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Vigilante cyclist's graffiti attacks on cars blocking bike lanes; Fake Ineos signing Remco reveal dupes the internet; Councillor hits back at criticism of his cycle lane comments; Snake Pass closed again + more on the live blog

It's finally Friday...in a few short hours we'll all be drifting off into the glory of the weekend. Dan Alexander is here for his fourth live blog of the week (don't worry, Ryan will be back on blog duty on Monday)...
Fri, Sep 30, 2022 09:03
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Vigilante cyclist's graffiti attacks on cars blocking bike lanes; Fake Ineos signing Remco reveal dupes the internet; Councillor hits back at criticism of his cycle lane comments; Snake Pass closed again + more on the live blogVigilante cyclist's graffiti attacks on cars blocking bike lanes (@50_euros)
30 September 2022, 16:10
Happy Friday!

Hey, we don't make the rules...

Oh go on then, if I have to...

Have a good weekend everybody! Ryan will be back with Monday's blog so at least you get a break from me... 

30 September 2022, 16:08
30 September 2022, 15:47
"None of this tucking a passive-aggressive note under the wiper"

One more for the road? 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

Reaction time...

PRSboy suggested they do vigilantism better on the continent...

"One of this tucking a passive-aggressive note under the wiper. I recall in Sicily watching a disgruntled homeowner pour the contents of a tin of gloss white paint over the windscreen of a car who's driver had parked across a garage entrance.  Even better, I watched the fall-out when the owner returned later, after the car had spent the day baking in the Sicilian sun."

chrisonatrike commented: "Finally a correct use of 'vigilante'!

"If you wanted to make a criminal damage charge less likely (not sure — maybe still applies?) would a non-permanent medium like lipstick work?  Or is that too easy to remove with windscreen washer?"

There's a decent thread on criminal damage, in the comments (the thread is in the comments, not the criminal damage...*goes back and adds a coma after 'damage'*)...

hawkinspeter said: "I saw some post this morning (can't remember where) that compared the pros and cons of letting down tyres vs spraypainting a message onto SUVs. I'm now thinking that spraypaint is the superior tactic — it doesn't affect the functionality, so those emergency SUV journeys can still be made and is likely a lot more permanent and more annoying to the owners."

30 September 2022, 14:44
Specialized hires former Nike VP as chief marketing officer "to engage and inspire millions"
2022 Specialized battery recycling e-bike

Specialized has hired a former Nike vice president in a chief marketing officer role, with the aim of "engaging and inspiring millions of new and existing riders". David Schriber, who spent 14 years with the sports giants, was announced by Specialized's new CEO Scott Maguire.

> Liam's Custom Specialized S-Works Aethos — Staff Bikes

"I am confident that there is no better marketer in the world for the Specialized brand at this moment than David. He will lead us to engage and inspire millions of new and existing riders, delivering on our purpose of Pedaling the Planet Forward," Maguire said.

"His cultural awareness and digital marketing capabilities will be an incredible combination with our deep focus on innovation."

30 September 2022, 14:38
30 September 2022, 13:49
RideLondon Classique added to Women's UCI WorldTour calendar for 2023

The UCI has announced the RideLondon Classique will be part of the Women's WorldTour calendar next year... on the condition that the organisers stick to the requirement of live TV coverage for each stage.

> UCI downgrades RideLondon Classique due to "unacceptable lack of respect" for teams and riders

During this year's race only the final stage was broadcast live, a breach of the UCI rules for WorldTour races.

"As the organiser has provided evidence of contractual commitments to broadcast all stages of the race live on TV in 2023, the RideLondon Classique is back on the calendar for the world's most prestigious events in women's cycling," the UCI said.

Next year's edition will take place from 26 to 28 May.

30 September 2022, 14:16
30 September 2022, 13:34
'Taxi driver' Twitter account locked after threatening to "run over" cyclists

Seems quite a few people have the same screenshot...

Who knows if the account actually belonged to a taxi driver or just an internet provocateur...anyway, since the tweets no longer exist, here's what earned some disciplinary action from Twitter...

 Message to cyclists: 

If you cycle towards me, in my lane, I will not stop. If you do it in your own lane, close to the line/on it, I will not give you space and I will not stop.

If you get run over, you only have yourselves to blame. I have a dash cam, you will be reported.

Charming. There really are some lovely people out there... 

