Illegal motorbikes/scooters - a growing problem?
Discussion
I don't know whether it's a growing problem or whether as a motorcyclist/older I'm now noticing it more.
Barely a day or 2 goes by without being passed by/alerted (by the noise) of a chav on a moped/125cc bike/quad without numberplates and/or helmet and occasionally in groups, not in a particularly rough part of SE London either.
To cap it all off on the A2 yesterday (near Blackheath) there was another chav, although with helmet, on a scooter who's under-sized numberplate just said "catch me". I was flabbergasted, saw the same bike about 9 months ago and thought they'd have caught up with him by now.
Is it that easy/a growing problem or am I just noticing it more?
Barely a day or 2 goes by without being passed by/alerted (by the noise) of a chav on a moped/125cc bike/quad without numberplates and/or helmet and occasionally in groups, not in a particularly rough part of SE London either.
To cap it all off on the A2 yesterday (near Blackheath) there was another chav, although with helmet, on a scooter who's under-sized numberplate just said "catch me". I was flabbergasted, saw the same bike about 9 months ago and thought they'd have caught up with him by now.
Is it that easy/a growing problem or am I just noticing it more?
Always been the case. In fact it's probably less of a problem than it was 20 years ago. Police now have powers to seize the bikes, not sure they could do that 20 years ago and grubby bits of Leeds had every bit of waste land echoing to the sound of an old DT125 being ridden around on one wheel.
anothernameitist said:
Welcome to GB2016
Know what you mean, what do the Police actually do nowadays apart from appear in TV 'docu'soaps. in real life 999 seems to be a lot of slow to answer phone calls & response haphazard. 101 non emergency (biggest con to the taxpayer in legal protection) will go on a 'to do list'.I have personal experience of phoning 999 to be told no phone 101 to report that. (101 takes ages to answer the phone while the criminal gets away).
The Country is rapidly turning to s
t for more tax & less service, & I don't have the means to escape, I'am scared. PAULJ5555 said:
Keep calling 101 every time you see one, call them every day if needed to bump up their figures, maybe they will do something. They certainly wont if you don't report it.
Not talking about you OP but everybody seems to moan on the internet but can't be ar5ed to even pick up a phone.
Try typing this into goole.co.ukNot talking about you OP but everybody seems to moan on the internet but can't be ar5ed to even pick up a phone.
"report an incident to the police online uk {insert your county here}"
Even Internet warriors have a line of communications into the police.
I've seen this around Blackheath/Kidbrooke too. Kid on a scooter, don't think he had a lid on. He cut under me through the bus lane at the width restrictions and nearly clobbered me. Then, at the lights at Horn Park, he turned and stared at me as if to try and goad me into a race, I ignored him so.....he just rode straight through the red light causing traffic to brake/swerve. Next thing I saw him stopped halfway up the mad mile, I guess out of petrol.
At the time I thought it was probably just nicked, but thinking about it, it's fairly well-known that the police won't chase a dangerously-ridden bike (we've all seen the TV shows, they are concerned that they will be held liable for any death) so perhaps this is just a new tactic: rip the plate off, ride like a tt and you'll get left alone?
At the time I thought it was probably just nicked, but thinking about it, it's fairly well-known that the police won't chase a dangerously-ridden bike (we've all seen the TV shows, they are concerned that they will be held liable for any death) so perhaps this is just a new tactic: rip the plate off, ride like a t
t and you'll get left alone?The problem is, the police won't even consider pursuing them these days. There is too much at risk if a thief crashes and gets hurt. Blame our litigation for tying the hands of the police. All they can really do is enquiries after the fact, which is never as good as grabbing a thief on a nicked bike, or getting the offending rider at the time.
Seen it in "posh" Islington. The scrotes have number plates which don't relate to motorbikes (I looked one up and it was listed as an Audi TT), and pile though pedestrianised streets without a thought.
Plod can't chase them, firstly because they can't get down the pedestrianised streets, and secondly because if they do chase them, some bunch of leftie lawyers will claim they are being mean to the little darlings when they fall off and get killed.
Plod can't chase them, firstly because they can't get down the pedestrianised streets, and secondly because if they do chase them, some bunch of leftie lawyers will claim they are being mean to the little darlings when they fall off and get killed.
Yeah totally understand (but disagree with) the "we can't chase them" argument but can only see this issue increasing in time - why bother running drugs in a car when you can do it on a bike and guarantee getting away, why not just nick that bike for a laugh because we can and nobody can stop us etc.
My own bike was nicked (chain cut) when I lived in St Mary Cray last year - I know I bought it unto myself with the area (all I could afford at the time) - but it was a bigger issue there, every weekend & night without fail they were joyriding them around, got so fed up of calling the police daily I stopped after a few weeks and didn't sleep well - checking each one to make sure it wasn't mine...
It was yesterday's A2 incident - if I rode around on an otherwise normal scooter with a plate that just read "stop me" I doubt I'd last long...
Funniest was a few weeks ago though, passed by a group with no helmets (2 bikes, 1 quad) in Sydenham, all trying (badly!) to pop wheelies every 15 sec's - thing is the guy on the dirt bike was a good 25 stone - how he couldn't get the front wheel up I'll never know!
Guess these scum are why my bike insurance is so high!
