One of the men alleged to have held up and attacked riders taking part in the Tour o’ the Borders sportive has claimed that he was attempting to stage a peaceful protest but was grabbed by a “bearded hooligan”. He also suggested that the men he was with were shoulder-charged by other cyclists.
A number of riders reported men with sticks blocking the Tour o’ the Borders route at around the 26km mark last Sunday. Several said that the men had swung at cyclists.
Deadline News reports that 60-year-old John Marshall has admitted to being the “ring leader” of the group of farmers.
“Four of us organised it. I don’t want to name the other three but I was the ringleader. We waited until the police bike and tour car had gone round.
“We blocked off the road and had draining rods in our hands but they were basically touching the ground so we weren’t appearing violent. It was meant to be a peaceful demonstration so they would stop and we could have dialogue.”
He said: “We tried to shout at them that we were pedestrians and one of them shouted ‘morning’ thinking we were there to support.
“I started to say we were pedestrians again but they started to push through. Two of us got shoulder-barged and I got grabbed so I shouted back at the guy who I could only describe as a bearded hooligan.
“From what I saw nobody touched the ground, nobody was pushed except for ourselves. For them to say what they have – I hope they can back it up.”
Marshall believes that motorists are “held up every day of the year” by cyclists and sees the road closures for the sportive as an added insult.
“We’ve been getting more and more abuse from them when we’re just trying to go about our daily lives, and for the cyclists to suddenly shut off the road is a bit of an indignity as they get the police to monitor the event and it’s basically a waste of police time.”
He says the police investigation into the confrontation is also a waste of time for “what is basically a storm in a teacup.”
Nevertheless, he remains unhappy with the event’s impact.
“I had to have words with the organisers last year because they’d taken up the whole junction – you should still be able to get two articulated lorries round it side by side so to shut off the whole junction last year was regrettable.”
He also questioned the nature of the sportive.
“The other thing is that they were racing – it’s supposed to be a ‘tour’ and it even says on the pamphlet ‘this is not a race’. If they were just touring they would’ve been able to stop and have dialogue.”
77 thoughts on “Farmer who stopped Borders sportive says the event is “a waste of police time””
Wow! Clearly deluded to the
Wow! Clearly deluded to the point of insanity. Should the police be asking for him to be sectioned rather than looking at him as a criminal?
Obstructing the highway is a crime, and definitely if it is done deliberately.
Great that although everyone else was wasting their time, these farmers had so much spare time they could indulge in pointless road-blocking, both illegal and stupid.
Is in-breeding a problem around there?
If it was intended to be
If it was intended to be peaceful why did they have draining rods in their hands? Raised or not they were surely there for intimidation?
Cyclists now seem to be the minority group it’s legitimate to vilify and intimidate. Supported by our wonderful media services and the opinions of non entities who sadly have the public eye.
1961BikiE wrote:
I’ve been saying this for years: if cyclists were a racial group or some other minority to which hate laws applied, lots of people would be getting locked up for hate crimes. The real problem is that it is illegal to denigrate those people, but the haters still have to vent their spleens at someone, and cyclists are a handy target, and like most hate speech, it is almost completely misguided and wrong.
There’s a fair comment i’ve
There’s a fair comment i’ve seen about closing rural roads at this time of year due to the impact it has on farmers being able to complete harvest. Most citing this point also completely miss the overall benefits of cycling and the events to encourage it, but I can appreciate the frustration of being stopped from doing their work nonetheless.
liam92 wrote:
Organising to stand at a particular point of the sportive armed with sticks with the intent of obstructing the highway and to intimidate its users, is not “being stopped from doing your work”.
The guy is a fucking arsehole and should be prosecuted
Never difficult to
Never difficult to distinguish between a ray of sunshine and a farmer with a grievance.
A farmer who complains about
A farmer who complains about others holding up traffic, eh…?
harragan wrote:
Beat me to it. Sick of farmers doing 10 mile trips at 15mph whilst spreading mud, shit and potatoes all over the road.
Oh the hilarity of coming round a bend to find the road layered in mud with a piece of cardboard with mud on road written in Biro. We need laws to make farmers mark hazards with proper hazard signs.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
For about 4 months of the year, you can’t do more than a mile in the countryside without getting lungfuls of shit either, smelly bastards.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
A farmer who complains about others holding up traffic, eh…?
