A cyclist from Bristol who crossed the Severn Bridge into Wales today to cycle on quiet roads has had his ride flagged on Strava because it is claimed to contravene lockdown guidance from the Welsh Government not to ride more than walking distance from home.
Each of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom has its own regulations regarding the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 23 May.
While the guidance is broadly similar and permits exercising, including cycling, being a reason to leave the home, only Wales has sought to put a limit on the distance from home you can ride.
> Welsh Government says you can only cycle within walking distance of home
The reason given was to ensure that if a mechanical problem or some other issue happened to the rider, he or she would be able to get home on foot without involving the emergency services or get someone to come out and pick them up.
While a distance of 10 miles form home has been widely reported, that stipulation is not contained in the Welsh Government’s guidance, nor the emergency regulations themselves.
The cyclist, who told road.cc that currently 90 per cent of his cycling happens indoors, crossed the Severn Bridge into Monmouthshire today.
From leaving his home in Bristol to returning there, he was on his bike for a little under four hours, covering a little more than 100 kilometres.
After posting the ride to Strava, it appears to have been flagged by an account called ‘Strava Police’ which is based in Chepstow.
The account has no followers, nor has it logged any activities, and it may be that it has been set up on the social network to enable the user to see what others are doing, in particular people crossing the Severn from England into Wales.
The rider was reported to British Cycling in an email which read, in part: “This is in contravention of the Welsh Assembly laws concerning COVID19 that state that no one should cycle further than their local area in Wales.
“Also they should cycle no further than the distance that they could walk home in the event of mechanical issues.
“This is a potential strain on local resources and he could be bringing COVID 19 to a rural area heavily populated with working farms and an older population.
“Please have a word with him as the next time it is spotted the matter will be referred to the police. I have a screen shot of his ride today as proof should I need to take that step.”
The rider, who said that he had been unaware of the different regulations between England and Wales, told road.cc that “most of the purpose of me riding out that way was to actively seek solitude from the busy city I live in.”
He added: “I do 90 per cent of my rides inside.”
43 thoughts on “Bristol cyclist flagged on Strava and reported to British Cycling … for crossing into Wales for bike ride during lockdown”
Reported to British cycling –
Reported to British cycling – does this mean he won’t make the Olympic team?
No laws were broken by making this trip.
Two can play that game, I’ve
Two can play that game, I’ve reported Strava Police as a fake profile on Strava. IIRC you’re supposed to use your own name in their Ts & Cs.
Oooh, me too.
Oooh, me too.
We better get started now. so
We better get started now. so many strava police to report to the real police for impersonating officers of the law…
Strava’s TOS include:
Strava’s TOS include:
“You agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself (“Member Data”)”
Sign up requires first and last name which probably aren’t Strava and Police. Not sure how strongly they enforce that when it comes to nicknames, assuming other details (email address) are correct.
The other main one is under “Conduct:”
“You may not use the Services, or assist or encourage any other party, to engage in any of the following Prohibited Activities:”
“(l) Collecting or harvesting any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual, including account names and information about users of the Services, from the Services;”
TLDR: fake profile maybe, signing up and collecting identifiable information to go after other users defiantly violates TOS
What can British Cycling do?
What can British Cycling do?
This situation is like contacting the FA because you saw kids playing footy in the park.
My God there are some truly
My God there are some truly sad little people out there aren’t there?
There are some good climbs
There are some good climbs there, how do I offer Kudos ?
Strava Police arrest this man
Strava Police arrest this man,
He’s way to fast and,
Stolen all my crowns,
But we’ll get them back next Sunday.
I shot the Strava Police
I shot the Strava Police
But I didn’t shoot no Zwift Cop
All around in my home town
They’re trying to track me down
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the crossing of a bridge
For the leaving of a country
Grumble-grumble!
Grumble-grumble!
That’s the sound of da Strava Police
Grumble-grumble!
That’s the sound of da NIMBY
I would title all my Strava
I would title all my Strava rides with this delightful Malcolm Tucker quote…
“You breathe a word of this to anyone, you f***ing c**t, and I will tear your f***ing skin off, I will wear it to your mother’s birthday party and I will rub your nuts up and down her leg whilst whistling Bohemian f***ing Rhapsody, right?”
