Cycling in town centre - can I?
Discussion
I was asked to get off my bike by a PCSO today, riding on my town bike at <genuinely> walking pace through the town centre to where there is a bike rack.
This is the only signage that I can see in the shopping area:
And this is the street view:
I went to ask her politely why she asked me to dismount and she came out with the following reasons:
This is the only signage that I can see in the shopping area:
And this is the street view:
I went to ask her politely why she asked me to dismount and she came out with the following reasons:
- It's a pedestrian area
- You're not allowed
- I ask other riders to get off
- No difference between yoof riding badly and older guy on step through bike (me!)
pedestrian : pɪˈdɛstrɪən
noun
a person walking rather than travelling in a vehicle.
synonyms: walker, person on foot, hiker, rambler, stroller, wayfarer, footslogger; rarefoot traveller
And also:
adjective
lacking inspiration or excitement. Dull.
synonyms: dull, plodding, boring, tedious, monotonous, uneventful, unremarkable, tiresome, wearisome, uninspired, uncreative, unimaginative, unexciting, uninteresting, lifeless, dry
noun
a person walking rather than travelling in a vehicle.
synonyms: walker, person on foot, hiker, rambler, stroller, wayfarer, footslogger; rarefoot traveller
And also:
adjective
lacking inspiration or excitement. Dull.
synonyms: dull, plodding, boring, tedious, monotonous, uneventful, unremarkable, tiresome, wearisome, uninspired, uncreative, unimaginative, unexciting, uninteresting, lifeless, dry
Doofus said:
pedestrian : p??d?str??n
noun
a person walking rather than travelling in a vehicle.
synonyms: walker, person on foot, hiker, rambler, stroller, wayfarer, footslogger; rarefoot traveller
And also:
adjective
lacking inspiration or excitement. Dull.
synonyms: dull, plodding, boring, tedious, monotonous, uneventful, unremarkable, tiresome, wearisome, uninspired, uncreative, unimaginative, unexciting, uninteresting, lifeless, dry
At least one of those applies to you.noun
a person walking rather than travelling in a vehicle.
synonyms: walker, person on foot, hiker, rambler, stroller, wayfarer, footslogger; rarefoot traveller
And also:
adjective
lacking inspiration or excitement. Dull.
synonyms: dull, plodding, boring, tedious, monotonous, uneventful, unremarkable, tiresome, wearisome, uninspired, uncreative, unimaginative, unexciting, uninteresting, lifeless, dry
AFAIK, the bit saying Pedestrian Zone has no legal meaning. It's for information only.
The red circle containing a stunt bike jumping over a car does, however, and its meaning is "no motor vehicles". If cycles and horse drawn carriages are also prohibited, the sign should be an empty red circle.
So either the signage is wrong or the PCSO is.
The red circle containing a stunt bike jumping over a car does, however, and its meaning is "no motor vehicles". If cycles and horse drawn carriages are also prohibited, the sign should be an empty red circle.
So either the signage is wrong or the PCSO is.
Given that loading is permitted between 4pm and 10.30am, one can't help but wonder if the PCSO asks van and lorry drivers to get out and push their vehicles to where they are to be loaded/unloaded?
It's clearly a "No MOTOR vehicles" regulatory sign, and it indicates a regulation which does not apply to bicycles. The existence of the bicycle storage/security rack is also an indicator that the responsible authority for that area intends for bicycles to be able to use the are to access the facility.
As has been stated, this sign...
...means "No vehicles, except bicycles when being pushed", and this one...
...means "No Cycling". The fact that neither of those signs is displayed at the entry to the 'pedestrian zone' would lead me to believe that cycling there was permitted in law. Whether cycling there was a sensible idea would depend entirely on circumstances.
Just because a PCSO believes, or wishes something to be true, does not make it so. I was once issued a parking ticket by a PC for "parking in a bus stop". I didn't even have a chance to compose a complaint when his Sergeant knocked on my door the next evening apologising for his over-zealous new PC. There WAS a bus stop, and there WAS a layby. But the layby WASN'T the bus stop, as there was no paint on the floor to mark it as such. It just happened to be a bus stop alongside a lay-by. When I asked the PC why he wasn't ticketing the 8 cars in the layby opposite (same situation regarding a bus stop) he said that "it was not obvious where the bus stop ended and the parking bays began". But he ticketed the three cars parked on 'my' side of the street. Part of his logic was that the opposite side of the road didn't have a bus shelter, but 'my' side did, and that waiting passengerts would have to get wet if they had to walk from the shelter to the bus if it were raining. The PC was unmoved when I pointed out that the 'shelter' had no roof, nor had it had one at least since before I moved in...
Not relevant to bicycles and pedestrian zones, but used to illustrate that simply being a police officer/PCSO does not make you an infallible expert on all areas of the law
It's clearly a "No MOTOR vehicles" regulatory sign, and it indicates a regulation which does not apply to bicycles. The existence of the bicycle storage/security rack is also an indicator that the responsible authority for that area intends for bicycles to be able to use the are to access the facility.
As has been stated, this sign...
...means "No vehicles, except bicycles when being pushed", and this one...
...means "No Cycling". The fact that neither of those signs is displayed at the entry to the 'pedestrian zone' would lead me to believe that cycling there was permitted in law. Whether cycling there was a sensible idea would depend entirely on circumstances.
Just because a PCSO believes, or wishes something to be true, does not make it so. I was once issued a parking ticket by a PC for "parking in a bus stop". I didn't even have a chance to compose a complaint when his Sergeant knocked on my door the next evening apologising for his over-zealous new PC. There WAS a bus stop, and there WAS a layby. But the layby WASN'T the bus stop, as there was no paint on the floor to mark it as such. It just happened to be a bus stop alongside a lay-by. When I asked the PC why he wasn't ticketing the 8 cars in the layby opposite (same situation regarding a bus stop) he said that "it was not obvious where the bus stop ended and the parking bays began". But he ticketed the three cars parked on 'my' side of the street. Part of his logic was that the opposite side of the road didn't have a bus shelter, but 'my' side did, and that waiting passengerts would have to get wet if they had to walk from the shelter to the bus if it were raining. The PC was unmoved when I pointed out that the 'shelter' had no roof, nor had it had one at least since before I moved in...
Not relevant to bicycles and pedestrian zones, but used to illustrate that simply being a police officer/PCSO does not make you an infallible expert on all areas of the law
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