— Yorkshire wallet Beat me to it. Sick of farmers doing 10 mile trips at 15mph whilst spreading mud, shit and potatoes all over the road. Oh the hilarity of coming round a bend to find the road layered in mud with a piece of cardboard with mud on road written in Biro. We need laws to make farmers mark hazards with proper hazard signs.— harraganCardboard hazard signs are OK for cyclists usually. Don’t need to see them several miles off. But how about a law to make farmers (well, anyone) sweep up after hedge trimming rather than effectively close a whole road to cyclists for days until enough motor traffic has passed to pick up all the thorns in their tyres?
arowland wrote:
I’m pretty sure there is a law saying that hedge clippings have to be removed, but don’t ask me to quote it. Can anyone confirm?
burtthebike wrote:
I’m pretty sure there is a law saying that hedge clippings have to be removed, but don’t ask me to quote it. Can anyone confirm?— arowland
Not definitive but https://www.bradford.gov.uk/transport-and-travel/highways/mud-on-the-public-highway-guidance-for-operators-of-haulage-or-farm-vehicles/
gives some info which obviously applies nationwide. I’ve often thought about informing authorities here in Shropshire due to the state of some of the roads, thorns and mud mostly.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
Or perhaps to clean the roads behind them as construction companies are obliged to.
harragan wrote:
This X a million.
I regularly get held up on my commute home from work (whether on my bike or in my car) by tractors on a-roads. I also regularly have to stop for tractors and cows etc when out on weekend cycles.
I don’t mind.
They are simply going about their daily business, it can be frustrating, but a little bit of patience goes a long way.
The state of the roads (pot holes, mud, cow shit, crops) after rainy periods with lots of tractors is horrendous. Again, I don’t mind so much, that’s the countryside.
Just wish those few people who kicked off would have the same attitude towards the occasional cycle…
harragan wrote:
With all the land they own, you’d think they’d be able to get from A to B using it and not the road…
harragan wrote:
No different than any motorist with more than two wheels complaining about others creating traffic.
Yet another person who thinks
Yet another person who thinks they and their kind are real people, doing ordinary “daily life” things, whereas others are not real people, not ordinary, and not contributing anything to the local economy. Remind anyone of a certain poisonous attitude? They may not have intended to hit anyone with those draining rods, but they definitely wanted to use them to “take back control” of “their” roads.
handlebarcam wrote:
You need to take back control of your sanity. Some things are nothing to do with Brexit.
Helmut D. Bate wrote:
Yet another person who thinks they and their kind are real people, doing ordinary “daily life” things, whereas others are not real people, not ordinary, and not contributing anything to the local economy. Remind anyone of a certain poisonous attitude? They may not have intended to hit anyone with those draining rods, but they definitely wanted to use them to “take back control” of “their” roads.
— Helmut D. Bate You need to take back control of your sanity. Some things are nothing to do with Brexit.— handlebarcam
Nazis, he is talking about nazis and dehumanization [moron*] no one mentioned Brexit, just you.
*ironic
Leviathan wrote:
Helmut D. Bate wrote:
Yet another person who thinks they and their kind are real people, doing ordinary “daily life” things, whereas others are not real people, not ordinary, and not contributing anything to the local economy. Remind anyone of a certain poisonous attitude? They may not have intended to hit anyone with those draining rods, but they definitely wanted to use them to “take back control” of “their” roads.
— Helmut D. Bate You need to take back control of your sanity. Some things are nothing to do with Brexit.— handlebarcam
Am I missing something, when did he mention Brexit?
Oh the humanity; does this
Oh the humanity; does this guy not realize that cyclists stimulate the local economy. Those lemon and poppy seed muffins don’t eat themselves. When I am out in the country lanes of Cheshire I don’t seem to hold up any locals, they all seem very keen to get from Hale to Knutford via a local rat run as quickly as possible. I guess I am now in the bearded hooligan category, nice to be an out group so you can feel the rage. If some tweedy crusty type with a ‘rod’ jumped out in front of me I might give him a nudge.
So, I’ve just been held up by
So, I’ve just been held up by a tractor, should I attack the driver with a stick as a peaceful protest?
beverlonian wrote:
no, you should block the road and force him to have a dialog.
Dear Mr Marshall, as a
Dear Mr Marshall, as a cyclist I am heartily sick of the roads being blocked by big motor vehicles carrying only one fifth of their maximum capacity. It holds me up and blocks roads, taking up an unfair proportion of road capacity, sometimes even delaying me on my way to work. How do you suggest that I peaceably protest about this, or try to engage these selfish people in dialogue? Should I go and buy a big stick (but make sure I point it down so it doesn’t appear threatening)? Regards, brooksby
I expect the drainrods were’
I expect the drainrods were’ needed for their work’ just like machete muppet from Bradford. I might take to carrying an AK47 . (International mercenary, coup arranger and adventurer, since you ask.)
He may have a point about
He may have a point about that whole “it’s not a race” thing, but (1) he clearly didn’t want “a dialogue “, and (2) I do not believe that any cyclist (not even the most hardened skull-tattooed urban fixed rider) would *deliberately* shoulder charge a pedestrian brandishing a big stick.
Have to feel for the farmers,
Have to feel for the farmers, they’re stressed about Brexit and loosing their farm subsidies. This is just training for the inevitable protests that will follow…
Grahamd wrote:
Farmers the new leppers!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Lepper
I’m sure sportive are fun,
I’m sure sportive are fun, but I am always conscious that several hundred cyclists might cause a bit of a traffic jam which isn’t going to help relations between cyclists and the general public.
