In the latest attempts of one council to crack down on “anti-social behaviour”, namely people cycling through parts of Grimsby town centre, a speaker system will play messages reminding residents that cycling is banned on certain streets.
The news was first reported by the BBC and concerns Grimsby town centre, where hundreds of cyclists have been fined and some ordered to pay sums in excess of £500, and even as much as £1,150 in one case, after the council introduced a controversial Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) that prohibits cycling in parts of the town centre.
Councillor Ron Shepherd, the council’s portfolio holder for communities (pictured in the main image illustrating this story in front of boarded-up shops), argued the fines and speaker messages will ensure anyone behaving in an anti-social way will “be made aware of what they are doing and reprimanded accordingly”.
He added: “Additionally, this new [speaker] system will be a way of educating a wider audience as visitors and residents go about their daily business. Should the trial be successful, we look forward to expanding its use in the future.”
Short messages will be played every 15 minutes, outlining the ‘no cycling’ rules brought in by a PSPO by North East Lincolnshire Council in 2019 and that have seen more than 1,000 fixed-penalty notices issued since then, the bulk of which have been for cycling on Victoria Street South and walking dogs along the main beach.
Just last week we reported that another cyclist had been ordered to pay £500 in fines and costs for cycling in the town centre. Last summer, a female cyclist was ordered to pay over £1,100 in fines and costs, while numerous others have also received a hefty bill for their town centre cycling.
Councillor Shepherd, has previously called similar fines a “great result for our enforcement teams”, and warned that cyclists will continue to be “rightly punished”.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Some locals have accused the council’s enforcement officers of targeting cyclists “they can get away with”. In October 2022, the local council faced a backlash from residents after a pensioner was fined £100 for cycling through the town centre, with some accusing the council officers of targeting “old and slow” riders while ignoring youths “racing up and down”.
Barrie Enderby, 82, told North East Lincolnshire Council he would “rather go to prison than give them £100” and that they could “stick it up your a*se”, after he was fined for breaching the PSPO.
In social media posts shared at the time, one person said they witnessed the incident which saw Mr Enderby fined and claimed that there had been “other young lads riding past” who officers “didn’t bother to stop”.
Another claimed she had also been “targeted”, while someone else reported seeing “three youths doing wheelies and racing up and down” while a council officer “just stood [by]”.
In one reply a local woman said: “Catching all the wrong ones… I sat and watched them all last week, only targeting the old and slow cyclists that aren’t in anyone’s way.”
In June of last year four separate cyclists, ranging in age from 31 to 65, were found guilty of breaching the PSPO, with all four being fined £220 and ordered to pay almost £300 in costs, before a month later Lauren Cullum was ordered to pay £1,150.
In contrast, in the same week at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court, Paul Berry pleaded guilty to driving at 50mph on a 40mph road. He was disqualified from driving for seven days, fined £60, and ordered to pay a victim services surcharge of £16.
Cycling bans in urban areas are one of the more commonly seen PSPOs and are often justified as a means of tackling dangerous, anti-social behaviour by youths on bikes in town centre areas.
However, they are controversial because they impact anyone who may wish to cycle to shops or amenities in the area. There are also concerns about their effectiveness considering, as has been claimed in Grimsby, often the people whose anti-social riding the PSPO is brought in to tackle could not care less about the local authority suddenly banning their behaviour.
Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it says have the effect of criminalising cycling, with head of campaigns Duncan Dollimore pointing out that the orders only discourage people from riding bikes into town.
52 thoughts on “Town where cyclist ordered to pay £1,150 to trial speakers playing ‘no cycling’ message every 15 minutes”
Perhaps the Councillor would
Perhaps the Councillor would serve his town better if they spent less time on this minor issue and more time on the fact that, from the photo, there are at least three closed businesses on the main street. Why is no one wanting to open a business in town…could it be that the place is poorly run?
Well, it’s obviously the
Well, it’s obviously the hordes of cyclists running amok that have caused the shops to fail.
Who wants to visit when you’re likely to mowed down by some septagenarian hooligan careering through the shopping centre on his Claude Butler, pulling wheelies and flicking V’s at the plod…. stands to reason.
essexian wrote:
He could do with spending some time riding a bike, before he becomes a burden on the NHS.
Of all the things that is
Of all the things that is wrong with Grimsby I think old dears biking through the town centre is the least of its problems.
Why don’t they have
Why don’t they have announcements stating “no littering”, there will be more of that going on than someone cycling.