I’ve done lots of long rides
I’ve done lots of long rides recently, including my longest ever. I just don’t see the need to tell the world about it… Shit, just have
Clearly the fault of the
Clearly the fault of the Welsh government for not actively patrolling their borders. I expect all cyclists to be refused entry while riding into Wales.
This is clearly long delayed revenge for the Severn Bridge toll booths being on the English side.
No issue with going out for a
No issue with going out for a 4 hour self supported ride on quiet roads. But regardless of not knowing the current official regulations and accompanying guidelines, why does anyone feel the need to memorialise the event on a public platform at a time where cyclists in general are getting a bad press and are already targets of vigilante gammon defence forces around the country? Why give them more ammunition?
All I can see as a result from publishing activities like “cyclist from Bristol” is that said gammons are going to be ever more vocal in setting an agenda for Police forces to be stopping cyclists from going about their lawful activities instead of doing what we want them to be doing in policing the roads against dangerous drivers.
If it isnt on Strava, it
If it isnt on Strava, it didnt happen!
Richard_pics wrote:
If you don’t Stravatoolbox, you don’t Strava.
That Strava Police account
That Strava Police account (well, there might be several of them I suppose) was set up right at the start of lockdown, it was giving kudos to completely random people for doing <1hr rides and commenting on other rides for being too long / too far etc.
Someone clearly has enough time to go scrolling through the hundreds of thousands of rides uploaded to Strava daily in the UK and doing that.
As others have mentioned, this pandemic has really brought out the curtain twitchers, the parochial NIMBYs and the little Hitlers – it’s like a primary school playground of kids going “ohh, I’m gonna tell Miss about you!”
I don’t use strava, so this
I don’t use strava, so this account holder would have had to have trawled through to find stuff? Sounds very labour intensive.
I’d assume theyd pick a
I’d assume theyd pick a popular segment far enough away from a habitation and check where maybe top 5 or 10 riders came from, yes it’s far more hassle than whatever grim satisfaction they get from doing it must provide,but it’s not that they have to scour the roads of Wales to find anything
Sounds very similar to East
Sounds very similar to East Germany. Even those spying were spyed on. Dystopia step one.
Told you it wouldn’t be long before Strava shaming happened.
Maybe this guy just needs a stern talking to first. Need to nip it in the bud, next he’ll be going further and before he knows it he’ll be audaxing under lockdown, probably using a steel frame and beyond all redemption.
People have always been like
People have always been like this, the folly of East Germany was allowing it to clog up their central beurocracy rather than leaving it in the realm of parish and local councils as we used to do.
Interstingly, there is
Interstingly, there is Wilshire Strava Police who claim to be ‘Associated with Wiltshire Police’
https://www.strava.com/athletes/55593624
Associated with the police?
Associated with the police? Hmmm.. Section 90, para 1
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/16/section/90
Maybe someone in Wiltshire could ask the police if they endorse this “association”.
Of the 18 accounts I have
Of the 18 accounts I have flagged with the name “Strava Police” that’s the only one I have any doubts about – they do have a single run activity with a title of “this segment was gathered as evidence in a burglary” or some such nonesense.
I would have thought plod would be a bit more professional than that, but maybe I’m giving them too much credit.
I still think its a local curtain twitching nazi, but at least they tried to be a bit more original. I mean, using a profile name of ‘Strava Police’ (and some sharing the same meme image) is hardly plains-clothes detective/Stazi level is it?.
CygnusX1 wrote:
There are several forces and operating areas with their own Strava pages. It’s almost as if some PR guru had told them to open accounts on ALL social media … Including Strava.
Although, why the Metropolitan Police Tactical Firearms Unit needs to be on Strava is slightly beyond me
The Wiltshire one has a tag
The Wiltshire one has a tag “here to catch all you sneaky segment stealers” and the one “activity” beats the KoM time. So I suspect neither official police nor out to shop those “enjoying themselves without a reasonable excuse”.
Probably a local
Probably a local neighbourhood watch busy.
“This is in contravention of
[I]“This is in contravention of the Welsh Assembly [b]laws [/b]concerning COVID19 that state that no one should cycle further than their local area in Wales.”[/i]
No, it is not – since the[b] law [/b]does not state that. The [b]law [/b]in Wales says that you may leave home to;
“take exercise, no more than once a day (or more frequently if this is needed because of a particular health condition or disability), either
(i) alone;
(ii) with other members of the person’s household; or
(iii) with the person’s carer;”
No mention in [b]law[/b] of[i] “local area”[/i] or any other distance or time criteria.
