Surrey school says students can only cycle to school if they fit a number plate to their bikes

Quote:

Should a student continue to cycle to school once permission has been revoked the school will lock the bicycle until a parent/carer is available to collect the bicycle.”

Is that not theft?

What an utterly disgusting attitude.

If my sons school ever come out with such nonsense I'll be telling him to ignore it.

Presumably the headmaster is also requesting number plates of parents' and staff vehicles, so any bad driving etc can be cross referenced to a name.

What about if students misbehave and bring the school into disrepute whilst walking to school...  How can they be identified?

For what its worth, my daughters' school has been known to contact parents who's cars have been reported as being driven dangerously locally, to warn them and threaten that they will not be allowed to drive onto school premises again.

Would love to see my childrens school lock up cars that are not driven safely to school. Tow away all those parked up on the double yellow lines as well as those on the yellow zig zags

I believe they may be interested in people views: info [at] thebeaconschool.co.uk

I would accept this if they applied the same rule to cars.

Spot a car driving dangerously or parking badly? Simply report the registration and the child will be banned from being driven to school.

I'd be inclined to tell them to get fu**ed.

I brought this to the attention of Chris Boardman via his twitter and he's picked up on it. Think the school's social media accounts might be getting some attention...

The headmasters of Academies (and the unaccountable 'chains' that control many of them) are turning into wanna-be Russian oligarchs. They need to be reined-in and taught their place. They are funded by the state, and should be democratically accountable to the electorate as a whole. Instead they are all building mini-empires at tax-payers expense.

So if a child has 'K13TH 15 4 TW4T' printed on a yellow plate and attached to the back of a bike they can be permitted to ride to school, and has the school created it's own bike DVLA, taking 'road tax' off its pupils? I suppose it's prepares them for the realness of adulthood.

I think it is covered under Section 91 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 which gives schools the power to discipline pupils which enables a member of staff to confiscate, keep or dispose of pupil’s property as a disciplinary measure where it is reasonable to do so. Staff have a defence to any complaint provided they act within their legal powers. The law protects members of staff from liability for any loss of or damage to any confiscated item, provided that they have acted lawfully.

If it is within the school's policy that bikes without the 'necessary' number plate etc. are seized then that is likely to be deemed 'lawful'.

The Principal of the school MUST inform parents and pupils at least once per year of the school's policy. Unfortunately the school's policy doesn't seem to be avaiable online.

Why do these twats always manage to describe themselves as "cyclists" (always "recreational", never as an alternative to pouring their lardy arse into a car seat) while promoting their latest piece of anti-cycling bollocks? It's the equivalent of saying "I've got black friends, but..."

From 'ask the police'
Private land
It is a criminal offence to clamp/block/tow away a vehicle on private land without lawful authority. Lawful authority to immobilise or move a vehicle is restricted to a number of organisation such as the police, DVLA and local authorities.
Privately owned land includes car parks, such as those at retail parks, whether or not there a fee is payable in order to park there (not local authority run car parks).
To commit this offence a person must intend to prevent the owner/driver from moving their vehicle.

I would suggest it is unlawful for the school to lock the bikes.

Various legislation comes into it
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil...

The Schools (Specification and Disposal of Articles) Regulations 2012

Education and Inspections Act 2006

As with all these things, they have to be justified and proportionate. Given the previous post earlier that cycling uk consider:
"Schools do not have any legal right to ban cycling to and from their premises."
I would say it fails the test of justified and proportionate and consequently the schools remedy is unlawful. the fact that it is in a Policy is not relevant as the policy has to be justified and proportionate. You can write any terms you want into a contract, but they have to be supported by law to be enforced.

Well done Mr Batchelor. 

Anything that makes cycling safer for children is a breath of fresh air. 

Ensuring children ride safely with correct attitude, clothing and helmets (compulsory in some of countries penalised by on the spot fine by police officers) is a great idea. 

Which parent of sane mind wouldn't want their children to ride safely???

Woah, I am late to this party.

"Down with this sort of thing!

Careful Now"

Found another one here,

http://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/257/cycling-to-school

Do we know if the school provides any access to, or provision of cycle training.

Rather than the 'stick' of the threat of accountability, and the restriction of registration, helmet enforcement, why not go down the route of empowerment?

Teach kids how to ride well, why riding well is better for them, provide them with the competencies to stay safe... encourage the right behaviours, not simply punish the wrong behaviours.

As I've commented before, there is this expectation that kids, teenagers, hell adults who are popping a leg over a bike are reading the highway code and learning their legal responsibilities before doing so. Why would they? No one asks them to, they are not obliged to, so why would they? 

