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Bike ban council wants "safe place where people don't worry about bicycles" and claims cyclists "fly through town centre" – but cyclists say they are being fined for dismounting and pushing their bikes

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town," said one dismayed councillor "inundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes" ...

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town. Should we be fining people who are using their bikes to go into town?" 

That was the question posed by one Bedford councillor at a meeting last week, the local representative raising issue with a town centre cycling ban and suggesting she has been "inundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes in the town centre".

It is the latest chapter in the PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) story surrounding cycling bans in many towns and cities across the country, local authorities restricting use of bicycles in certain areas and fining those who do not adhere to the rules, often introduced with a stated purpose of tackling anti-social behaviour.

In 2016, Bedford became one of a number of towns to impose a cycling ban in pedestrianised areas, using a PSPO to crack down on "anti-social behaviour".

Bedford town centre (via StreetView)

Under the PSPO, which according to Bedford Borough Council was put in place "following consultation suggesting that reckless riding of bicycles in Bedford town centre was reducing the quality of life of residents", cycling is not permitted in certain parts of the town centre between 9am and 6pm.

Since the ban was introduced, thousands of Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued to people riding their bikes in Bedford town centre, perhaps most famously when, in 2019, ultra-distance cyclist Josh Quigley was slapped with a £75 fine for cycling through the town just a week into his second – and ultimately successful – round-the-world ride. 

Josh Quigley and fine (via Twitter)

During the same year, Jeremy Vine offered to pay the fine of a woman caught breaching the PSPO, because the broadcaster didn't "want her to be put off cycling for a second".

> Man faces £351 bill after being caught cycling through Bedford town centre

The PSPO, which has been the subject of protest group rides by local cycling campaigners who brand it "discriminatory", was due to expire in 2022 but was extended by the council – despite a consultation revealing that 54 per cent of residents were opposed to the town centre cycling ban.

And now, in a similar manner to the fines meted out earlier this year in Colchester – which ultimately led to the local authority waiving the penalties following a backlash from residents – a Bedford councillor has claimed that several cyclists have been fined for breaching the PSPO despite having already dismounted their bikes.

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town"

 During a recent Bedford Borough Council meeting, reported on by Bedford Today, Labour councillor Caroline White said: "I've been inundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes in the town centre near Harpur Square.

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town. Should we be fining people who are using their bikes to go into town?"

In response, the council's chief environment officer Paul Pace said: "That zone is for pedestrians only. We want to encourage people into our town centres, and they want a safe place where they can actually not worry about bicycles.

"I've witnessed, many times, bicycles flying through the town centre. The only reason we bought these fines was we had a number of instances with one or two people getting clipped with bicycles, mostly the elderly, but also huge amounts of near misses."

He continued: "We don't ban cycling all the time, we ban it during a period of time. If we were allowing people to cycle through there and not enforcing it, we would be called to task to say why are we not enforcing the traffic regulation order."

However, White criticised the lack of clear signage notifying people on bikes that cycling is not permitted, adding: "I agree we need to make it a safe zone for pedestrians, but then it's also our responsibility to be putting better signage."

"There is traffic regulation in order signs as well as the PSPO [Public Spaces Protection Order] signs that clearly do say the area is a pedestrian zone. There is quite a lot of signage already in place," Pace responded, before offering to walk the site with councillors.

According to Bedford Borough Council's website, failing to comply with the PSPO is an offence which carries a maximum penalty upon conviction of a fine not exceeding £1,000, but offences may also be dealt with by way of a fixed penalty notice of £75.

While those in authority in Bedford appear to be doubling down on the approach, yesterday we reported that Worcester City Council looks set to remove a similar ban from its main shopping area. Naturally, this prompted one outspoken Conservative councillor, who previously wanted mandatory cyclist number plates, to claim that removing the ban will turn it into a "dangerous and unwelcoming" place.

In March, we reported that Worcester City Council opted against extending its city centre cycling ban PSPO, council figures stating that it was "more about culture wars than what we want for the city" and that they were "never convinced dangerous cyclists were the big issue", with the ban feeling like "political theatre". Campaigners also argued it acted as a "psychological barrier" to more people using bicycles.

