MP accuses council of creating “Battle Royale” over cycle lanes after angry motorist drives over wands; Unicycle commuting; Prolific bike thief banned from station cycle parking; 38 million unused bikes; Active travel boost + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Do you have an unused bike collecting dust? Estimated 38 million unused bikes would fill current shortage
New data from The Bike Club shows there are an estimated 38 million unused bikes in the UK, enough to fill the current shortage. While 15% of the UK’s adults are estimated to have one unused kids’ bike, 34% have an unused adult bike at home. 9% have more than one unused kids’ bike, meaning it’s estimated there are over 12.5 million unused kids’ bikes and 38 million dormant bicycles in total. The most common reason for having an unused bike was ‘it’s too much hassle to sell’.
The Bike Club’s co-founder, James Symes, said this untapped potential could fill the demand for bikes which soared during the pandemic in 2020. “Interest in cycling during the pandemic, has been marred by a severe shortage of bikes as retailers across the UK have struggled to meet unprecedented levels of demand. We were amazed to see the level of untapped potential hanging around in people’s garages and sheds. With over an estimated 38 million unused bikes in the UK, we must look at other ways in which we can meet the current demand for cycling.”
James also suggested The Bike Club as a potential solution. The kids’ bike monthly subscription service has a reCycle scheme that allows people to sell their unused kids’ bike so it can be passed on to a another child.
Happy Friday!
Loulou the Entertainer 😁 pic.twitter.com/H6PGIMs63y
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) March 11, 2021
£1.79 million boost for active travel in Scotland
£1.79 million has been allocated to the active travel budget by the Scottish Government. More than 170 organisations will benefit from the money, including community groups, campuses and schools. £96,000 has also been given to the Cycling Friendly NHS Worker Fund to enable staff at eight health boards access to bikes during lockdown.
The funding is expected to be used for improved facilities such as new showers, cycle parking and it is estimated 343,000 people can benefit from the support. The news hasn’t been universally well received however, Grampian Online published a story titled ‘On your bike – but not in Aberdeenshire’ highlighting that just one of the cash awards will be made in Aberdeenshire. That was to a secondary school, who will get funding of £3,721.
On the £1.79 million funding, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson said he was “pleased that public and private employers, schools, community groups and social housing providers all stand to benefit from Scottish Government funding – delivered through Cycling Scotland’s Cycling Friendly programme. The breadth of organisations getting involved demonstrates the clear appetite across Scotland to lock-in the positive changes we’ve seen in travel behaviour over the last 12 months.”
MP accuses council of creating "Battle Royale" over cycle lanes after watching angry motorist drive over wands
I read this as “drivers used to getting things their own way act like dangerous lunatics when they don’t get it”. Local MP reads this as ‘we should do something about the bike lanes”
Cool. pic.twitter.com/5wPzjukW8T
— noodles (@andykeetch) March 12, 2021
Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle isn’t happy with Brighton and Hove City Council’s implementation of cycle lanes in the city. Despite claiming to support and use cycleways, the Labour MP said the fact he’s seen an angry driver ramming wands with their car is evidence the council has “turned a common sense issue which is making our public space cycle friendly into a monumental Battle Royale.”
“It has sucked in residents who have no interest in a public fight. They simply want to get to work, or the GP surgery, or pick kids up from school and now feel the need to enter battle riled, angry and feeling like victims. I was cycling along one of the temporary cycle lanes when someone got so angry in a souped-up Renault Five that they suddenly started knocking all the bollards down – there was smoke coming from the wheels,” Kyle told The Argus.
“That is the anger that has been generated and I don’t want to sit quietly when the community I represent is starting to seethe with this kind of upset and anger. That is why I’m speaking out now.”
He went on to say his concern was that the data informing the implementation of cycle lanes was being “dragged out” through litigation and that residents have been ignored. There is currently a public consultation on road changes in Brighton, including the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane which was introduced last year by the Labour administration in charge at the time.
The Green city council responded to Kyle’s criticism saying it’s a shame that he has objected to his own councillors’ objectives. They also emphasised that they’ve listened to residents and adapted sections of cycle lane in response to feedback, but remain committed to recognising the need to reduce air pollution and provide more space for cycling and walking.
Lunchtime laugh
See yourself out…I feel ashamed for laughing…
Prolific bike thief banned from stations' cycle facilities
A prolific bike thief has been handed a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) banning him from Cycle Point at Cambridge Station and Cambridge North Station’s cycle park. The CBO banning him from the bike parking facilities follows a conviction for two counts of bike theft and one count of going equipped to steal in December last year. Kevin Champion, 45, was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison at the time and a two-year CBO has now been added by Cambridge Magistrates’ Court.
“The local neighbourhood team are working closely with partners including Cambridge Business Against Crime (CAMBAC) and businesses in the city to tackle bike theft by putting people like Champion before the courts,” PC Jamie Tumber of Cambridgeshire Police said. “We take all reports of bike theft seriously and would encourage people to report offences so we can build up a picture and deploy resources accordingly.”
Was Giant right to refuse to sell a bike to someone over the maximum weight limit? Your thoughts...
Over on the road.cc Instagram we asked what you thought about the story on yesterday’s live blog about a man who was refused a bike from Giant’s Halifax store in Canada because he was too heavy…We’ve had plenty of sympathetic comments for both the man and the bike shop. Here are some we picked out…
Mathieu French said “I’m 21 stone (not even my heaviest) and have a Trek Emonda SL6 for six years. I’m over the recommended weight limit. It has zero issues. I don’t see what the problem is here.”
Laith Beveridge disagreed: “Well done to the shop for being responsible! Way too many shops sell bikes to larger riders knowing the weight limit on wheels and frames. Having spent 20 years in the industry I had no issues recommending stronger wheels to customers who were like myself solid riders.”
Giant Bicycles Canada released another statement in the comments too: “It is important to acknowledge and learn from our mistakes and to that end we have apologised to Mr Barsetti. While the intent of refusing the sale was well meaning with regards to his personal safety. It should not have happened. We are sorry. In light of that we are happy to be working with Mr Barsetti to get him a new bicycle and integrate it into his healthy lifestyle.”
Primož Roglič wins uphill sprint to extend lead at Paris-Nice
🇸🇮@rogla of 🇳🇱@JumboVismaRoad wins stage 6 of 🇫🇷@ParisNice #ParisNice (📺@sporza_koers) pic.twitter.com/cfy5uq94Jl
— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) March 12, 2021
Primož Roglič outkicked some of the fastest riders at Paris-Nice on stage six’s uphill sprint. Sam Bennett came to a near standstill in the final kilometre, but Roglič still had to beat Christophe Laporte, Michael Matthews and Bryan Coquard in the burst to the line. The Slovenian gets 10 bonus seconds for the win, extending his lead on heading into a shortened final two stages. Tomorrow should be the final obstacle for Roglič, as the peloton takes on the summit finish at La Colmiane. The Jumbo-Visma rider’s lead is now 41 seconds and on this form he’ll fancy a shot at a third stage win of the week…
#ParisNice – GC after Stage 6 pic.twitter.com/Dx18qR5d2j
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) March 12, 2021
Unicycle commuting
It’s not just Jeremy Vine who likes to hit the cycle lanes by unicycle…Fair play to that man…
More on the Oxford cycle lane
We’ve been contacted by a local cyclist giving us more information about the cycle lane in Oxford we covered earlier this week. While the University of Oxford’s website says there are signs directing bike riders onto the carriageway as the cycle lane is suspended while works are ongoing, our reader told us this isn’t the case.
“There were absolutely no signs anywhere telling cyclists to join the carriageway – the only sign with any information about what was going on was the one in the photo,” they told road.cc. “There were people standing around, scratching their heads about what on earth was going on and what they were supposed to do. I went along there yesterday afternoon and there were no additional signs there then either – though I have been assured by the University (who are responsible for the works) that there will be very soon.”