And “Freedom is Slavery”
And “Freedom is Slavery” “War is Peace” etc etc 😉
And “We’re all equal, but
And “We’re all equal, but some are more equal than others.” Or in this case, less equal.
it’s like a rubbish remake of
it’s like a rubbish remake of Footloose.
Can’t wait to hear “Drivers:
Can’t wait to hear “Oi! Drivers! Obey the Highway Code!” every 15 minutes.
But I won’t hold my breath.
“You can’t park there mate!”
“You can’t park there mate!”
Welcome. Welcome to City 17.
Welcome. Welcome to City 17.
You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers. I thought so much of City 17 that I elected to establish my Administration here, in the Citadel so thoughtfully provided by Our Benefactors. I have been proud to call City 17 my home. And so, whether you are here to stay, or passing through on your way to parts unknown, welcome to City 17. It’s safer here.
Lets hope they dont go to
Lets hope they dont go to Ravenholm.
Hmm;
Hmm;
So on a quick look through google maps, at one end of the no cycling area, you go through a underpass (only sane way from what I can see for a novice to get past the road in question), then require telepathy to realise where you are supposed to go to continue given pedestrianised area signs and lack of direction signage…
And the correct route is onto a road which I suspect isn’t particularly nice to cycle on.
Going the other way, there is zero signage to indicate that you can use said underpass to avoid the horrible road + oversized junctions (so need telepathy…). If anything the access looks like a private driveway!.
At the opposite end you need to negotiate the A1136 and Peaks parkway. Which from a quick look at gmaps – you need to be braver than I am (and I have cycled through several of the nasty gyratories etc in london reasonably happily…) Basically 2 6 lane roads crossing; Ok, I will accept that there is an alternative route; But the complete lack of signage and low quality of some parts of it makes it useless – I shouldn’t need to go on strava to look at heatmaps to figure out how to get 2-3 miles across town, praying that bans are being obeyed by those setting them and haven’t changed (or need a gps unit to figure out the half a dozen minor turns I need to correctly make down twisty narrow roads…)
Are you sure this isn’t
Are you sure this isn’t Scarfolk?
adamrice wrote:
The bird (?) on that poster
The bird (?) on that poster looks like something from ‘Don’t hug me, I’m scared’.
brooksby wrote:
I’m guessing that tourism isn
I’m guessing that tourism isn’t a big part of the local Grimsby economy.
This makes me think of the signs the local police put up saying “lock your car, hide your valuables etc”, the subtext being that the area is actually poorly policed, and that the real message is “Police not active in this area” rather than “thieves active in this area”, and generally creates a bad impression.
Pub bike wrote:
Judging by the lead photo, there isn’t a big part of the local Grimsby economy.
Councillor Shepherd – putting
Councillor Shepherd – putting the grim into Grimsby.
Mr Hoopdriver wrote:
Are they planning on moving to Scunthorpe?
I wish I could upvote more
I wish I could upvote more than once
Who ate all the pies?
.
This is perfect for a
This is perfect for a takeover by Banksy. In fact I’m not sure this wasn’t in Dismaland…?
So cycling is banned as it is
So cycling is banned as it is “anti-social”, but a speaker blearing out instructions isn’t?
I said it when this was being
I said it when this was being discussed on yesterday’s live blog, but I do wonder what Grimsby’s policy is regarding noise pollution?
Another thing – does North
Another thing – does North East Lincolnshire Council use an old Nokia or something to take their publicity photos? Or is Councillor Shepherd just naturally pixellated?
brooksby wrote:
Made me chuckle…
Made me chuckle…it’s almost like people are sticking two fingers up to such a ridiculous idea.
Someone suggested it’s not enough having the speakers repeating the rules….there should be police at either end of the street.
Someone must hack into this
Someone must hack into this system and replace the recorded message.
Perhaps the return of the “Phantom Raspberry Blower”!!!
Starting to feel like a
Starting to feel like a protest ride needs to be organised.