My own bike was nicked (chain cut) when I lived in St Mary Cray last year - I know I bought it unto myself with the area (all I could afford at the time) - but it was a bigger issue there, every weekend & night without fail they were joyriding them around, got so fed up of calling the police daily I stopped after a few weeks and didn't sleep well - checking each one to make sure it wasn't mine...
It was yesterday's A2 incident - if I rode around on an otherwise normal scooter with a plate that just read "stop me" I doubt I'd last long...
Funniest was a few weeks ago though, passed by a group with no helmets (2 bikes, 1 quad) in Sydenham, all trying (badly!) to pop wheelies every 15 sec's - thing is the guy on the dirt bike was a good 25 stone - how he couldn't get the front wheel up I'll never know!
Guess these scum are why my bike insurance is so high!
There were some demonstrators closing the roads a couple of months back when a dealer died on his moped whilst trying to evade the Police, don't really understand why the family are blaming police or why it has so much widespread support with the public. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teenager-died...
Every day I see kids riding without any Helmets on mopeds and older ones riding with no/minuscule plates in normal clothes with no real protection bar helmet doing stunts with complete impunity from the law.
Just yesterday I was at the lights on the A2 and two bikers infront of me took of rather briskly (was considering having a play off the line but my engine wasn't upto temperature) pulling fat wheelies into the distance, few hundred meters down the road it ended badly for one of them.
https://youtu.be/AjBLitQUPLg
edit: fixed link
Every day I see kids riding without any Helmets on mopeds and older ones riding with no/minuscule plates in normal clothes with no real protection bar helmet doing stunts with complete impunity from the law.
Just yesterday I was at the lights on the A2 and two bikers infront of me took of rather briskly (was considering having a play off the line but my engine wasn't upto temperature) pulling fat wheelies into the distance, few hundred meters down the road it ended badly for one of them.
https://youtu.be/AjBLitQUPLg
edit: fixed link
Edited by untakenname on Monday 8th August 13:51
summer hols gives the scum even more time for such behaviour.
Problem is when you run said little sts over, as a car driver you are automatically treated like the criminal unless you can prove otherwise.
its about time such "vulnerable" road users were held to account for thier own actions.
Problem is when you run said little s
ts over, as a car driver you are automatically treated like the criminal unless you can prove otherwise. its about time such "vulnerable" road users were held to account for thier own actions.
I see no evidence it's a growing problem where I am or link to the 'no pursuit policy' (which has been around a long time) increasing their use.
http://www.college.police.uk/News/College-news/Documents/Demand%20Report%2023_1_15_noBleed.pdf
untakenname said:
There were some demonstrators closing the roads a couple of months back when a dealer died on his moped whilst trying to evade the Police, don't really understand why the family are blaming police or why it has so much widespread support with the public. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teenager-died...
Indeed, a drug dealer who failed to stop and crashed is held up as some role model whilst the police officers who did the pursuit are framed as 'the bad guys'. No thanks. DE15 CAT said:
anothernameitist said:
Welcome to GB2016
Know what you mean, what do the Police actually do nowadays apart from appear in TV 'docu'soaps.DE15 CAT said:
I have personal experience of phoning 999 to be told no phone 101 to report that. (101 takes ages to answer the phone while the criminal gets away).
Hopefully you are not implying you called 999 just to report individuals on dirt bikes??They were absolutely correct to tell you to hang up and use a different number.
There should be a "regional police desk" you can call to report incidents, where the Police respond to non-emergency calls.
I called them a couple of years ago when we started getting a car with completely blacked out windows, parking directly opposite our house on the road. He'd arrive any time between about 12pm and sometimes 3 or 4am in the morning! You'd recognize the sound of the loud exhaust. Plus it would park for 30+ minutes, yet nobody gets out of the vehicle!
Drugs? Sex? Watching a property?.........
Well the Police DID respond and arrived one evening while the car was there. They spent about 30 minutes emptying the entire contents onto the pavement while questioning the driver. He never came back.
I will add, look on YouTube and there's a BOOM in videos appearing, for the most part groups of adolescent males speeding around together on dirt bikes (with GoPro cameras on their helmets etc), primarily in America. Then often getting chased by property owners...
The younger generation seem to spend half their day on youtube, the influence of these videos is big, plus the activities then get duplicated, as cool and exciting, by similar aged youths here/in other countries.
This also increases the demand for such bikes (often illegally) hence the desirability of off-road / supermoto style bikes by thieves.
The younger generation seem to spend half their day on youtube, the influence of these videos is big, plus the activities then get duplicated, as cool and exciting, by similar aged youths here/in other countries.
This also increases the demand for such bikes (often illegally) hence the desirability of off-road / supermoto style bikes by thieves.
untakenname said:
Just yesterday I was at the lights on the A2 and two bikers infront of me took of rather briskly (was considering having a play off the line but my engine wasn't upto temperature) pulling fat wheelies into the distance, few hundred meters down the road it ended badly for one of them.
https://youtu.be/AjBLitQUPLg
No way is that the A2. That's my manor. https://youtu.be/AjBLitQUPLg
Indeed it's not even south of the Thames.
I recognised it immediately: a friend of mine lives in Enfield.
It's the southbound A10 here.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff