MP urges that cyclists should have registration plates – but the government’s answer is likely to remain the same

RV66 DKU, no MOT and VED for over 2 YEARS

Pfff! That's nowt for Lancashire- there are loads worse than that. I could have used WU59 UMH- previously no MOT for 6 1/2 years. Now no VED for 6 1/2 years, but let's have some variety. HY66 ZZB has had no VED for almost 5 years and is regularly seen around Garstang on 'traffic management' jobs. First reported in 2022. This is it today- I recognised it immediately and switched on the camera- no time for GPS acquisition

Is it worth reporting to the local councillor to ask if they can have a word with the police?

At least then, if nothing usefull happens, two parties in authority (police and council) will be shown up for not doing their job.

The police say VED is nothing to do with them, and it's definitely nothing to do with the council!

I'd have thought that if the DVLA were not doing anything then the council could do something to put pressure on them (DVLA).
Otherwise the council is admitting to being happy for this to continue.

Despite my efforts, I think many people do not understand how any law relating to traffic has been abandoned in Lancashire!

https://upride.cc/incident/px12dnd_stagecoach42_closepass/

Completely ignored by the police

I'll give you WU59 UMH anyway- after his usual sojourn at the pub. The police station is just next to that other, half-timbered white, pub down the road

The problem is, there is a whole other party also full of corrupt fools waiting to take their place.

Not much of a choice is it?  We know how bad the tories are, and can only hope that labour won't be quite as profoundly awful.

 If drivers routinely get away with this then how the hell do MPs like this expect it to work for bikes?

You're forgetting the increasing tendency for the police to seek approval from the Tory hyper-junk press by declaring 'tough on cycling and tough on the causes of cycling' while simultaneously ignoring and excusing indisputable offences by drivers on the grounds that 'everybody does it'. No shortage of illegal plates, vehicles without MOT etc. etc. in Lancashire, especially on toffs' vehicles

https://upride.cc/incident/k7ddy_audia4_redlightpass/

Lots of drivers round my way remove the reg plates from their cars so they can drive through the LTN sections of road. Quite a few have plates stuck on with velcro. It did occur to me that sneaking out at night and removing the plates of repeat offenders I recognise and then binning them might be rather droll, though given the number of CCTV systems around it might be rather risky. 

No, just pedestrian crossing bricks flags.  If it saves one driver the inconvenience of denting their bumper and having to wash the bonnet life...

He never really expected anything different, he's just building up his CV in advance of the GE (look how many questions I have aske of ministers!).

I know, it's shocking how underfunded the police are.

don simon fbpe wrote:

I know, it's shocking how underfunded the police are.

So they say. Plenty of officers to investigate hate speech on Twitter though.

Pub bike wrote:

There is potentially a case for e-bikes to have registration plates.  This might help the police identify the illegal ones more easily.

That would be punishing legal riders for the sins of the illegal ones, wouldn't it? Rather like saying that if we had compulsory ID cards it would be easier for the police to find illegal immigrants, the inconvenience for the majority would far outweigh any supposed benefits for law enforcement. Really the police should be able to spot illegal electric motorcycles perfectly easily as it is, they are the ones with the dinnerplate motors on the back that are doing 25 mph+ on the flat. They don't bother pinching them because they don't have the time and the resources (or they just don't give a stuff about the law in this area, which is a possible alternative), not because they can't identify which ones are illegal.

The ones causing issues are usually motorbkes or mopeds not e-bikes (not a term I ever use because it is unclear).

The laws ecist to address the issue; it is a matter of regulation, policing priority and enforcement.

Mark Harper and his cronies are trying to create and weaponise a wedge issue to save their butts; this will go nowhere until the current generation of senior Conservative are placed in the dustbin of history, where they can go and f*ck themselves forever.

(Speaking as a former conservative party member.)

There does seem to be this acceptance that electric powered bikes, even those that are basically an electrified Vespa, can be ridden illegally, without plates and, one assumes, insurance, by delivery riders.

Acceptance (or indifference) which seems to start at the top - and apathy about tackling the supply and sale of these.  True - there's always someone else to point at - trading standards (if only they were funded...), the police stopping riders, delivery riders (but who could take on the "risk outsourcing" swindle of the big food delivery companies, if they felt it was important...?), yoof - and ultimately the public for buying.

There was even the idea that this (consideration of e-scooters at least) would be the warm-up exercise for the Road Safety Investigation Branch.  Apparently now sunk without trace.

Is it that the flip side of "bikes aren't 'transport' " - except for the very poor / kids - and thus beneath regulation?  Is it a general political understanding that meddling in "the market" is to be avoided - except for the really big stuff or those rare cases where public go nuts about something?