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news
Pedestrian zone cyclist.JPGUKIP leaflet says cyclists should stick to pavements
Cyclists should be forced to ride on the pavement rather than the road, says a UKIP parliamentary candidate. Lynton Yates also says that benefits claimants should not be allowed to drive and their licences should be taken away from them. UKIP says the remarks do not reflect party policy.
Mr Yates is the party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the Conservative seat of Charnwood, Leicestershire and made his remarks in a leaflet distributed locally, with a picture of it posted to Twitter by @atosmiraclesfb.
Under the heading ‘UKIP response’ on the subject of traffic congestion, Mr Yates says in the leaflet: "As much as I applaud cycling as a form of exercise and past-time [sic] the already congested roads cannot cope with both bus lanes AND cyclists.
"Cycles should go back to the pavements yet give priority to pedestrians."
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Mr Yates, a councillor who sits on Leicestershire County Council’s transport committee, told The Mirror: "John Major made it unlawful to ride on the pavement. Since then the roads are twice as congested. It seems ludicrous to me."
As Bikehub’s Cycling and the Law article highlights, cycling on the footway has been illegal for rather longer than that; the relevant statute is Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835, as amended by Section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1888.
Since 1988 – when Margaret Thatcher, not Mr Major, was Prime Minister – riding on the footway has been punishable by a fixed penalty notice, although official guidance reiterated last year by transport minister Robert Goodwill is for police officers to exercise their discretion.
In his leaflet, Mr Yates also says: "We could likely remove six million cars from the roads if benefits claimants were not driving. Why do they have the privilege to spend the tax payers' hard earned money on a car, when those in work are struggling to keep their own car on the road? These people really could catch a bus."
The latter seems aimed at the unemployed, although with around two million people claiming jobseekers’ allowance, by no means all of own a car, it’s unclear where that figure of six million comes from.
In terms of money spent by the government on benefits, unemployment ranks well behind those related pensions, family, disability and housing according to 2013 research from the Joseph Rowntree foundation.
A UKIP spokesperson told The Mirror that the comments in the leaflet "are not UKIP policies and they will not form part of the UKIP manifesto."
Despite that denial, Mr Yates told the newspaper that requiring unemployed people to surrender their driving licences was a “possibility.”
He said: "I'm sure people will say 'what if they've got a job interview'. Well I'm sure if you had nothing to do you could leave a bit earlier and get a bus."
Maybe the jobless could follow the example of Norman Tebbitt’s father, as recounted by the former cabinet minister in 1981, and get on their bikes instead? But only if they ride on the pavement, of course…
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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I have made a point of voting in every election that I have been eligible to vote in because I see it as my duty as a citizen in a democracy.
But...
I literally have no-one to vote for!
Why not take the 'political pepsi-chalange', and see who's policies you actually like the best:
http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/
It really is quite interesting once you strip away the hyperbole....
This guy is clearly a fool, sorry tool
.
Typical right-wing clap-trap. Someone's never seen Fox news then!
So... its just about immigration for you is it?
I honestly don't understand why some have such a bee in their bonnet on this.
I'ld like to see immigration better managed than it currently is, but for me, it's not even in the top 10 of issues we need to deal with in this country.
Crikey, let's hope UKIP never come out with any pronouncements on helmets or the resulting meltdown on Road CC's computer may be visible from space
So, UKIP will make Britain worse for everyone (except the bankers...) but people will vote so that we may leave the EU at any cost.
We need a 'pile of crap' emoticon for commenting.
No Surprise. It's their Nuremburg Raleigh
Whoops! Shouldn't have gone below the line on this story!
Oh well...
I grew up in (what is now) UKIP country, so I understand their appeal - commonsense-sounding solutions to very complex problems, with a fair dash of dogwhistle xenophobia and sexism. What I'm intrigued by is the coming ideological power struggle between the libertarian Douglas Carswell approach, with the Alf Garnett-esque activist base.
I won't vote for them - I'm one of the six or seven people in the country who will still probably vote Lib Dem, as they remain the party whose policies are closest to my own personal views - but I do think the media are giving the kippers a harder time than most. All parties have crackpot (and indeed criminal) councillors and candidates - and both of the two main parties have plenty of MPs & councillors who are ignorant-to-hostile on cycling.
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
But for Kippers, this fact is far too difficult to comprehend.
I believe an EU exit would be madness, but that aside...
You're right, UKIP has heavily influenced UK politics. In my opinion, for the (much) worse, as each party has lurched towards extreme policies and ideological rather than practical & equitable courses of action.
I truly believe they're not just 'p**ssing in the pond' of politics providing building blocks for a good a society, but chucking in buckets of arsenic.
In a similar way that the current mode of terrorism seems designed to split western societies. To create shunned outsiders in moderate muslims (disgusting that it's even a necessary term, and I'm a strident atheist) so as to gain further radical useful idiots to continue the terror acts...
Same mode of operation, though not the same radical outcome sought. I hope. Because much of the populist party language is a nicely dressed up version of 1930s propaganda
UKIP is most definitely not a party for average people, their shameful, cowardly, and libertarian (everyone for themselves...) leanings would be awful for the 'average man'.
Hello !
Can anyone point me in the direction of a jolly cycling forum ?
Thanks !
UKIP is full of crack pots, who think up policy on the hoof. This is no exception. However, I think we should be allowed to share footpaths with pedestrians whenever we feel like it rather than through local bye-laws for the odd stretch of footpath here and there. Obviously priority for right of way should be with pedestrians and cyclists ought to be prepared to dismount if necessary.
It would save a lot of problems at junctions and other pinch points without the need to waste local council time on passing bye-laws and planning reports.
