Longsight police have come in for a hammering on Twitter after criticising a cyclist for riding on the pavement despite “millions spent on cycle lanes in Manchester”.
Government guidance is that cyclists may ride on the footway provided they do so considerately, and that police officers need to exercise discretion.
£millions spent on cycle lanes in Manchester but some still chose the pavement endangering others. Cyclist strongly advised #cyclesafe pic.twitter.com/93tUTvjTMM
— GMP Longsight (@GMPLongsight) February 15, 2017
Many were quick to point out that a development such as the segregated cycle lane on Wilmslow Road is all well and good if you actually happen to be heading somewhere it leads to.
@GMPLongsight if you’d taken photo next to new bike lanes this would make sense. Otherwise you’re just showing most roads still aren’t safe
— Katy Holliday (@KatyHolliday) February 16, 2017
Others made comparisons with motorists.
£Millions spent on motorways in England but some still choose the pavement endangering others @GMPLongsight pic.twitter.com/h46Jz4jNGZ
— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) February 16, 2017
The ‘millions being spent’ element was unsurprisingly a popular theme.
@GMPLongsight Millions spent on roads in Manchester but some still choose the pavement endagering others…https://t.co/86Az76uKz2
— Andrew Reeves-Hall (@ReevesHall) February 16, 2017
@GMPLongsight £millions spent on police officers that appear to be ignoring Home Office advice regarding pavement cycling
— (@markcjagar) February 16, 2017
@GMPLongsight £millions spent on Police in Manchester but some still woefully poor at identifying the real dangers on the road! #OpCubo
— iPaddle (@PaddlerMike) February 17, 2017
West Midlands Police – famous for its pioneering close-pass initiative – was also invited to comment but clearly felt this wasn’t necessary.
@_Jimc @GMPLongsight @gmptraffic looks like they are getting enough constructive feedback as it is.
— CMPG – Road Policing (@Trafficwmp) February 16, 2017
Greater Manchester Police confirm “new and evolving” close pass operation trial
13 thoughts on “Longsight police get flak for ‘millions spent on cycle lanes’ tweet”
Longsight police also flipped
Longsight police also flipped the photo – the bike’s derailleur as illustrated above is clearly on the wrong side – which suggests that the vehicle driver was also using a phone camera, and someone local later tweeted a photo of the same street as it really looks.
congokid wrote:
I can see that the photo is flipped but I’m not certain that this indicates that the photo was taken by the driver. To me it looks like the camera is too close to the kerb to be on the driver side. Maybe it was taken by a passenger or maybe it was a fixed camera on the vehicle.
DrG82 wrote:
Could be… But why flip it?
DrG82 wrote:
The photo is taken across the centre of the vehicle’s dash – the centre vent is clearly visible.
Once the photo is flipped back the correct way it is obvious it was taken from the right front seat – in a typical UK RHD vehicle, that’s the driver.
DrG82 wrote:
also no proof the car was moving at the time.
However, why the need to flip the image?
wycombewheeler wrote:
What does that mean? If you are driving that car you shouldn’t be on your phone, full stop!
SingleSpeed wrote:
is he driving or is he parked with the engine off? are must he get out of the car to take a picture even with the engine off?
wycombewheeler wrote:
Parking on double yellow lines? Surely not. Everyone knows that only taxi drivers are allowed to do that!
This is just another ignorant tosspot in a uniform, who probably shares a brain cell with these thickos in Hampshire.
wycombewheeler wrote:
I doubt it was flipped deliberately. If it was taken in selfie mode the picture is automatically reversed (try it and see, take a picture with some writing or something in it then look at the image).
Could easily have been taken by someone in the car leaning over or using the camera the wrong way round.
Either way it’s a fairly petty thing to pull him over and “strongly advise” him for, not like he’s hooning it down a street full of shoppers or schoolkids. Longsight is a dreadful place to ride, the roads are like a bombsite in places. Not so much potholes as small craters.
GMP Longsight got enough sarcasm on Twitter for them to hopefully realise their errors. A day later they posted a picture of a car embedded in a brick wall and got a string of responses all about if the driver was “strongly advised” and why wasn’t the wall wearing hi-viz and stuff. Most amusing.
The vigil and ghost bike
The vigil and ghost bike installation in memory of Harry Sievey is on Monday night at 6pm at Withington Library.
And many twitters mentioned
And many twitters mentioned that 1) the image was flipped, making it highly likely that 2) the driver took the picture, making it highly likely that 3) they are a sanctimonious, law-breaking arse of low intelligence.
Photo looks like it was a
Photo looks like it was a handheld shot given position.
If it was flipped this means the driver took it w with camera in hand. How do we know the vehicle was stationary when photo was taken? The fact it was flipped suggests they are covering this up.
For those of you thinking the
For those of you thinking the image may not have been flipped, google earth has the answer!