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Three-year-old banned from riding by Dagenham housing association

Fears young girl on Barbie bike might damage residents' cars ...

A three-year-old girl has been banned from riding her Barbie bike in a quiet cul-de-sac by a Dagenham housing association because of fears the tearaway toddler might damage residents’ cars.

Tracy Osborne-Facey was showing her granddaughter Lilly how to ride with stabilisers when an officer from London and Quadrant (L&Q) housing association told her riding bikes was banned in the street.

Tracy told the Barking and Dagenham Post's Sara Odeen-Isbister that it was one of many “over-the-top” rules enforced in the street by L&Q. The association said it had instituted a “no balls or bikes” policy after complaints from residents who believed their homes and cars could be damaged by children playing outside.

Tracy, 43, said: “I could understand stopping ball games maybe, but they’ve basically banned children from playing outside. But it’s not just the children. We adults are not allowed to congregate or talk outside either. I got a letter once telling me off for chatting to a neighbour outside for about 20 minutes.

“Others have received letters too about all kinds of things which they apparently shouldn’t be doing.

“The officer who told me Lilly couldn’t ride her bike said I should expect a letter about it soon. It’s ridiculous.

“I realise people want to live somewhere peaceful, but the children that play here are all under 12 and not antisocial at all.”

A housing association spokesman said: “L&Q strives to create places where people want to live but unfortunately due to the concern of the local residents we had to enforce a ‘no bikes no ball games’ policy around the area.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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54 comments

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louear | 10 years ago
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looking at streetmap, its full of cars parked on the pavement. Is this not illegal? I don't think L&Q will tell them off for that.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=RM8+3LF&ll=51.554114,0.137436&spn=0.013...

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Simon E | 10 years ago
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I bet it's because all the cars are parked (illegally) on the ****ing pavement!

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madhouse | 10 years ago
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Looks like a horrible place to live, can't even teach the girl to ride in the garden as I doubt any of them have more than a postage stamp.

Maybe we should have a whip-round and buy said 3 year old a drum kit, or a one-man-band outfit? That'd please the fun police!

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jellysticks | 10 years ago
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What a bunch of absolute f*cking c*nts. Seriously. I mean please, just f*ck off and get a life. As others have said, if your car means that much to you, and you'd prefer three-year olds not to have healthy, beneficial fun and exercise, you have some terrifying priorities, a badly skewed sense of community and most likely a trumped-up sense of your own importance. F*cking w*nkers

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jellysticks | 10 years ago
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Wow that escalated as I typed. I mean it though!

*Retreats from computer, does nothing about situation, hopes that getting angry anonymously somehow does something*

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jellysticks replied to Gennysis | 10 years ago
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paulmcmillan wrote:

Instead, what about banning cars in the cul de sac over fears that they might damage 3 year olds who are riding their bikes?

An excellent point, but one I fear will not have entered the thick skulls of the ignorant burghers of the housing association

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BigBear63 replied to CotterPin | 10 years ago
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CotterPin wrote:

What about someone who lives there and rides a bike to get about?

 13 They've banned children not adults

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BigBear63 replied to jellysticks | 10 years ago
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jellysticks wrote:

What a bunch of absolute f*cking c*nts. Seriously. I mean please, just f*ck off and get a life. As others have said, if your car means that much to you, and you'd prefer three-year olds not to have healthy, beneficial fun and exercise, you have some terrifying priorities, a badly skewed sense of community and most likely a trumped-up sense of your own importance. F*cking w*nkers

 24 Dagenham = Barking = BNP = Nazis

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Peterneater | 10 years ago
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That's just embarrassing. Makes me glad I'm Canadian and NOT living in the UK. Really? How stuffy and prudish do you have to be to BAN children from playing outside?! Terrible.

The people that live in this neighbourhood should be ashamed of themselves.

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jacknorell | 10 years ago
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What a hell hole to live in.

I'd contribute to a moving costs fund for her family!

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PhilRuss replied to james-o | 10 years ago
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james-o wrote:

"L&Q strives to create places where people want to live"

start striving in a different direction.

[[[[ Nah---it's a misprint. Should read, "strives to create places where people want to die".
P.R.

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RPK replied to behemothprocycling | 10 years ago
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I don't think H&S has anything to do with it - it's purely so their precious hunks of bank-owned metal don't get damaged.

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northstar replied to Peterneater | 10 years ago
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Peterneater wrote:

That's just embarrassing. Makes me glad I'm Canadian and NOT living in the UK. Really? How stuffy and prudish do you have to be to BAN children from playing outside?! Terrible.

The people that live in this neighbourhood should be ashamed of themselves.

It's nothing to do with being in the UK, could happen anywhere, just a selfish nimby attitude.

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northstar replied to freespirit1 | 10 years ago
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freespirit1 wrote:

After the scuff on my car's paintwork cost the thick end of £600 to sort out it is not such a small deal, really.

BTW that was caused by someone leaning their bicyclcle against my car in Leith Hill car park. Wouldn't have minded but they could have used the bike racks!!!

LOL, troll tastic perhaps as there are no bike racks as far as i'm aware in any Leith Hill car parks...

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daddyELVIS | 10 years ago
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A reflection of wider society, I'm afraid.

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freespirit1 | 10 years ago
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But there are in some. Even if none are present that does not give anyone the right to damage someone elses property.

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a.jumper | 10 years ago
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I had my car damaged by drunks once and kids bikes three times in five years, then struggled to get insurance because all incidents coined against my insurance, as the drinks and children didn't stop to exchange details! That was in an edge of estate car park, so if there was a car park, I'd agree with banning cycling in it, but not the whole estate! Over the top L&Q!

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CotterPin replied to BigBear63 | 10 years ago
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BigBear63 wrote:
CotterPin wrote:

What about someone who lives there and rides a bike to get about?

 13 They've banned children not adults

In the article above it says "No bikes, no ball games." I have not seen what signs are posted at this particular location but I have seen similar signs elsewhere. I imagine,
the intention, reprehensible as it is, is probably to ban children cycling, but the wording references just bikes not the rider. I would agree that if you cycled home from work to this estate you would have no problems. However, in my opinion, the wording does reflect an ingrained attitude that cycling is something children do and adults grow out of it to do grown-up things like drive cars. We have a lot of work to do in this country to get over that attitude.
Stephen

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Tomarchard | 10 years ago
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Funking tragic really. Ban cars, not bikes. And what a soulless dump of a place to live.

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Paul M | 10 years ago
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Striving to create a place to live"?

Sounds more like a place to die, to me.

I lived in a place like that for 8 years - only difference being that we owned our houses. Still had interfering busybodies telling us how to run our lives. When we first saw the place we marvelled at how tidy everything seemed. We soon, but too late, realised why.

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podgethepuffer | 10 years ago
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No doubt there are plenty of examples of bikes being damaged by cars but I don't suppose that's an issue of note.

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Matt eaton | 10 years ago
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Just checked the highway code for a clue on what the actual rules are; sadly no guidance for how very young cyclists should behave, where they should ride or what their rights are.

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hood | 10 years ago
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f***ing disgusting.

stay indoors and dont make a sound is pretty much what they are saying!

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cidermart | 10 years ago
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That is the trouble of building high density housing on a small space of land the cars have to park on the pavement otherwise fire engines and ambulances cannot get through, piss poor design by a f***wit for maximum revenue. This also highlights the ‘true’ corporate message of L & Q and that is kids don’t earn money so can f*** off regardless of whether or not they cycle. The best option is don’t live in any L & Q properties.

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