The only reason you would
The only reason you would cycle through this part of town is to go to the shops which they are now stopping, contributing to the fact that the whole town centre is now bookies, pubs or off-licenses. You can either go round the diversion by a pretty quite road or 4-lane street which is pretty likely to get you knocked off due to the sheer amount of oblivious drivers coming out of Home Bargains at one end and a shopping centre at the other. That’s before you get to the end of it and have the 5-way light system…
In another light, a really successful brewery, out of the town centre recently had just under 100 riders raising money for the local ambulance service. Thanks to this councillor none of them went through the town at all: https://www.instagram.com/docksbeers/p/C9iAsMbtkx9/
I don’t know much about the
I don’t know much about the town but if they extended the zone and made a good crossing of the A16 and /or Ellis Way it has the potential to create a good route from the homes in the west of the town to the railway stations and supermarkets to the east of the A16. The A16, Ellis Way and that stupidly oversized 5way signal junction you mention looks too much of a barrier at the moment though and will supress a lot of demand.
In all fairness there is a
In all fairness there is a bike lane at the traffic lights (east and west) but no bike lane so you have to ride along the 4-lane road then get up onto the kerb at the end of it. The main issue is that there is no cycle lane on the north or south routes (or the east and west but at least you have the crossing).
To be completely honest it’s a pretty safe area to cycle in but I am comparing this to living and working in either Sheffield or London for several years. The sad thing is that from either Cleethorpes or Immingham you can get most of the way across the county on good segregated cycle lanes apart from Grimsby.
Councillor Ron Shepherd: Big
Councillor Ron Shepherd: Big Brother is watching you, and I mean big. Looks like he would benefit from a daily bike ride, and he’s a conservative, so guaranteed to be completely out of touch.
What is the £/injuries
What is the £/injuries prevented cost of this system compared to the money being used elsewhere?
Maybe get a crowd of cyclists
Maybe get a crowd of cyclists (enough to fill the street – couple hundred?), and spend the day riding up to one end, legally pushing the bikes through it at a dawdle, then riding round back to the start and repeat. All day. I’m sure councillor large pants would have a conniption because people are obeying the law…
Agreed. And to participate
Agreed. And to participate you must be silent and have quiet freehubs. Make as little sound as possible and complain the speakers are spoiling your quiet stroll through the town.
“Don’t ride your bike through
“Don’t ride your bike through here – that’s antisocial. Just get off and push it … No, not like that!”
Bigfoz wrote:
Malicious compliance
Dom of Drum and Bass on a
Dom of Drum and Bass on a Bike fame needs to visit.
Presumably he is unaware of
Presumably he is unaware of the extensive body of research evidence that cyclists spend more than drivers in town centre shops, as he stands outside closed and boarded up shops. Less per trip, but more trips per week. The bike racks in the shopping streets of my reasonably cycle friendly town are well used, including in the pedestrianised street where cycling was recently officially permitted (and previously unofficially allowed). Not many empty shops either!
Four wheels good, two wheels
Four wheels good, two wheels bad.
On the first picture, the
On the first picture, the town looks like a wasteland – I wouldn’t want to walk there, and only cycle on a mad max type electric mountainbike wearing motorcycle leathers… Funny how Mr Councillor doesn’t even seem to dare to enter…
On the second image, the pedestrian density is so high that save cycling seems (almost) impossible and pushing the bike would be preferred by (almost) anyone.
Can’t the police, Mr. Councillor – and perhaps locals (pedestrians and cyclists) – apply some common sense, then?
Perhaps the grim-face
Perhaps the grim-faced councillor could mandate that the local radio station broadcasts warnings to drivers every 15 mins? “Stop speeding” “Put down that phone” “Pay some attention” “You’re pissed, get out of the car” “Get off the pavement”
We need to get rid of all the
We need to get rid of all the Tory councillors, next.
Especially the fat ones.
Especially the fat ones.
The 2nd photo of Mr Shepherd
The 2nd photo of Mr Shepherd shows his body language, his forearms and hands, trying to hide his fat stomach. He ought to “get on his bike” and lose a few stones/kilos. I’ve a old bike he could have.
How are the cyclists going to
How are the cyclists going to hear it? They might hear a word or two as they ride past at 70mph, but unless there are speakers every couple of meters, that’s all they’ll get.
eburtthebike wrote:
It’s to let the *pedestrians* know. A regular reminder of the outlawry of wheeled bandits. Announces that the council’s looking out for them – without them needing to do stuff which would actually tackle the causes).
Perhaps council could provide handy piles of bricks / stacks of pitchforks for people to use also?
As for cyclists the deaf ones *can’t* hear it and the scofflaws won’t care.
Did any anyone else parse it
Did any anyone else parse it as “cyclist ordered to pay £1,150 to trial speakers”?
Give him a top hat and he
Give him a top hat and he could control the North Western Railway.