Don't mess with Mathieu van der Poel
🔱 So what?#TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/ohJ6Sh0Frq
— Tirreno Adriatico (@TirrenAdriatico) March 12, 2021
Julian Alaphilippe’s look after beating Van der Poel yesterday was a bit cheeky, here’s the Dutchman’s response…Van der Poel leapt off Wout van Aert’s wheel to get back in the winning column, overhauling a late attack by Zdeněk Štybar. Alaphilippe and Štybar’s teammate Davide Ballerini took third ahead of Sergio Higuita and Greg Van Avermaet. How many watts was that one, Mathieu?
He surely can’t do it again tomorrow on the only proper mountain stage of the race…Or can he? Stage four climbs to 1,450m up the 15km climb to Prato di Tivo where Chris Froome won the last time the race used the peak.
Cool as you like 😎
Have you ever seen a rider cross the line during a sprint finish as casually as Mathieu van der Poel here? #TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/n51UDGAiu7
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) March 12, 2021
It's that time of the week
Don’t worry @OutOfCycling, we got you 😉#ParisNice #MamaLauda @Mads__Pedersen 🕺 pic.twitter.com/qx848oc5Ji
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) March 12, 2021
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Latest Comments
@open_roads I was looking for a flat-bar performance hybrid bike recently. I know they're inherently cheaper than drop bar bikes but the level of kit and integration available on non-electric versions is insane for the price. I ended up buying an equipped Trek FX Sport Equipped for £720 brand new. Dynamo lights, rack, full mudguards, Tiagra/Deore level shifters and brakes. Cube, Merida, Orbea, and Giant were similarly good value; it was just unfortunate that the Orbea I wanted wasn't in stock as I'd prefer to have given my money to a Basque co-operative rather than a US megacorp. That's a very difficult market for a low volume regional supplier to operate in. I would likely have bought a Temple had they been available to order but I suspect I'm a bit of a niche customer having had a Fairlight previously.
@Rome73 It doesn't seem to have held back Atherton who seem to be doing a pretty good volume of export orders. So perhaps although the Temple Cycles bikes were great, they just weren't highly differentiated enough - the market for classically styled bikes is pretty saturated in Europe and the urban premium market has rapidly shifted to electric bikes. The wider bike retail trends are likely to have played a role too. The likes of Dorel and Pon are shedding hundreds of thousands of bikes in different brands from their EU inventories and at massive discounts - the overall market for selling full price bikes is incredibly tough. If the big players can't read the market correctly, the little players face a huge challenge. Given much of the enormous fundraiser appears to have been spent my guess would be that Temple spent too much on fixed costs (2 x shops, 1 x Factory) and that margin / cashflow / liquidity was the core problem. TLDR Really sorry to see Temple Cycles go - their bikes looked great. But they have done well to plough through the fundraiser cash in such a short time. Cash is king.
@samuri I was going to say the same. 1) Drivers need to use their eyes. There is a reason the practical driving test involves an eye-sight test. 2) I am imagining that (as You've rightly said: everyone would need to use it to make it work) we will have to put a chip in every human at birth which is internet and GPS connected... I'm sure Lone Skum is working on it right now. And Bill Gates was trialling this with Covid vaccines. #sarcasm
So massive investment for a small company and still didn't make any profit. Pity the workers who are losing their jobs and suppliers that may not get paid. But, the directors are allowed to start a new limited company
So massive investment for a small company and still didn't make any profit. Pity the workers who are losing their jobs and suppliers that may not get paid. But, the directors are allowed to start a new limited company and still pay themselves....
It's always a shame to see a local company go under especially given that Brexit presumably kicked all their EU sales. But they also never seemed like great value for money. As far as I could tell they were in the same vein as Genesis: making old-school frames out of standard steel tube-sets, fitting some quite nice finishing kit and then charging premium prices for them. They looked like nice bikes when I've seen them out on the road, but the designs don't look like anything special. When you compare to companies like Fairlight who are using custom tubesets, offer so many sizes that they're near-custom fit, and then let you spec pretty much every component for the same money, the value for money for a Temple just wasn't there.
What a stupid idea. I hope Garmin receive cyclist feedback on this. Here's how drivers should be spotting cyclists: BY LOOKING OUT OF THEIR WINDOWS INSTEAD OF AT THEIR CAR INFOTAINMENT SCREENS. As the headline suggests, this will only ever work if every cyclist has a Garmin, turns on live tracking, and every driver has a Waze enabled device in their car and pays attention to it. And even then it won't work. For those who aren't aware, Waze users routinely make mistakes when identifying 'hazards'. For example, if a National Highways car is parked somewhere, Waze users will consistently mark it as a police car despite it being a completely different colour. They're not the brightest group.