30 September 2022, 12:03
30 September 2022, 11:53
"Dunce of bitumen": Some more of the French cycling vigilante's work
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

A couple more before I grab some lunch (Google Translate informs me the above means "dunce of bitumen")...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

And this: Sunday I park like a stick (apparently) although I'm guessing manche might mean something slightly less suitable for a family-friendly blog...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

FaMiLy FrIeNdLy BlOg

30 September 2022, 11:43
Snake Pass closed again
Snake Pass (licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 by Paul Anderson)

Snake Pass, the busy A-road connecting Manchester and Sheffield that earlier this year was the centre of a storm over cyclist access, has closed to all road users again. It has been shut all week, but we were holding off reporting it while waiting for Derbyshire County Council's response to our enquiry about whether it would, once again, be closed to cyclists too.

> Snake Pass protest: Cyclists reclaim car-free route

From the silence, we're guessing yes, as it was in the spring, cyclists will not be allowed to ride up. The closure from Monday 26 September for four weeks is so an investigation into the cause of a landslip can be carried out. 

Back in February the road was closed to traffic after being damaged during heavy storms. Following many cyclists visiting, to make use of the car-free route, the council controversially closed it to all users.

Anyone up that way been able to ride up this week?

30 September 2022, 11:17
The SAFEST way to listen to music while cycling? Shokz Openrun unboxing

30 September 2022, 10:09
Vigilante cyclist's graffiti attacks on cars blocking bike lanes

Over in France there's a vigilante spray painting 'educational' messages on drivers' vehicles when they block cycle lanes or pavements...

"Live to annoy the annoyers"...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

The self-named "masked vigilante on a crusade against bad motorists" uploads videos to YouTube on the Cinquante Euros channel, and shares pictures on social media as @50_euros. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @50_euros

They've even got some of YPLAC's stickers...

> Bike lane van driver gets 'you park like a c***' sticker 

30 September 2022, 09:08
Elsewhere in Liverpool... the Wild West Derby is back

We've covered this gem before...

> Cyclist bloodied by crash in "lawless" street where pop-up bike lane was removed may never cycle again 

30 September 2022, 08:59
"Plumber makes it big" vibes
30 September 2022, 08:59
30 September 2022, 08:48
Fake Ineos Remco signing reveal dupes the internet

Please say this isn't a foray into cycling fans replicating 'football twitter'. Cue 13-year-old keyboard warriors with Remco as their picture spamming 'announce Remco', 'ratio' and generally being incredibly annoying...wow, I've never felt like this much of a grumpy old man before...(PS. if you've got no idea what any of that means, good, keep it that way)...

30 September 2022, 08:26
30 September 2022, 07:54
Councillor hits back at criticism of his cycle lane comments

Let's pick up where we left yesterday's live blog...

> Councillor admits "large wagons" keep hitting cycle lane wands... then claims painted segregation works "extremely well"

We've been in touch with councillor Joe Hanson to seek clarification on his comments that painted cycle lanes worked "extremely well"... even though the now-installed wands between the road and the infrastructure keep getting knocked down by drivers travelling too close...

Here we go...

"This is the first complaint I have received from any of my constituents in relation to parking on Vauxhall Road. So is it unreasonable to suggest that I should not gather  evidence to present to council of this complaint?" he told us.

"Also I have evidence of the damage these wagons are doing to the cycle lanes. I have received many complaints from residents and businesses in the area about how these bike lane were introduced and their usage, and there is a genuine concern for the safety of those residents who use the bike lanes, something that I have raised with Liverpool City Council.

"We have a massive amount of heavy goods wagons heading along Commercial Road, Vauxhall Road and Stanley road, the main gateways into the dock road system which runs 24 hours a day."

I'm going to say that nobody here is doubting the damage heavy goods vehicles are doing to the cycle lane wands, that's pretty clear from the pictures. What a lot of people are questioning, including us in our email, is why returning to painted infrastructure would be safe for cyclists if the current cycle lane keeps getting damaged by vehicles?

Anyway, on with the rest of the day...

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. 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 joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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47 comments

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to qwerty360 | 1 year ago
4 likes

In the UK, the bar for action being criminal damage is very low - basically you can get away with a leaflet under the wiper, but any sort of sticker that requires effort to remove is considered damage, based on case law back in the 80s IIRC. So even a fake parking ticket stuck to the windscreen is not OK, the police and council get away with it as being necessary as part of their official role. So if it needs washing off even if it leaves no mark, it's a no-no, and of course, any twerp worth his salt will claim that the marking did cause damage.

Avatar
brooksby replied to qwerty360 | 1 year ago
6 likes

There was a story in today's Bristol Post, Amanda Holden (a sleb) complaining that Tyre Extinguishers had deflated her SUVs tyres overnight.

She complained that she didn't live in the city so why were they deflating her tyres (so why was she overnight in the city? seems that by their terms of engagement its a fair cop).