That is the law but the
That is the law but the guidance at https://gov.wales/leaving-home-exercise-guidance, updated on 24 April, adds:
Discussed at https://road.cc/content/news/wales-cyclists-may-only-ride-within-walking-dstance-home-272995
One solution for Strava users is to tighten your privacy settings:
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919377-Activity-Privacy-Controls
Simon E wrote:
Since the restricted activity is leaving home, and they did that in England, strictly speaking it would appear that the Welsh regulations/guidance aren’t even applicable in this case, and the English regulations/guidance make no mention of limits on distance.
Guidance is no more than that
Guidance is no more than that – guidance. It does not carry the force of law. It’s the Court’s view on whether it amounts to a reasonable excuse or not which is important. Guidance is issued to give us all a clue as to what the Government was thinking when they used the term “reasonable” in the legislation, but guidance does not define the term (unless its statutory guidance backed by Regulation – which this is not) and the Court can and will depart from the Govenment’s view very often.
Plus what is reasonable for a trained endurance athlete is going to be very different to what is reasonable for a fat 60+ Welsh Assembly Member.
And I confess that I haven’t got the first idea whether the “offence” (if any) is being committed in England, where the cyclist lives and where the guidance is different, or in Wales, where he cycled to.
All that really matters is
All that really matters is that there is a sad little person impersonating the police who is tired of being cooped up in his house all day and has decided to grief people fitter and freer than themselves.
Dao wrote:
Any person who with intent to deceive impersonates a member of a police force or special constable, or makes any statement or does any act calculated falsely to suggest that he is such a member or constable, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.
Police act 1996
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/16/section/90
These fake atheletes can be
These fake atheletes can be reported to Stava.
Just go in to the ‘athelete’, and click the cog.
Report Fake Profile
You’ll then get a message box advising that the profile will be looked in to.
What Strava does then …. who knows – but the more people that put the effort in reporting the fakes, the more likely that Strava will act.
With the Welsh guidance,
With the Welsh guidance, doesn’t it mean, then, that you can ride as far or for as long as you want so long as you fully intend only to walk home if you have an unfixable mechanical?
“Reasonable distance” always seems a bit vague – is that the distance I’d find reasonable to walk, or the distance that might seem reasonable to my (entirely hyperbole) neighbour who gets in a car to change their TV channel?
Anyone who spends the day
Anyone who spends the day trawling strava looking for rides to ‘flag’ and riders to ‘report to BC and the police’ really needs to get a life.
Even before lockdown this person was probably someone who sits in their house all day; doesn’t do very much, doesn’t socialize, few to no interests and is generally disliked by their peers.
Hope the rider enjoyed his ride out to Wales.
Anyway, I’m off for a 50 miler into West Lancs.
I wish the Welsh shambles had
I wish the Welsh shambles had issued the same ‘helpful’ advice to drivers and suggested they drive no further than they could have walked back from in case of accident or breakdown.
Would have gone down very well I’m sure.
Pushing distance surely, I
Pushing distance surely, I mean, shouldn’t call anyone out in case of a mechanical.
And the idea of fixing their own vehicles with a carried around tool kit…
The guidance does say you can
The guidance does say you can cycle to work. I guess they think this means 2 or 3 miles and not the sort of mileage and time that road.cc contributors have mentioned in the past.
Or perhaps it is best they are ignorant…
Strictly speaking you can
Strictly speaking you can cycle to work, and ride separately for exercise. So nothing to stop you doing 20 miles each way and still tagging on another ride to your day once you’ve had your tea…
Or, you could run to work and cycle for exercise.
Leave well alone please… If
Leave well alone please… If your sat on your arse looking for excuses to tell tales on others, then you perhaps need to take a good look at your self. Poor chap out there alone minding his own business.
And on the BBC news this
And on the BBC news this evening there was a flight from Belfast to London that was full. 2 inches of separation is definitely not compliant to any lockdown rules I’ve read.
How can a lone cyclist get criticised for some healthy exercise and a flight full of people not be quarantined for 14 days or arrested for likely unnecessary journeys.