‘Temple Cycles was always selling its bikes globally, in particular into Europe. Brexit created a lot of barriers and pushed up our costs to export our bikes in a big way.’ Amazingly, people actually believed the crap and lies that leaving the EU would help UK business. Now that the UK government is trying to correct some of the stupidity of Brexit there are people who still defend Brexit! They are like MAGA, tenacious in their ignorance.
Homemade is great but if you want to go ready made a shout out for Nakd protein bars, my regular for long rides and hikes now, nothing but fruit and nuts and natural flavouring, 15g carbs, 10g fat, and 8g protein, 200 calories and even counts as one of your five a day. £26 for a box of 36 on Amazon.
@kil0ran Good point! "The next monthly outdoor meeting of the Rolex owners' club will be..." With the most expensive Garmin being almost a grand now, and if it integrates with Garmin watches they run up to £2800, worth the scrotes turning up just for the device.
56 thoughts on “MP accuses council of creating “Battle Royale” over cycle lanes after angry motorist drives over wands; Unicycle commuting; Prolific bike thief banned from station cycle parking; 38 million unused bikes; Active travel boost + more on the live blog”
Think of the road tax that
Think of the road tax that could be generated on 38M bikes !
Eventually, VED is going to
Eventually, VED is going to be replaced as more zero emission vehicles hit the road. So, as some motorists keep banging on about how they pay to use the road, maybe there should be a road tax that actually takes into account the amount of road you use?
I’m thinking something based on vehicle footprint and weight (to consider the space consumed and damage caused to surface) which is then applied for every road journey (to make people think about the necessity of each journey).
I would think they will find
I would think they will find a way to tax the lecky used by cars. Maybe multiplied by a fudge factor made up from unnecessariness quotient of the vehicle and its coefficient of obnoxiousness.
Add in a “Road tax”
Add in a “Road tax” multiplier. The number of times they have moaned about cyclists not paying the non existant tax in the last 3 years is their multiplier.
Sriracha wrote:
Love it!
I think a tyre tax would work
I think a tyre tax would work well:
– effectively charges for miles driven without intrusive tracking and reporting
– can be made roughly proportional to the weight of the vehicle and thus the damage it causes to roads
– if a tyre failed early, this could be documented at the shop that replaced it, and a credit issued against the tax on the replacement tyre
– discourages doing burnouts and drifting around corners
– downside: may encourage more people to drive on unsafe bald tyres
– tyres used only on private racing events could be untaxed
Isn;’t this going to just
Isn;’t this going to just encourage all the people who’ll happily break into your shed to ‘borrow’ a supposedly unused bike?
Define “unused” – you’ll take
Define “unused” – you’ll take my N+1’s out of my cold dead hands
My garage looks like a bike
My garage looks like a bike shop!
I’ll just leave this here :
Freeman update. I’ll just leave this here :
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/mar/12/dr-richard-freeman-found-guilty-of-ordering-banned-testosterone-for-unnamed-rider
“Do you have an unused bike
“Do you have an unused bike collecting dust?”
No, but I’ve got an old hoover in the corner.
(Yeah, the old ones are the best!)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-28838287
Sriracha wrote:
That BBC site is brilliant for all of the one liners in the comments section.
So you did – somehow I missed
So you did – somehow I missed that. ?
Do I have an old unused bike?
Do I have an old unused bike? Yes
Would anyone really want it? Probably not unless desperate.
People don’t want something old knackered bone shaker, they want something new and shiny.
We have many bicycles in our
We have many bicycles in our family. In the last few months I’ve given away two. One went to a friend who had mentioned he was thinking about taking up cycling again because of the pandemic. He was delighted and uses it a lot. The other went to my son’s school. I’d been given the latter, a brand new but low end MTB by a client. I didn’t need it so donated it to my son’s school, suggesting that perhaps a low income family with someone as a key worker would appreciate it. This was accepted gratefully and was also highly appreciated.