But she then went on to say that she'd been waiting seven hours for the RAC to come and sort it out.

Seven hours??  She could have walked to a shop, bought a footpump, and pumped her tyres up, in that time.  Was she seriously waiting around seven hours for a man from the RAC to pump her tyres back up???

Avatar
mark1a replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
4 likes

Oh dear, that's a shame. A vacuous waste of skin who has previous of course for being a bit rude about cyclists on BGT ("it's a TV talent show m'lud"). Reported in this parish here, https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-6-june-2022-293377, the clip is somewhere on the internet I'm sure. 

Avatar
Flintshire Boy replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

.

Nope. She was waiting seven hours for the snapper from The Sun to turn up.#

.

Avatar
PRSboy replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Sounds unlikely, it has to be said.  I've stopped on a number of occasions to offer help to people with flat tyres and I'd be astonished if someone didn't leap to Ms Holden's rescue.

Avatar
Tom_77 replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
0 likes

It's difficult to say exactly where the line is when it comes to criminal damage.

Protesters have been prosecuted for "damaging" the pavement with water-soluble paint:

https://www.lawteacher.net/cases/hardman-v-cc-avon.php

More recently, a student was arrested for writing on the pavement with chalk, but the CPS eventually dropped the case:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1168813/Police-chalk-5-000-fail...

 

Avatar
jaymack replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Nope that wouldn't work. There's an old case (which wasn't old when I qualified) where some CND activists were convicted of criminal damage for drawing corpse outlines in chalk on the pavement despite the next rain shower washing the 'damage' away. I can however confirm that lipstick is a devil's own job to remove from a windscreen 😉

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to jaymack | 1 year ago
2 likes

Very good, one to add to the saddlebag / panniers then!

Maybe plastic wrap / cling-film for variety / if you've more time.  Yeah, not so environmentally friendly.  Several wraps round a car and I bet it's a PITA to get in to it though.

Police turn up?  Just claim it's a domestic and watch the other participant cringe.  Maybe apply some of the lipstick to yourself first as a reason you had it?

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
6 likes

I saw some post this morning (can't remember where) that compared the pros and cons of letting down tyres vs spraypainting a message onto SUVs. I'm now thinking that spraypaint is the superior tactic - it doesn't affect the functionality, so those emergency SUV journeys can still be made and is likely a lot more permanent and more annoying to the owners.

Avatar
andystow replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I saw some post this morning (can't remember where) that compared the pros and cons of letting down tyres vs spraypainting a message onto SUVs. I'm now thinking that spraypaint is the superior tactic - it doesn't affect the functionality, so those emergency SUV journeys can still be made and is likely a lot more permanent and more annoying to the owners.

Plasti Dip spray will peel off with some effort, so you could argue it's not permanent.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 1 year ago
5 likes

If councillor Joe Hanson thinks that painted lanes work extremely well, he's either never ridden a bike in the last thirty years, or he's blind and/or stupid.

Avatar
JustTryingToGet... replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
6 likes

All of the above.

Where any politician states something is safe, someone they love must be made to use the 'safe' infrastructure daily for a month. In this case I assume the only contender is counsellor Hanson.

Avatar
Flintshire Boy replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
0 likes

.

But, but .... he's a Lay Bah councillor. A LAYYYY Bah councillor.

.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
4 likes

You said that yesterday and it is just as incoherent.

 

Avatar
chrisonabike | 1 year ago
8 likes

RE: Wild west Derby - I could cover that every day in Edinburgh and I imagine most other places can too. Paint's meaningless when it comes to motoring - as are pavements, clearly.  If "active travel should be the first choice" and if we really give a monkeys about "access" and inclusion then top of any transport agenda should be "how to ensure motor vehicles stay where they're permitted".  I'd suggest a radical policy of "joining the dots" and "actually enforcing current laws" with a side order of "review of road law".  Maybe a "comprehensive" one?

EDIT - oh, and stop wasting money on things that are "suggestions" e.g. advisory cycle lane, exemptions for "loading" / "drop off" which mean "deploy BOLAS and park anyway" etc.  If it's important make it compulsory / mandatory.

Avatar
Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
11 likes
Councillor Joe Hanson wrote:

"So is it unreasonable to suggest that I should not gather evidence to present to council of this complaint?"

Maybe it's too early for me but I have no idea what they said.

Avatar
andystow replied to Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
2 likes

Car Delenda Est wrote:
Councillor Joe Hanson wrote:

"So is it unreasonable to suggest that I should not gather evidence to present to council of this complaint?"

Maybe it's too early for me but I have no idea what they said.

Unfortunately, I was unable to have any trouble not understanding it.

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