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Aldi bike racks blocked by grow bags (Simon Colley/Twitter)Aldi apologises after bike racks blocked with compost left customer asking "why do you hate cyclists so much?"
Aldi has apologised and promised to ensure cycle parking racks are free from supermarket stock in future after one customer found themselves unable to lock their bike due to a pile of compost grow bags outside their local store.
Simon Colley took to social media to raise the issue with the bargain supermarket chain, questioning: "Why do you hate cyclists so much?" The post came just hours after a trip to another branch had seen him unable to use the bicycle parking racks there too, that time due to the area being used to store shopping trollies.
Having left the Royston supermarket empty handed, Simon said cyclists "can and do spend money in your stores", but "not this one today" before moving on to the Snow Hill branch in Wakefield. For the second time in an afternoon he found himself unable to lock his bike to the provided cycle racks, this time due to compost grow bags blocking the area.
"Why do you hate cyclists so much?" he asked. "Another store with blocked cycle parking, four slots, two in use, two blocked, no shopping with you today."
> Worst bike racks — from the useless to utterly unusable places to park your bicycle
Part of the frustration came, the cyclist reported, from the fact that other stores, such as the one on Asdale Road pictured below also on Friday, do cycle parking "right".
You can do cycle parking right at some stores, this is Asdale Rd Wakefield tonight, normally your racks are full of trolleys pic.twitter.com/7IhQTe6eaS
— Simon Colley (@si_rides) March 12, 2024
In response, Aldi apologised for the blocked bike racks and said "we have spoken with the store to make sure that the cycle bays are clear for use at all times".
Other cyclists in other parts of the United Kingdom have reported similar issues at supermarkets previously, Lidl coming in for criticism when the cycle racks at one of its London stores were filled with plants and compost for sale.
Last summer, customers at a newly opened Aldi store in Leamington Spa joked that the cycle racks "are definitely middle aisle bike stands" after discovering that they could be quite easily pulled out of the ground.
Having been left red-faced by the ordeal, Aldi quickly rectified the issue and confirmed the works to fix the stands to the ground had been completed shortly after concerns were raised.
West Midlands walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, had praised the facilities as an example of how it is "possible for supermarkets to do cycle parking right", before promptly expressing disappointment at the pick-up-and-go bike stands, writing: "Argh! And I had such high hopes."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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23 comments
"Aldi apologised for the blocked bike racks and said "we have spoken with the store to make sure that the cycle bays are clear for use at all times". "
It would have been better if Aldi had spoken to all stores and given them all the same instructions. My local Aldi suffers from the same "let's block the cycle racks with random gardening products" problem. A complaint saw the practice cease for about a week.
Multiple Aldis do this as do multipl B&Qs.
At least one of my local Aldis has a nice stainless bike rack, but it can't be seen from inside the shop.
My regular Aldi is urban, and the bike racks are heavily used and fantastic. I appreciate that they're right outside the plate glass, so any potential thief will have everyone looking at them.
At a much more rural Aldi last week, I found that four of the five racks were extremely loose and wobbly - one was just resting in the holes, and you could lift the whole rack out. But the fifth was solid, and mine is the only bike I've ever seen at that location. It's a hilly area, so not many people cycle for their shopping in the town (which is small) or between towns (they might consider it too far).
I think the management just hadn't noticed, and when I contacted Aldi they immediately set about fixing the problem. The vibe I get is that Aldi is quite pro-cycling. Even where there is very little demand, they set aside space right near the door for bike racks. That's the kind of attitude that helps get out of the vicious circle of "no bike infrastructure because nobody uses it => nobody wants to bike anywhere".
In defence of Aldi, my local store posted notices inviting cycle owners to bring their bikes with them whilst shopping after a spate of bike thefts from the outdoor racks.
Ha, Aldi got nothing on Lidl
Well that's nice - you've stolen a unicycle parking space!
And selfishly blocked access to the remaining two uni-cycle slots. In my defence, that's not my bike.
A huge Tesco (Norwich) put the trolley park at the end of the rack so
1. Hidden so bike thieves have privacy.
2. You can only to lock one bike across the ends of three bars.
Six bike spaces are one. They've been called out on it and the provision is in their planning permission & stated green policies but they don't care.
6 parking spaces are now one.
Random question...what mudguards are you using on your Boardman. I have same bike, but could not find fitted ones for those forks where the bolt hole is high up.
They are probably SKS Bluemels. Most mudguards are SKS Bluemels (it's like the opposite of the "hoover" effect - most people's vacuum cleaners aren't made by Hoover™ but we still call them hoovers. In this case, most mudguards are SKS Bluemels, but we just call them mudguards).
But that is largely beside the point. The more relevant point is that fitting mudguards is a faff, but most mudguards can be made to fit most bikes with varying amounts of "fettling". Normally that means shortening the stay (using a Dremel or cable/bolt cutters) and/or putting a bend in the stay. If you need longer stays, you can buy extra long stays as a spare part (e.g. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mudguards/sks-v-stays-kit-extra-long-380-mm-...).
If all that sounds like a bit much, I would suggest visting your LBS - they will probably have fitted lots of mudguards to lots of awkward bikes, and have access to a varierty of tools and small parts that can make the job much easier.
Ah, well, without prejudice to my above defence, I would say that on the balance of probabilities the mudguards are SKS Longboards, fitted at a cost of several skinned knuckles and a tidy sum paid into the swear box.
I think it depends on the Lidl. There's two near me, one is just half a mile away and has been open over 20 years. The bike parking is not great, trolley racks, out of sight from inside and is constantly blocked by trolleys and garden plants. The other opened less than 5 years ago but is a 10 mile round trip - and has great bike parking facilities, so I end up travelling 10x further.
Not a big problem, it's an opportunity for a little extra exercise (anyone thinking of commenting "that's not exercise, it's an ebike" - not interested)
Personal annoyance is people using bike racks at my local Lidl to tie up their dogs. Especially dogs with 'Warning: do not pet' jackets on which bark furiously while you try and lock you and your kids' bikes up.
You could always untie the dog I suppose...
Or tie it to a trolley and then push the trolley a safe distance away.
Does that Live And Let Die quote apply?
"Just reach inside his mouth and pull out all his teeth!"
I was on a bus last night. Rush hour, home-time. Quite busy, as you can imagine.
Obviously the best time to take your big husky-type dog on the bus, a dog which has a flag on its lead saying "Give me space!"…
That's completely unfair!
Parading a dog that looks like it would love attention and scritches, but then finding out that it's shy around other people.
'Shy' may not be the right word. It growled at some old bloke who went to offer it 'attention and scritches'
Growling and barking are often signs that a dog is scared or uneasy, but yeah, that'll be why the sign is there.
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I didn't know my car centric Aldi (it must be an old pic the carpark is always rammed now) had racks. Theres three of them hidden at the western end of the canopy, not that I would ever use them but I see some brave person has! Touchwood it'll be safe from crime there but the car park is chaotic!