I think I’ve one more bike at the moment that’s probably surplus to requirements. The partner of the bloke I gave one bike to is now showing interest in taking up cycling again also, so it might go there.
I don’t mind giving bikes away. But if I do, I want them to be used. Some years ago I gave a perfectly good MTB I’d built to another friend, who later confessed he’d never used it and instead allowed it to rust in his garden. I wish I’d kept it now as it rode really well.
When I gave the hybrid I’d reconditioned (a neighbour had chucked it out, so I asked if I could have it and fixed it up) to the guy who was restarting cycling I did so on the proviso that if he realised he wasn’t interested in cycling he’d either give it back to me or to another friend or neighbour who’d use it. I didn’t ask for money, I just wanted it used.
Be surprised. 2 knackered old
Be surprised. 2 knackered old bikes in my MiLs garden (been outside for teh past couple of decades) have jut found new homes.
I’m about to replace my MTB (nice Cotic on order, roll on May!). My ClaudeButler Cape Wrath Disc is 17 years old. I’m staggered that it’s retained enough value I can expect to get half what I paid for it
Mrs Badger’s old ridiculously heavy Carera Vulcan is also going for a similar amount.
People want bikes, and if they can’t afford new, or can’t wait, they’ll go for what they can get.
Carlisle has a place called
Carlisle has a place called ‘Rebike’, where they take old bikes, do them up, then sell them on. It’s non profit making. They also help re skill people and help the unemployed. They have real bargains and quite a few different types of bikes. Most cities must have the same…
I stopped giving away bikes
I stopped giving away bikes after giving two away for free and subsequently finding out both were sold within a few months.
MP Peter Kyle, seriously,
MP Peter Kyle, seriously, when did you last see a Renault 5, never mind a “souped up” one, any still existing high perormance R5s are now very cherised classics and it would seem very unlikly that the owner would start using it a battering ram.
Start your story with unbelievable rants and the rest is just mince
EK Spinner wrote:
just another mp who will say anything for votes basically, even though he should’ve worked out by now the majority of the voting population want this sort of thing at least in Brighton.
He needs to remember the local paper and cab industry is made up of permanently angry gammons who would never, ever vote Labour.
Too many Labour MPs not
Too many Labour MPs not supporting progressive policies. Absolutely no logic in his argument. It’s just covert victim blaming. A driver that is triggered by the site of a cycle lane should not be behind a wheel. Translate this to another current topic; would he think it okay for a man to get angry with policies introduced to protect women from abuse from men?
Exactly why I won’t be voting Labour.
IanMK wrote:
The Baroness in question doesn’t have an issue with discriminating against men to favour women. This is the usual anti-male knee jerk reaction, and it’s ridiculous since men are by far the majority of assault victims. We already have many biased laws targeting men and benefiting women, and this will only get worse while decision making by successive Governments is gyno-centric and anti-male.
Jenova20 wrote:
you are either on drugs or have a tiny dick.
possibly both.
Please, please tell me you’re
Please, please tell me you’re being sarcastic.
Jenova20 wrote:
— Jenova20I’ve not seen recent figures but traditionally yes, young men are the group most likely to be victims of assault. The vast majority of those assaults are carried out by other men.
But that doesn’t negate the fact that women are too often being assaulted, raped and murdered by men.
And your comments suggest that you simply have no clue about what it’s like to be a lone woman on the street, public transport, anywhere. This twitter thread provides a very revealing perspective that you may be unaware of.
As for biased laws, I can’t imagine you’re talking about any laws in the UK, a country dominated in so many ways by middle-aged and older white men. You should spend a bit more time outside that male-only cave you’ve been hiding in.
The comments in the argus are
The comments in the argus are very similar to other rags regarding cycle lanes. A group of people so angry about anything cycling related. Having read quite a few of these I have come to the conclusion that they are all cabbies comments. Angry fat bastards who spend their entire day shouting at other road users might feel their business is being taken away from them as people choose to use bikes instead of cabs.