PSPOs are a hot topic at the minute, the seemingly never-ending saga in Grimsby rumbling on into the autumn. Last month we reported that another cyclist had been ordered to pay £500 for riding through town centre, as a councillor insisted that cyclists "who have not followed rules" will be "rightly punished".

Grimsby's council has also begun trialling playing a "no cycling" message on speakers every 15 minutes to combat the "anti-social behaviour".

The major criticism that cycling groups have made about such town centre cycling bans is largely the point Cllr White made in Bedford recently — that they discourage people cycling into the town. But also that they do so while also failing to deter the sort of anti-social behaviour it is believed they'll combat.

> Proposed city centre e-bike ban will "discourage cycling and penalise responsible cyclists," says cycling and walking commissioner

Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it claims have the effect of criminalising cycling.

"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," Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK's head of campaigns, has previously said.

This content has been added by a member of the road.cc staff

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15 comments

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Born_peddling | 1 week ago
1 like

Yeah smart idea simply fine the responsible ones a typical 4 wheeled thinking..... A reminder those locals also vote. Then again this is Bedford if this fossil of a councillor wants to slowly strangle his own town let him. As for delivery riders I've only ever met a handful that grew up in the UK. Meaning gig delivery groups need to make sure if whom they've hired has done cycle proficiency or not as most don't understand their a separate rules set, which gives the rest of law abiding riders subject to apparent sociable accepted abuse? How ever any driver in there 1 ton + metal box can report a rider for making them feel unsafe

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jsknight100 | 1 week ago
0 likes

I agree with the ban I am a keen cyclist but my wife suffered a near miss from a reckless cyclist in a pedestrian area. Reckless cyclists spoil it for everyone

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Bungle_52 replied to jsknight100 | 1 week ago
8 likes

I agree with the ban I am a keen cyclist but my wife suffered a near miss from a reckless motorist in a cycling area (road). Reckless motorists spoil it for everyone

Oh. We're not banning cars from the road. Sorry I misunderstood.

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Rendel Harris replied to jsknight100 | 1 week ago
5 likes

jsknight100 wrote:

I agree with the ban I am a keen cyclist but my wife suffered a near miss from a reckless cyclist in a pedestrian area. Reckless cyclists spoil it for everyone

If your wife had a near miss with a reckless cyclist in a pedestrian area, i.e. one in which cycling was already banned, then that rather proves that bans don't work, they penalise the sensible and responsible cyclists who ride with due care and attention for pedestrians and the idiots who go screaming through without any consideration for others will continue doing so. It's a well-known fact, supported by empirical observation, that council wardens only stop slow, nonthreatening cyclists whilst gangs of hooded and masked-up youths can rampage through doing wheelies and they are powerless to stop them.

 

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hawkinspeter replied to Rendel Harris | 1 week ago
5 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

jsknight100 wrote:

I agree with the ban I am a keen cyclist but my wife suffered a near miss from a reckless cyclist in a pedestrian area. Reckless cyclists spoil it for everyone

If your wife had a near miss with a reckless cyclist in a pedestrian area, i.e. one in which cycling was already banned, then that rather proves that bans don't work, they penalise the sensible and responsible cyclists who ride with due care and attention for pedestrians and the idiots who go screaming through without any consideration for others will continue doing so. It's a well-known fact, supported by empirical observation, that council wardens only stop slow, nonthreatening cyclists whilst gangs of hooded and masked-up youths can rampage through doing wheelies and they are powerless to stop them.

I think the major problem with cycling bans is that it is attempting to criminalise otherwise lawful behaviour. It's already illegal to cycle and endanger others, so introducing a cycling ban only serves to allow the law-abiding cyclists to be penalised. The problem is that we have politicians who are pursuing an anti-cycling agenda, but dressing it up as a public safety issue despite cycling being a major boost for public health. Personally, I suspect the councillor involved has received a "gift" from some aspect of the oil/car industries.

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Essor | 1 week ago
7 likes

It's so disappointing.
The enforcers are not interested in stopping the anti-social riders; too risky.
Go for the easy targets such as locals as they glide to the bike rack. No coincidence that this is an easy way to generate cash.