But to block a road holding sticks is pretty damned aggressive, and is hardly going to lead to any positive form of dialogue. They are more likely to get a smack with a D-lock.
The hatred of cyclists has gone out of control (mostly because more people cycle, which is good) but how do we sort it out? Obviously, rolling over and agreeing to small events or off-road events is pointless, but how do we calm the hysteria?
Also, do the farmers stand in the road when there are on-road sections of motor racing? I can hardly imagine them standing in the way of a Rally car!
Was the farmer charged for
Was the farmer charged for obstructing the highway or carrying an offensive weapon? If not, why not?
He’s got a point though that
He’s got a point though that events like this on closed roads are “an indignity”. It’s an indignity to everyone that even rural lanes are so busy, it’s not possible to hold an event like this without closing them.
People. Ride with video. Do
People. Ride with video. Do it. It doesn’t cost much, and will possibly make the difference between a lifetime paralysed in penury vs. being able to take your motorised assailant’s insurance firm to the fucking cleaners.
And, as a bonus, road bigots will get the evidence-backed drubbing they rightly deserve.
KiwiMike wrote:
Yes!!! I even run an app on my phone so I have a dash cam in the car too. I’ll be getting a Fly6 soon, and find something similar for the front.
This one should be easy
This one should be easy enough for the Police to act upon and for the CPS to prosecute.
I don’t support their actions
I don’t support their actions in any way but if this event did genuinely disrupt their harvest then the farmers do have a legitimate grievance.
You sometimes only have a very narrow window to get your crops in and any disruption to that can be very costly.
Given that harvest dates can’t be predicted exactly I’m not sure how this could be avoided without changing the time of year that the sportive takes place.
On an unrelated point if a poster uses the phrase “take back control” it’s a Brexit reference until proven otherwise. It was the main slogan of Vote Leave.
Rich_cb wrote:
Thank you.
It’s not like handlebarcam hasn’t got form in turning threads into Brexitballs.
Rich_cb wrote:
This is not a legitimate protest. Farmers have to be flexible to cope with changing weather all year round so one morning a year (that section would have been re-opened by 10 or 11 a.m.) for an event like this is not a problem. There isn’t much land devoted to cereals around there anyway and most harvesting would be finished by now.
No, these are just miserable bar stewards. A Telegraph article is one of a number that show GoPro footage of two stupid old men with nothing better to do than prevent people going about their business. Anyone who stands in the middle of road and take swipes at passers-by with draining rods is not simply making a point. They should be arrested and charged.
The Tweed valley is a popular area for visitors so tourism will provide vastly more jobs for local residents than agriculture. The event organisers, who live locally, probably pay a lot more tax and support the local community far than most farmers do.
Simon E wrote:
I expect you’re speaking as a farmer yourself?
You do have to be flexible but sometimes you might only have a window of a few days to get everything in.
If the event fell during that window it would be seriously disruptive.
If we want closed road sportives to succeed we’ve got to try and accommodate the local communities as far as possible.
That being said there is still, obviously, no excuse for violence or sabotage etc. and the police should definitely be taking action in this case.
Rich_cb wrote:
i hesitate to claim these guys were representative of their local communities as lots of old farm buildings get turned into B&Bs in that part of the world to welcome tourists, but these farmers, who are more than likely dairy farmers since crop farming isnt a big pasttime in the Borders because of the generally poor yields due to the weather, dont want to accommodate anything, theres no middle ground to discuss with them, they are just anti cyclist and are just being total nimbys
Rich_cb wrote:
6:30-11am on one Sunday morning in September is not very disruptive. If the road closure was for a town carnival or resurfacing it would be fine. People like them see a cycle event as being solely for outsiders who don’t deserve to have the roads closed for them.
“We”? When anyone goes on holiday or a day out we don’t accomodate locals, they accomodate us. They tolerate us filling their roads, car parks, restaurants and shops in return for the business. The event website suggests that the organisers are local and trying very hard to keep as many people as possible informed and accomodated.
Simon E wrote:
Have you done much farming?
If you’ve got a 48hr window to get your crops in and you lose 6hrs of said window then it can be highly disruptive.
You might not think that we need to consider the needs of the local community but a quick glance at the shambles that is Velo Birmingham shows what happens when you don’t.
If this event really did coincide with the farmer’s harvest then they do have a genuine grievance as the financial costs associated with the disruption could be huge.
Rich_cb wrote:
I never said or even implied that. I don’t appreciate the insinuation. Why mention a totally different event several hundred miles away in one of the biggest cities in the UK? Was it the same organiser?
And it’s not “we” or “us” that’s involved it’s the event organisers.
Really? One Sunday morning? Many farmers don’t harvest early in the day, particularly cereals, because the crop is still too damp, even in favourable conditions.
Regardless of that, standing in the road wielding metal rods is NOT the way to gain sympathy.
I never said or even implied