Decent R5 turbos were hard
Decent R5 turbos were hard enough to find in the 90s never mind now. Idiots would try and ram 2 bar boost through them and grenade them or they became bodykit victims and never recovered. I haven’t seen one for years now I come to think about it. You’re more likely to see a Sinclair C5.
Funnily enough I saw my first
Funnily enough I saw my first one of these in probably 2 decades, blatting past me up a local hill last week. Looked minty too.
Quote:
I can see one of those quite easily on my rides.
EK Spinner wrote:
In fairness there’s one just round the corner from me usually parked in the street. A rather cool gen 2 in silver. A few roads up there’s a Renault 4, used daily. Not really the point of the article but he may well be absolutely right about the car.
Indeed! According to
Indeed! According to howmanyleft.co.uk there are just under 800 Renault 5s left on the road, with the Turbo being the most ‘common’ at just 287 examples. Like you say, it’s very likely that they are all cherised and well looked after, not deliberately trashed on road furniture.
My immediate thought. There’s
My immediate thought. There’s no way somebody owning a classic (5’s ceased in 1995 I think) would ram wands. Causing damage to body work or spin their tyres. They tend to drive in a sedate manner showing off their vehicle. There’s a Mark1 Escort and an Austin Elevenhundred my way. Both in pristine condition and both driven with utmost care. The Escort has a roll cage and spec’d as a rally car
Renault 5, Lancia Delta or
Renault 5, Lancia Delta or Audi Quattro?
I’m of the opinion that the
I’m of the opinion that the bendy wands used by many councils (I’m looking at you, Bristol City Council!) need to be replaced by rigid concete or metal posts/bollards.
Something that will do damage to a motor vehicle which hits it, and which cannot be simply unscrewed and lifted out of the way so that someone can park “where they always used to”.
Paint it hi-viz orange, problem sorted!
(The one lesson that I’ve learned from all the pop-up cycle lanes here is how badly many people drive – if I’m generous and assume it’s accidental, then a great many people find it absolutely impossible not to hit bright orange plastic wands)
brooksby wrote:
Like these ones?
“A cyclist needed surgery after breaking his elbow when he fell onto the concrete base of a bollard brought in as part of Edinburgh’s Spaces for People scheme.”
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/edinburgh-cyclist-needed-surgery-after-crash-dangerous-base-temporary-cycle-lane-bollard-3113781
Bristol tried using concrete
Bristol tried using concrete “tombstones” along Clarence Rd (by the river) but took them out due to the number of cars driving into them.
More details here: http://bristol.mag-uk.org/Tombstones.htm
That Labour MP is an utter cockwomble. If you’re cycling along in a cycle lane and a motorist starts acting aggressively, why on earth would you blame the cycling facilities for that? It’s like blaming ethnic groups for the violence carried out by the KKK.
I’d like to see some monitoring cams put up to protect the flexy-bollards and anyone caught deliberately knocking them down gets a one year driving ban.
Yup: I remember those
Yup: I remember those concrete things, hawkinspeter <face-palm> There’s a wonderful photo on the internet somewhere of somebody’s car marooned on top of one, IIRC.
I guess I’m trying to think my way around what to do to actually protect the cycle lanes short of laying proper kerbs (which (1) councils cannot afford to do, and (2) we know also don’t really work because scaffolders park in them).
Clearly, the wobbly plastic ones don’t work.
Clearly, concrete tombstones don’t work.
(and Sriracha has brought up failings in having steel rebar down the middle of the plastic ones).
So what do we do?
Lines of tethered kittens? (because nobody would drive over a tethered kitten)
Horses?(because motorists seem to give them more room than they do cyclists).
It’s difficult.. whatever
It’s difficult.. whatever solution, it won’t suit everyone; like the steel cables used to separate high speed roadways, to prevent motor vehicles that lose control from running into oncoming traffic, which are very bad for motorcyclists that crash into the cables.
hawkinspeter wrote:
That doesn’t seem like a reason to remove them. It seems like an excellent way to take people who probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place off the roads, at least temporarily.
mdavidford wrote:
I agree, but there’s other issues with the “tombstones”. The MAG link (which happened to be the best link that I found) cites issues with the height being dangerous for motorcycle’s foot pegs and it could easily cause problems for cyclists clipping them with pedals too. The colour isn’t a great contrast either and although they have reflective bits on them, they get obscured with road dirt etc.