Just think of all the progressive safety laws and taxes for cyclists EU bureaucrats could imagineer if they put their big heads to it.
Politicians - Probably the best liars in the world!
Anyone who seeks a position of leadership should not be given it.
Quote:
Responsibility should be a word that scares, not one that excites.
I think everyone is so missing the point here. Most politicians seem unfit for purpose on so many levels.
They shouldn't be able to make decisions without going for a run or a cycle first. I know I'm a much more agreeable person after a cycle.
The cynicism expressed here by many is pathetic. If you don't like a politician or their policies DON'T VOTE FOR THEM. If no one shares your views then stand for election yourself. There is probably a reason none of the parties represent your views, because no one agrees with you. Have so many people forgotten the 20th Century already? Remember Other Political Systems have been tried and been found to fail or just be, you know, evil. So suck it up and make a choice, or just shut up and leave the decisions to other adults who give a damn.
I'm proud to say i vote Labour and will continue to do so, so yes I'm a leftie. I'm also a Police officer - so by most peoples opinions i'm a right wing boot boy ! dont figure does it.
I've also worked in Newcastle West End where the immigration was massive compared to most of the north east and to be honest other than a few nut jobs the vast majority of immigrants were law abiding, hard working people, jsut like the large Asian and Chinese community up there.
Unlike the "white" locals who wanted to get rid of them, not becuse they stole jobs or because they got paid benefits it was simply because they were not white and British.
That area is now a hot bed for the edf, bnp and ukip which just goes to show the type of people who ukip are being supported by.
Vote for whoever you want, thats why we are a democracy.
Am i on a cycling website?
Leave your political diatribe and swearing for your no doubt very active facebook feeds.
Didn't Rohan Dennis do well?
Sure. Restrict mobility of benefits claimants even more in the absence of improvements to public transport. They aren't all just sitting around and wasting time, some actually try to find work, and just need a little hand until they get back on their feet. How is removing their right to drive going to help them? Riding on pavements is also not always possible, unless they are wide enough to be made into a shared path, or even have a designated cycling lane, which I am sure UKIP MPs are not eager to fund at all. I feel like I've been dismissed as some sort of a nuisance.
It diabolical isn't it. There is not a single party that represents my views. In fact I would go so far as to say that all of the parties (major and minor) have policies I vehemently disagree with. Of all the parties out there right now I support some of what the Greens say, some of what Labour say and some of what the Conservatives say. But the big problem is that each of those parties "lead policies" (the headline grabbing stuff that they are positioning themselves with) are a complete anathema to to me. They are all trying too hard to separate themselves and digging entrenched extreme positions that can only be bad for the country as a whole.
It is a sad day in UK politics for sure. It's been getting worse election on election but this forthcoming one is a turning point in the credibility of government.
Perhaps all we can hope for is for the forthcoming elections to be such a complete cluster fuck that all the parties collapse and have to reform along lines that represent the people and not the parties.
I remember Wolfie Smiths little black book and statement "Come the revolution". I'd like to see "party politicians" added to that book...
Anyway Lets keep the shiny side up and the wheel turning.
I'm in 2 minds about immigration, on one hand I support peoples right to travel freely, on the other it is obvious that immigration strongly effects supply and demand of housing and jobs. Immigration is causing wage stagnation and contributing to the upwards house price spiral / bubble. London and the South East are becoming too expensive to live in. At this point we have council housing waiting lists of tens of thousands per borough so we should be building a few hundred thousand (high standard) new homes.
I refuse to let this post get lost in all the other nonsense.
Well done sir, well done.
UKIP have made a massive impact on British politics and partly because so many people are fed up with the insular world our politicians seem to inhabit. But rather than providing an answer, the UKIP crew are even worse than our professional politicians. Just take a look at Farage's record in the EU parliament and his expenses issues and so on, without even going into all the questionable characters brought into the UKIP fold as councillors or prospective candidates. I can't help drawing parallels with the SNP and the people (family members of mine included) who have fallen for the smoke and mirrors of Salmond and Sturgeon. Because so many Scots are fed up with the Westminster machine, they've come to think SNP holds the answer, despite the fact that its economics were always utterly flawed, as has been proven with the collapse of the oil price.
I can understand why people are disenchanted by Westminster politics. But as options the SNP, or even worse UKIP, aren't the answer. they'll just make things 10x worse.
Now can we get back to cycling?
Like delaying the introduction of safer truckers in order to protect Renault and Volvo profits?
Not so sure about this, but there is certainly a strong case for all allowing cycling on pavement on uphill gradients >5-6% where cyclist speeds are almost the same as pedestrians
At last, the centre of the problem.
You hit the nail on the head with that 'power struggle' comment - UKIP is fundamentally incoherent and self-contradictory.
I hesitate to say this, lest it be misunderstood, but that is one thing they do have in common with fascists - that they are trying to ride two horses (two bikes? A bike and a horse? A merc and a tractor?) at once.
I'm not saying they are fascists in terms of viciousness or policies, but this business of trying to appeal to businessmen _and_ disaffected working people and hard-up pensioners at the same time was charactersitic of fascists.
I reckon its precisely because Farage is _not_ a fascist (he's just a fairly standard Thatcherite), that they will indeed eventually fall apart.
The other thing about them is that apart from Farage himself they seem to be are a party of amateurs who don't really undestand politics or how it works.
Immigration causes wage stagnation and house price spiral - do you really believe that?!?
It doesn't sound like you're in two minds at all.
I agree with Must be Mad. Immigrants, like the homeless, people on benefits, 'the Muslim community' and so on, are merely convenient scapegoats for those in power and for people who don't want to think for themselves.
Agreed, and yes please
Had a lovely ride this morning, cold but clear and some sun even.
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