restriction would prevent cycling between 6.00am and 7.00 pm. The councils opinion is that there is busy pedestrian traffic in the 13 hours between 6.00am and 7.00pm.
Leicester may be a modern city, but it has a disinterested police force.
I have exchanged several letters with Lord Bach, Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner to try and figure out how I can submit footage of close passes. During this exchange, I was told I could report online. This is not true as when I tried, I was told "this is not classified as a crime under National Crime Recording Standards" so they ignored the report.
I was also told that the close pass initiative was carried out during the summer because there are more cyclists on the road. They seemed to have missed the point that it's not cyclists but traffic that carry out close passes, and during the summer traffic levels drop significantly. They didn't find a single instance of a close pass so have concluded that there isn't a close pass problem in Leicester and so won't allocate any resources to policing the problem.
So the videos I have of motorists getting too close, going on the right-hand side of keep left bollards to overtake me, emerging from junctions into my path, and swearing at me for simply existing (many of whom drive without MOT and/or Tax) must be a figment of my imagination then
Uninterested. Having a disinterested police force is pretty important.
They did not reach for the fine book straight away which would indicate that they are not some little Hitler. Another part of their job according to the .gov website is "telling the council and other authorities about environmental problems" so it would seem that questioning the rules and status quo is actually a part of their role.
You appear from all your comments that you are just being a closed minded, self opinionated bully.
*Also, if he is unemployable how can he be employed in this role????
Yes, really. Roughly speaking:
Uninterested = don't care.
Disinterested = making decisions unbiased by the prospect of personal gain.
You have fallen into the common misconception trap. As the OED will reveal, Distinterestd also means "Having or feeling no interest in something; uninterested."
Not good.
Well well well. Interesting, if you'll pardon the slightly weak pun. I didn't know that. I was of course writing originally without the benefit of the OED in front of me, but I just went and looked it up and you are indeed correct.
However, my copy (it's the Shorter OED, but that will have to do) also has a footnote pointing out that the meaning you have given is now (ie in modern times, not historically) commonly regarded as incorrect. I think in light of this I'll stick to having it my way. But amusing to know that nothing is ever as clear cut as you think.
Have a nice day.
What a twonk.
Leaving aside the fact that this guy was an utter cockwomble for not doing as he was told in the first place, I'm assuming that the fines for cyclists aren't anywhere near in proportion for parking fines in Mansfield?
I find the "NFI" generally covers all angles of the Dibble.
U2
I don't think that issuing fines is what Hitler was most well known for...
Indeed, his lightness of foot in a foxtrot and his mastery of watercolour brushwork are still talked about to this very day.
.
75832550d7383beab9ca15d12ff6effb--transportation-posters-bike-illustration.jpg
I am amused by contributors who write expressions like "motorists aren't going to treat us with respect unless x, y and z".
This misses the truth. Motorists aren't going to treat people on bikes with respect. They just aren't. The behaviour of anyone under any circumstance has no impact on this fact.
Whereas if we rode around like drivers do ie speeding/tailgating/using phones etc/and jumping red lights they would?
It is ok to cycle through the pedestrianized center of one of the most prosperous shopping towns in the UK - Kingston.
Unemployable in a proper job where you're paid to use judgement and not just follow rules belched up by fat, jealous motons.
We disagree. You've been personal. I haven't. And I'm closed-minded, self-opinionated and a bully?
You're a warden, aren't you...
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