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Local paper runs front page story on cyclists flouting Hull city centre ban – which doesn’t existPedestrian zone cyclist.JPG

Local paper runs front page story on cyclists flouting Hull city centre ban – which doesn’t exist

The story appeared on the front page of the Hull Daily Mail before being removed from the website
by Will Bolton
Sat, Jul 06, 2019 14:13
42

A paper in Hull has recieved a deluge of corrections after publishing a story claiming that people who cycled through the centre of the city were breaking the law – they were not. 

The article, which has since been removed but can still be found via archive.org, included pictures of people riding bikes through areas of the city centre the paper said were pedestrian-only. However, those areas were made pedestrian and cycle friendly in 2017. 

Hull Live originally published the story online and promoted it on social media. 

Very quickly however, Twitter users and Hull residents started to question the articles claims. 

Michelle Coldham, posted pictures of the supposedly pedestrianised areas with road signs clearly showing cyclists were allowed to ride through. 

The story was also run as the front page on the Hull Daily Mail, with images of “offending” cyclists riding through the city. 

It appears that the journalist reporting on the story, Anna Riley, was relying on an out of date map from the council and for a while there was confusion as she appeared to defend the paper's position. 

After one twitter user then complained to the paper, the article appears to have been removed from the website, and the tweets from the reporter defending the story have also been deleted.  

Hull City Council themselves got involved a day later, posting on the council's website: “Hull City Council welcomes cycling in the city centre and is committed to continuing to improve cycling infrastructure in the city.

“As part of the city centre’s Public Realm improvements in 2017 several areas, including parts of Prospect Street, King Edward Street, Jameson Street, Whitefriargate, Princes Dock Street, Humber Street and Humber Dock Street, were turned into pedestrian and cycle zones.”

It appears that in the 2014 map used and quoted by the paper, the streets named by the council used to be pedestrianised but following the city centre improvements they are now open for all.

Councillor Daren Hale, portfolio holder for regeneration and economic investment, said: “Like many European cities, we want cyclists and pedestrians to be able to co-exist, enjoy and access these areas together. 

“Obviously we expect all cyclists, residents and visitors to use the city centre spaces respectfully and with consideration for other users.”

Neither Hull Daily mail nor Anna Riley seem to have acknowledged that their story accused 55 entirely innocent members of the public of being criminals.

Riley's only response has been to complain that the somewhat robust criticism of her story, her subsequent doubling-down on relying on incorrect information and her failure to realise that the lack of "a sign explicitly banning cyclists in the area" was a hint it might not be banned, all amounted to "trolling".

A few days later the Council went a step further and announced Hull’s ambition to become one of the UK’s cycling cities.

Councillor Hale said: “The council has the ambition to make Hull a cycling city, and this is why we are investing £2m in the cycle routes and infrastructure over the next two years.

“We recognise that by creating a public environment which encourages cycling will not only improve the health and wellbeing of our residents, but also help to reduce congestion on our roads.”

It appears that a lot of cyclists and residents in Hull feel that articles like this, although not necessarily written with malicious intent, have a serious impact upon the relationship between cyclists and pedestrians trying to get around the city. 

https://road.cc/content/news/263251-channel-5-documentary-next-week-asks-if-cyclists-are-scourge-streets

Next week Channel 5 will be airing a provocatively named documentary entitled “Cyclists: Scourge of the Streets?” as it appears media organisations are still unable to ignore the interest produced by the inflammatory narratives of “us v them”. 

city centre
infrastructure
Commuting
Pedestrians
local paper
accident
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42 comments

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
1 like

Jesus wept. Their twitter account reads like Brass Eye. 

Don't go to Hull much but I was there last year most of city centre cycle use appeared to be of the cycling for drugs variety. 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
2 likes
Rick_Rude wrote:

Jesus wept. Their twitter account reads like Brass Eye. 

Don't go to Hull much but I was there last year most of city centre cycle use appeared to be of the cycling for drugs variety. 

So you admit to not going to Hull much and base your assessment of the majority of people on bikes dealing drugs on that, how many was it, 5 people, 50, 500, 5000 drug dealers?

Did you stop and find out what these people were actually doing or like most are you simply making a presumption based on what you think you saw and typical bigotry with no actual facts to support their claim?

So given you got close enough to see drugs being exchanged by hundreds of cyclists slap bang in the city centre you rang the police for this huge drugs ring occuring right under your nose right, what did the police say?

