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Whipgate – So Andrew Mitchell was told not to use the Vehicle gate on his bike…

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  • September 25, 2012 at 6:24 am #16904
    alotronic

    All this hot water Andrew Mitchell is getting into was apparently caused because a police woman told him to use the pedestrian gate, not the vehicle gate when he was cycling out of Number 10. His line was that he had always ridden through the vehicle gate previously.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9563847/Police-log-reveals-details-of-Andrew-Mitchells-pleb-rant.html

    So yes, he’s a prat, but I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have done the same thing if busy-bodied by a PC over something so trivial – though my class wouldn’t have shown as much!

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  • September 25, 2012 at 7:18 pm #702041
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    John_the_Monkey

    ISTR reading that the policy
    ISTR reading that the policy is for pedal cycles to be let out using the side gate.

    If you disagree with the policy, you campaign to change it, you don’t swear at the people who have to implement it.

    IMO.

    September 25, 2012 at 1:10 pm #702039
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    drheaton

    Have to agree with stumps,
    Have to agree with stumps, this is a story about an arrogant toff who thinks he’s better than the ‘common man” and who threatened to use his influence against a policeman to try and get his own way. I don’t see the reason behind turning this into another ‘cyclists are a discriminated against minority’ story. There’s plenty of stories that fit that bill.without having to co-opt this one.

    September 25, 2012 at 1:02 pm #702037
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    Stumps

    Edgeley, yes its a road and
    Edgeley, yes its a road and yes he has every right to be there and of course there is nothing wrong with using his bike.

    However when a gate is available to use and he is told by Police – not little old mrs canny body – that he cant use the main gate just accept it and go on his way instead of being a foul mouthed prat.

    The whole incident is not about using bikes on roads or not being allowed to use your bike its all to do with him trying to use his influence as a minister over the Police to get what he wants and when he doesn’t he produces a string of foul mouthed abuse at the very people who he would expect to come running to his aid if the “shit hit the fan”. Thats what its about, the bike is inconsequential in all this.

    September 25, 2012 at 12:50 pm #702035
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    Edgeley

    The point is that, despite
    The point is that, despite the gate, Downing Street is a road. Bikes on roads apart from motorways have the same rights as any other vehicle.

    Of course it would have been easier and quicker for Mitchell just to push his bike through. But he had every right not to do so.

    And there was no reason for the police guard not to open the gate for him. The Met habitually fail to take cyclists seriously, and this is another, albeit minor, example of the problem.

    Not justifying the abuse. Certainly not the pleb comment.

    Peter Hitchens, normally wrong on everything, is right on this in todays M**l: http://t.co/uWfcy9dl

    September 25, 2012 at 12:16 pm #702033
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    alotronic

    It is pretty offensive… I
    It is pretty offensive… I only linked to it out of a sense of duty on moving the debate forward. 😐

    September 25, 2012 at 11:21 am #702031
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    Stumps

    dave_atkinson wrote:i’ll

    dave_atkinson wrote:
    i’ll moderate it out when i stop spitting my coffee over my keyboard, eh. :D

    Brilliant update mate =)) =)) =))

    September 25, 2012 at 11:13 am #702029
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    dave atkinson

    i’ll moderate it out when i
    i’ll moderate it out when i stop spitting my coffee over my keyboard, eh. 😀

    September 25, 2012 at 10:40 am #702027
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    alotronic

    Pictorial update (NSFW, bad
    Pictorial update (NSFW, bad language) The Andrew Mitchell Horn.

    This might get moderated out (fair enough) so here’s the link:

    http://politicalscrapbook.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/andrew-mitchell-horn.jpg

    September 25, 2012 at 10:28 am #702025
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    giff77

    The guy is a twat. He was
    The guy is a twat. He was told to exit by the side gate. There was no need for his outburst. If I had have done the same I would be in cuffs and flung into the back of a landrover along with my bike. The officer was probably trying to save him time by doing so!

    September 25, 2012 at 10:22 am #702023
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    Bob's Bikes

    Stumps, Not wanting to get
    Stumps, Not wanting to get into a bun fight over this but… if when you cycle to work an ignorant driver tells you to get off the road and use the pavement I am sure you would be peeved (and rightly so) perhaps this is yet another example of car orientated culture rearing it’s ugly head with one of your colleagues telling a cyclist to use the pavement and pedestrian gate. Having said that I do believe that this has been a storm in a tea cup and swearing at anybody let alone a police officer is wrong.

    September 25, 2012 at 9:30 am #702021
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    SideBurn

    To be fair the, “you learn
    To be fair the, “you learn your f-ing place” quote appears to be what he is alleged to have said? He admits to swearing at the officer (which is bad enough) but surely it is only a matter of time before one of these witnesses backs one story or the other? Surely the issue of exactly what was said is secondary to who is lying?

    September 25, 2012 at 9:24 am #702019
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    Joselito

    Isn’t it nice to have an
    Isn’t it nice to have an appropriate use of ‘gate’ in a political scandal for a change?
    7/10 for ‘Whipgate’. Was using ‘Plebgate’ myself but my fave so far…
    ‘Gategate’.

    September 25, 2012 at 9:09 am #702017
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    antonio

    ‘Open Sesame’ The row over
    ‘Open Sesame’ The row over the ‘Gate’ is immaterial now but what was revealed was the attitude and arrogance behind the slipped masks of the tory cabinet boys.

    September 25, 2012 at 8:40 am #702015
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    Stumps

    Edgeley wrote:Mitchell was on

    Edgeley wrote:
    Mitchell was on a bike. A bike is a vehicle. He should therefore have been able to use the vehicle gate, as he had before.

    There must be no compromise on the key point that a bike is a vehicle. Particularly in a place where important decisions are made.

    I think your missing the point here mate, he was on a bike which he could quite easily dismount from and one of the cops would have opened the side gate and he would have been through and away, but no, he decided “i’m a politician, i want the main gate opened” and when he didnt get his own way he spat his dummy out and became a foul mouth yob.

    I work at a local nick and cycle backwards and forwards to work. We have a large main gate for the cars and a side gate for pedestrians and cyclists who dismount. There is a buzzer system to get the main gate opened however the time it takes to get the gate opened we are through the side gate and on our way. Now if i had been abusive to the civilian office staff who operate the gate i would be sacked without recourse and rightly so, so what is the difference ……none X(

    September 25, 2012 at 8:06 am #702013
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    Edgeley

    Mitchell was on a bike. A
    Mitchell was on a bike. A bike is a vehicle. He should therefore have been able to use the vehicle gate, as he had before.

    There must be no compromise on the key point that a bike is a vehicle. Particularly in a place where important decisions are made.

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