Surely there are appropriate channels to challenge this heads decision? I for one would be kicking off if they looked to install this at my kids schools. 

Hmm. So as there are no official Registration plate standards for cycles, does that mean a vanity plate with a pithy message would be acceptable?

I hope the lad/ladette that was knocked down outside Bury Grammar School during someone's car commute lastnight is OK.

The drivers can note the number plate of miscreant cylists and txt it to the school whilst driving past. The head can be waiting with a padlock and chain as the child arrives.

I wish I could read something on here that didn't bring me out in an uncontrollable bout of Tourettes.

I wish I could read something on here that didn't bring me out in an uncontrollable bout of Tourettes.

I had been doing quite well.

Fair enough if the bikes needed tagged for ID to stop them getting abandoned in the bike stands, some commercial premises have the same, its ideal where racks are very busy.

But anything else.....by all means have a policy on hi viz and hats if you want - but no need to enforce it, and in fact by saying you will enforce it Mr School, youre putting a lot of responsibility and liability on your staff to firstly know what is appropriate and that its worn appropriately as we all know on here how quick the judiciary are to use the lack of every optional safety device as some sort of causal factor.

Have these people nothing better to do?

Surely the good deed is done by sending a wee flyer with some web links to remind parents about road cycling best practice and making sure their kids machines are appropriately maintained and the riders have some sort of road awareness training, job done.

Right, I've tried to look at this again from the perspective of "What issue could they be trying to solve?"

There is a subbtle subtext that could lead you to assume that antisocial behaviour by cyclists has been reported on the school run.

IF this is happening and IF it is becoming an increasing issue but not yet police worthy, I can see the plates being one possible solution. IF the school do have a duty of care from when they leave the house, and IF they are wearing their uniform (but with face masks/buffs) they will be having a detrimental impact on the school reputation as are identifiable as students without being easily identifiable as individuals.

IF they have a problem with antisocial behaviour, it is not a big leap to assume that they may have issues with bike theft and/or cheap bike abandonment. Plates could again, in this scenario, help.

So I suppose I might be able to justify the plates in the right scenario, but they have not called these elements out specifically so for me there are far too many IFs to be able to support the move in the slightest.

The other point that seemed to be raised (though I think it may have just been misdirection, though not sure why) was Safety. Most notably in the forms of Helmets, Hi-vis and training.

Helmets

As we all know on this forum, the benefits from a safety perspective is highly debateable. What we can all agree on though is forced helmet campaigns kill cycling enthusiasm. Also helmets do not fit in bags easily and no-one likes wearing a wet helmet from leaving it out on the bike. So these helmets are likely to be carried around attached to bags identifying and potentially segregating the cyclists in the school.

Hi-Vis

If hi-vis is a safety feature that is warranted then fair enough. If it is needed though, it is needed for both cyclists and pedestrians. So it would make more sense to incorporate hi-vis and reflective elements into the school uniform over time. This could reduce the financial impact on the parent, remove the segregation element, and keep all commuting children safe (if you believe in the problem/solution)

Training

Couldn't agree more that training is a good idea, it's hard to argue against it. In fact I do not think I can come up with a single reason not to do this. The only way they could mess this one up is if they made it extra-curricular and mandatory for all cyclists. That could stop a few people who would otherwise cycle.

Sorry for the long post, I was just trying to collate my thoughts and musings. I suppose in summary, I am not as opposed to plates as I originally thought (given the right reasons and environment) and the training is great if executed correctly. The Helmet and Hi-vis part is just causing segregation though.

Response from Cycling UK to my email:

Quote:

Thanks for getting in touch – we are aware and are reaching out to the headmaster to discuss this bizarre policy. Depending on the outcome will depend on how we react publicly.

Debate, according to Yehuda Moon 

If you have taken part in an organised cycling event you have no problem putting a number plate on your bike and wearing a skidlid. This however is oppression, targeting a minority group under a pretense of doing it for the safety of that minority. This is likely to encourage those more rebellious kids to put their safety at risk as a demonstration against this policy or maybe kids not from this school having a laugh and cycling dangerously but with false plates to get the schools students in trouble.

A teenager cycles past me regularly, no hands on the handlebars, head down using his mobile phone. When I yelled at him yesterday for not look where he was going, his reply ' what's your problem' .......

very soon he will be learning to drive and since he can ride his bike and use his phone, I am sure he will do it on the car

how do I tell his parents that what he is doing is very dangerous, oh great a number plate on his bike 

I think all cyclists, as in China, should have a plate on their bike