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Almost 1,000 cyclists fined under Peterborough’s Public Space Protection Order – in just three months

Controversial legislation bans people from riding bikes on city’s Bridge Street

Nearly 1,000 cyclists have been fined in Peterborough during the first three months of a Public Space Protection Order being introduced in the city earlier this year.

The PSPO bans people from cycling on Bridge Street, and also forbids people from littering, spitting and other activities the Peterborough City Council deems anti-social within the city centre.

In total, 2,973 fines of £80 were issued by private enforcement agency Kingdom in just 96 days, reports Peterborough Today.

Of those, 915 were issued to people cycling on Bridge Street, and 15 for failing to dismount from a bicycle.

Most fines were issued for littering – 1,847 in total – with other fixed penalty notices handed out for spitting, urinating in public, and permitting dog fouling.

People given fines can save £20 by paying early, in which case it reduces to £60, and the city council says that 57 per cent of fines have been paid. Those who do not pay will be pursued through the courts.

The charity Cycling UK has campaigned against PSPOs, which it says have the effect of criminalising cycling when they are used to enforce bans against people riding bikes in specific areas.

Last year, the charity’s head of advocacy and campaigns. Duncan Dollimore. said: Some Councils have used PSPOs as a geographically defined version of an ASBO to restrict the use of public space and criminalise behaviour not normally regarded as illegal.”

Cycling UK, acting through the Cyclists’ Defence Fund, is supporting six cyclists in their appeal against fines issued under a PSPO in Mansfield in what is thought to be the first time such legislation has been challenged.

The case has been adjourned while the Home Office revises its guidance on PSPOs.

Meanwhile, Mansfield District Council has held a consultation, which closed on Wednesday, with a view to varying the terms of its PSPO which bans people from riding bikes in large parts of the town centre.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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13 comments

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wycombewheeler | 6 years ago
1 like
Quote:

and 15 for failing to dismount from a bicycle.

isn't the embarrassment of falling in the street bad enough when the cleat won't come out of the pedal?

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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I wonder how many criminals they caught in the same period whilst driving motorvehicles, 2014 8 people were killed on the roads of peterborough, I#m pretty sure that all of them were caused by errant motorists.

Yet another breach of the rules for PSPO.

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Crashboy | 6 years ago
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Similar to  Fish _n_Chips posting above,  I too have had a long standing relationship with the city, and I agree with quite a bit of it...

Having read the info on the PCC website from the link above I had a good chuckle: The reality I have seen around the city is that the bike paths are, in many places, a badly lit, "broken tarmac and smashed glass" surface like a really sadistic Paris-Roubaix (only flat) designed by vandals, and it will take more than a few thousand quid taken from ASBO hoodies scooting up Bridge street to fix that.

 

Let's not label these miscreants as antsocial cyclists: they are antisocial people who just happen to have been on a bike when they got caught being antisocial: on another day they could have been nicked littering or whatever - I would suspect they are just generally that type of selfish, careless person.

The "cyclists" the council are trying to encourage are a different type of person surely, and will be annoyed by being lumped in with them?

(Just as an aside,  the picture on the road .cc article isn't any part of Bridge Street (or even 'Borough) I recognise either...it can't be - Bridge Street is never that busy any more!!)

 

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CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
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The picture isn't of a cyclist, it's of a person riding a bike in a pedestrian area. Wearing jeans and jacket isn't the attire of a person who rides more than a few miles.

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hawkinspeter replied to CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
2 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

The picture isn't of a cyclist, it's of a person riding a bike in a pedestrian area. Wearing jeans and jacket isn't the attire of a person who rides more than a few miles.

I bet he's not a true scotsman either.

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oldstrath replied to CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
6 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

The picture isn't of a cyclist, it's of a person riding a bike in a pedestrians area. Wearing jeans and jacket isn't the attire of a person who rides more than a few miles.

That is, just the sort of person and journeys that we need to encourage. It makes no difference at all to congestion, pollution or other public health issues  if you ride 100 miles or 200 tomorrow, or if I go for a three day bikepacking trip or five. What makes a big difference is to encourage 10% more ' not really cyclists' to swap their 5 miles by car for 5 miles by bike. 

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brooksby replied to CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
1 like

CXR94Di2 wrote:

The picture isn't of a cyclist, it's of a person riding a bike in a pedestrian area. Wearing jeans and jacket isn't the attire of a person who rides more than a few miles.

(1) How do you know that isn't shared space; and (2) only riding a few miles is still a cyclist: how many miles do you think you have to cycle to count as a real cyclist??

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Deeferdonk replied to CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
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CXR94Di2 wrote:

The picture isn't of a cyclist, it's of a person riding a bike in a pedestrian area. Wearing jeans and jacket isn't the attire of a person who rides more than a few miles.

Yes he's clearly not a cyclist. He's just a person who happens to be shown cycling on a cycle.

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
1 like

http://www.environmentcapital.org/september-2017/sustainable-transport/s...

"Sustainable transport systems make a positive contribution to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the communities they serve."  Well, a thousand of those sustainable transport cyclists are certainly making a contribution to their communities, a financial contribution.

"We all know that walking and cycling are better for our health than driving and that getting public transport cuts congestion and is better for the environment. 

We need to use this knowledge to inform our choices."

"Our 2020 growth plans means that 9% more journeys need to be sustainable."

"Targets to 2020:

Increase the number of people who walk and who cycle at least three times per week by 1% annually.
Increase the percentage of people satisfied with cycle routes and facilities in the city from 58% to 62%."

Good luck with that.

So basically, just the usual local authority "we really support cycling, and we're really environmental, but secretly we hate cyclists."

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Fish_n_Chips | 6 years ago
1 like

I live in this god forsaken city.  

It used to be popular for Cycling in the 70’s and 80’s with new cycle lanes but people are driving and whinging in traffic.

Bridge Street has had a no cycling sign there for over 2-3 decades.

It used to be so busy to walk through without walking into someone else but that’s dying from online shopping.

I used to approach the area, get off my bike, walk 30 seconds to the city hall walk through to the road parallel and carry on cycling as that’s a normal road.

Only an idiot would carry on riding through Bridge Street  with that many shoppers/kids/elderly walking and it’s usually chavs with rusty bikes but hey it catches lazy nice bikes tools  - it’s too risky to hit someone unless at late night where it does allow you to cycle through.

Person giving advice above will also tell you to ride through red lights and drive the wrong way as it’s ok as long as you don’t get caught.  Give me people another excuse to hate cyclists.

Or just follow the Highway Code and road signs ffs.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

Why stop? Ride faster!

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schlepcycling replied to alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Why stop? Ride faster!

Yes, I don't understand why people stop, unless these wardens rugby tackle you then just keep going.  Also if you do get stopped just refuse to give them any details they do have the power to issue you with a ticket but not to detain you so just ride on.

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