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Accessibility f... | 1 week ago
7 likes

The real issue isn't the banning of cycling in pedestrianised areas - it's that there's no accompanying improvement in the surrounding roads that lets people who want to cycle do so without fear of being killed.

The area outside some large railway stations in the Netherlands is also cycling-free.  But that doesn't matter, because all the roads surrounding them have protected infra.

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chrisonabike | 1 week ago
2 likes

Paul Pace wrote:

That zone is for pedestrians only. We want to encourage people into our town centres, and they want a safe place where they can actually not worry about bicycles.

Great - so you've built a dense cycle network extending outwards from the city with high-capacity direct routes so people can cycle in to the centre and you've built transit hubs (park and ride or cycle) on the edge of the city to? (Bedford does have one - not sure it has cycle facilities though).  And of bicycle garages with a capacity of several thousand bikes, right (like 400 new spaces at the station)?

(Just comparing Bedford there - pop. 173,237 (2019) vs. 's-Hertogenbosch 160,783).

Or ... do you expect them to drive to the walk?

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chrisonabike replied to chrisonabike | 1 week ago
5 likes

Paul Pace wrote:

I've witnessed, many times, bicycles flying through the town centre. The only reason we bought these fines was we had a number of instances with one or two people getting clipped with bicycles, mostly the elderly, but also huge amounts of near misses.

Put that down to artistic licence and not intoxication - and like close passes one person's "near hit" is someone else's "nowhere near you mate" BUT some people massively overstate the "threat" from bikes ("could have killed me!").  My own anecdotes to add to Paul's: couple of people getting shouting angry with me because I cycled past them at about jogging pace max and over a metre away - presumably they'd be "near misses"?

Anyway, good luck Bedford - I don't know the place but a quick look on streetview suggests the little "cycle infra" that exists is the usual UK "paint and sign" on footways, disappearing at side roads - in this shot embellished with "road furniture" in the "cycle lane" also.

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Smoggysteve | 1 week ago
4 likes

"That zone is for pedestrians only. We want to encourage people into our town centres, and they want a safe place where they can actually not worry about bicycles."

In other words, 'we pedestrianised the high street so visitors would need to either pay to park in our exorbitantly priced car parks or use our exorbitanlty priced public transport. The idea anyone may wish to travel in on a free and clean method of transport is at odds with our need to fleece every single one of you.'

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kingleo | 1 week ago
15 likes

What is Bedford doing to protect cyclists from being killed and injured by pedestrians driving cars?

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mattsccm replied to kingleo | 1 week ago
0 likes

Can these cyclists not walk through the town centre? I assume that we are not talking miles here, merely 00s of yards. If it keeps the delivery riders at bay then it's good to me. However surely there must also be a ban on e scooters if licenced in that town and any form of invalid cart. Seems fair enough

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Benthic replied to mattsccm | 1 week ago
2 likes

article wrote:

...cyclists say they are being fined for dismounting and pushing their bikes...

@mattsccm So, no.

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Rendel Harris replied to Benthic | 1 week ago
2 likes

There's nothing in the PSPO (which can be seen here) to say that you can't push your bike through the pedestrianised area. I suspect that when cyclists are complaining that they are being fined for dismounting and pushing their bikes that means that overzealous wardens are waiting at the boundaries of the designated area and nabbing cyclists who have cycled off the road a few yards and are in the act of dismounting. Sounds petty but I can well believe it, I was threatened with a fine not long ago in Kensington as I was making my way towards a bike rack on the pavement: I pulled off the road (slowly) using a dropped kerb and as I did so swung my leg over the saddle and jumped off, whereupon a council warden said that I was cycling on the pavement - which technically I was for maybe less than a couple of metres (the pavement was completely clear of pedestrians, incidentally). After some discussion I managed to convince him of how ridiculous he was being but I can readily imagine others saying "rules is rules" and issuing a ticket anyway.

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Oldfatgit replied to mattsccm | 1 week ago
3 likes

If its more than 50m, I can't get off and walk.
Well, not without falling over a few times, and no doubt hurting someone when the bike falls in a big, untidy pile.

Some of us ride because we *can't* walk 00's of yards.

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