We don’t want road furniture to be dangerous to anyone even if it’s drivers being careless though obviously some fixtures have to be a bit more robust (e.g. traffic lights, lamp posts). If there’s a problem with deliberate sabotage, then I think that law enforcement is the correct way to deal with it.
Quote:
I feel that some of his contituents are maybe taking their driving (or their parking) a bit too seriously…
brooksby wrote:
Well, one of them anyway. I wonder if this people’s representative makes all his decisions based on the single idiot he sees physically destroying what the rest want? I had to check that he wasn’t a tory, but is there much difference now?
Pretty sure that hoover joke
Pretty sure that hoover joke is one of Tim Vine’s. Which makes a change from his brother featuring on the live blog.
Yes, it was Tim Vine with the
Yes, it was Tim Vine with the funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe 2014. I did include a link.
I’m unconvinced the MP was
I’m unconvinced the MP was ever in that position. If so taking the position that it was somehow the Councils fault that some numpty made a concious choice to drive in a dangerous and illegal manner beggars belief.
By his logic it would be the councils fault if I keyed a car that stopped me filtering to the front at the traffic lights. Or the DVLA’s for registering so many cars on the road in the first place.
Total cockwomble.
Concrete or metal wands will
Concrete or metal wands will stop that battle.
You’ve read the car crashes
You’ve read the car crashes into building thread in the forum ?
It’s bad enough riding these often narrow constrained bollard lanes thinking theres a steel pole hidden in the plastic cover (other bollards may vary in design,but ours definitely do) ready to impale me if I fall into them, I really dont want my knees to be near things made of concrete or metal
Is the MP suggesting that we
Is the MP suggesting that we base policy decisions on which side of the argument can gather the most persuasive angry mob?
I’m not sure that is going to work out too well when the angry yobbo realises that he can make a greater contribution to the debate by physically attacking his local politicians than directing his ire at a safety bollard.
Mungecrundle wrote:
Well, it worked for Bre***, didn’t it?
Hasn’t worked since though…
Hasn’t worked since though…
“Prolific bike thief banned
“Prolific bike thief banned from stations’ cycle facilities”
Yeah, If they were willing to steal peoples kit, I dont think being banned from any premises or private properties will stop them coming back.
Only thing you can do is hire more security to patrol the area but even then its not a 100% rock solid deterent and many thieves will come back even if they have been arrested and spent a night in the cells. I say this having worked in retail for a long time and witnessed the same people come back again and again to steal even if they had been caught and picked up by the police.
If theyve already been inside for theft, what makes you think they are going to care about being inside for tresspassing?
—-
You could stick a GPS tag on his leg and make him follow a strict curfew but it wont stop him.
Want to stop theft? get tough on crime. Going to jail isnt a deterent and it hasnt been a deterent for a long long time.
Whilst I suspect you are
Whilst I suspect you are right, the banning order at least allows the Police or security to arrest the man if they do see him around as without the order, they couldn’t do anything unless he actually stole another bike.
Sometimes, Peter Kyle, your
Sometimes, Peter Kyle, your job is not to represent people. Sometimes your job is to represent and explain sensible policy to people too dangerous to be allowed out without a carer.
What an absolute waste of a Commons seat. Evidence of the fact that you don’t need any qualifications to be an MP.
That Oxford bike lane with
That Oxford bike lane with those barriers. I don’t know quite what the story is here, but a slalom like that is a sure-fire way to create conflict between pavement users, while also disadvantaging everyone with a cycle that’s longer or wider than “standard”, as well as anyone in a wheel chair or pushing pram. Well done Oxford!
It has been covered in
It has been covered in previous articles that the barriers were to stop cyclists from going down the normal route as they have to divert the pavement and make it peds only due to the size. However it seems the Uni only decided to do the barriers and the no cyclists sign and not the more helpful “Cyclists join carriageway” sign they promised is there, honest guv.
FGF on Singletrack had these
FGF on Singletrack had these Handske Joe Burt Limited Edition Lightweight Gloves
Sold out now…