No, did you fuck because you're full of shit! Hull is a a bit of a hole at times but it does have its upsides too, it has its typical big city issues including drugs, but your comment on prolific drug running  in the city centre by people riding bikes is full of shit!

Oh and the Hull Daily Fail isn't called that without good reason, it's not being fit for bog roll for years!

Avatar
Rick_Rude replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

So you admit to not going to Hull much and base your assessment of the majority of people on bikes dealing drugs on that, how many was it, 5 people, 50, 500, 5000 drug dealers?

I can spot a junkie or alcoholic at 100 yards, I used to get pestered by them almost every day at one point in Leeds. Yes, some may have some sad, sad stories but it doesn't change what they are. 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
4 likes
Rick_Rude wrote:
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

So you admit to not going to Hull much and base your assessment of the majority of people on bikes dealing drugs on that, how many was it, 5 people, 50, 500, 5000 drug dealers?

I can spot a junkie or alcoholic at 100 yards, I used to get pestered by them almost every day at one point in Leeds. Yes, some may have some sad, sad stories but it doesn't change what they are. 

So as I asked, how many, 5, 50, 500, 5000?

Given there are thousands of cyclists that go into the city centre every day, your account is that the majority of these cyclists are drug dealers, but you can't/won't give a figure as to how many you saw dealing drugs.

As I said, you're full of shit, say it for what it is, a few wrong uns that is an insignificant portion of the people cycling, as it is in every city and large town!

Avatar
brooksby replied to Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
4 likes
Rick_Rude wrote:
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

So you admit to not going to Hull much and base your assessment of the majority of people on bikes dealing drugs on that, how many was it, 5 people, 50, 500, 5000 drug dealers?

I can spot a junkie or alcoholic at 100 yards.

I'm surprised that you haven't been approached more by law enforcement or by support charities... I imagine they'd find that a very useful skill.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
5 likes
brooksby wrote:
Rick_Rude wrote:
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

So you admit to not going to Hull much and base your assessment of the majority of people on bikes dealing drugs on that, how many was it, 5 people, 50, 500, 5000 drug dealers?

I can spot a junkie or alcoholic at 100 yards.

I'm surprised that you haven't been approached more by law enforcement or by support charities... I imagine they'd find that a very useful skill.

he could replace a spaniel.

Avatar
Awavey | 5 years ago
3 likes

they can try to delete it, but the internet remembers

https://theworldnews.net/gb-news/the-number-of-cyclists-we-caught-breaki...

Avatar
Sriracha replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
5 likes
Awavey wrote:

they can try to delete it, but the internet remembers

https://theworldnews.net/gb-news/the-number-of-cyclists-we-caught-breaki...

Gotta love this from the article:
"That's almost one every minute flouting the law - whether they were oblivious to the rules or willfully ignorant."
I guess they must be referring to their own journalist - so which is it, oblivious or willfully ignorant? Right about the "one [born] every minute" thing however.

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
3 likes

So we can expect a full front page apology and an explanation as to why they were so very wrong?

 

Avatar
rkemb replied to ktache | 5 years ago
5 likes
ktache wrote:

So we can expect a full front page apology and an explanation as to why they were so very wrong?

 

Are they a member of IPSO? Maybe a formal complaint to force an "equally prominent" apology, particularly if those people pictured and accused of crimes can join the complaint. If faces obscured, they could argue that they can be identified by clothing and bike and have therefore been libelled.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to ktache | 5 years ago
3 likes
ktache wrote:

So we can expect a full front page apology and an explanation as to why they were so very wrong?

 

It has been over a week (original article was online and in the paper 29th June) and no apparent apologies from the links posted on here or some of the Twitter stories. I just hope some of the people pictured actually sue them over false claims etc. 

Avatar
growingvegtables replied to ktache | 5 years ago
2 likes
ktache wrote:

So we can expect a full front page apology and an explanation as to why they were so very wrong?

 

Naaah - Hull Daily Mail staff currently have their heads up their arses.  They're "newspaper of the year," after all!   

WTAF?  Ah, OK, only "at O2 Yorkshire Media Awards".

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/hull-daily...

 

Guessing that front-page-lies, front-page-shit-stirring, front-page-gammon-appeal is now "prize-winning" "journalism".

 

WTAF. 

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