Cyclist ordered to pay £500 for riding through town centre, as councillor insists cyclists "who have not followed rules" will be "rightly punished"

It's depressing hearing of people being persecuted for non-crimes like this while dangerous drivers are getting away with serious offences, maiming and in some instances, killing people.

https://www.nelincs.gov.uk/woman-ordered-to-pay-over-500-for-cycling-through-grimsby-town-centre/

"She received an FPN of £100 at the time but it remained unpaid, despite a reminder letter, leading to her being prosecuted. She failed to appear in court and so was proved guilty in absence. - She was ordered to pay a fine of £220, a victim surcharge of £88 and costs of £226.04."

Rights or wrongs aside, the fine is £100, the rest is because the woman chose to ignore the courts, and the courts don't like that. More fool her.

Sounds like a form of congestion area fee. Should other congestion area fees be brought up to this level? Cars kill and maim many more people why are their fees so low in comparison? Maybe pspos should only be permitted when enveloped within a congestion fee zone that includes surrounding streets. Add in 20mph speed limits wherever on street parking is permitted for a more complete protection system for all.

Ron Shepherd said: "These PSPOs are there for a reason."

The reason the PSPOs are there is that Ron hates cyclists.

"Not because we want to put them in place or to cause a nuisance,........"

We really, really wanted to put them in place, mainly to cause a nuisance to the cyclists that we can catch: not the anti-social, dangerous ones.

There's been at least 5 deaths in Grimsby this year caused by vehicle drivers, 2 pedestrians and a motorcyclist, what are the Council going to do about this, I bet those drivers won't find as much as the cyclists riding through town.

I was very sad to hear that Grimsby is penalising cycle users in the way they appear to be. Yes, there is antisocial issues with some users of two wheels, but an unhinged catch all for everyone, even those responsibly taking a bike through a town is not the right way to tackle it. Having just had a taxi driver park on a pedestrian area in the south of the same county, and deliberately make pedestrians move into a road, there will of course be no penalty applied to his 4 wheeled antisocial behaviour. Despite not being quite like for like, is frankly not fair! The 'share nicely' motto for EVERYONE is all that needs to be ultimately, but sadly, we seem so very very far from that in our current situation across most of the country.

Perhaps Carrefour will open a shop here, then cyclists will be allowed to cycle in the shop instead

Keep being grim Grimsby..

Please spread the word 'Avoid Grimsby'. I've already written to Cllr Shepherd that as someone who enjoys cycling I have marked Grimsby as a place to avoid. Although, I'm trying to spend more time cycling in Austria because let's face it, the UK sucks for cyclists. 

Not sure what the actual news is here besides another cyclist falling foul of an antisocial PSPO

Cllr Shepherd, Grimsby wrote:

"These PSPOs are there for a reason. Not because we want to put them in place or to cause a nuisance, but to ensure the safety of the borough. These people have not followed the rules and for that they have been rightly punished. Others need to be made aware that we will not simply look the other way, those breaking these PSPOs will face repercussions."

Except that (1) I'd wager that there are many things in Grimsby borough which have a greater effect on 'safety of the borough' than 'cyclists riding in the shopping area', and (2) anecdotal evidence seems to confirm that they DO simply look the other way on far too many things.

So, cycling slowly is antisocial and disruptive . But having loudspeakers publicising the cycling ban every 15 minutes is absolutely fine?

putting the 'grim' in Grimsby