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Drawing pins found at Redhill CC race 2015 cropped (picture courtesy Adrian Webb)Surrey Police say they are taking cycling event sabotage seriously
Police in Surrey say that they are taking the sabotage of cycling events seriously and are also trying to foster better understanding between cyclists and motorists on the county’s roads.
The number of people riding bikes in the county has boomed in recent years, particularly after the 2012 Olympic road races took in a route including sites such as Box Hill, and there has also been growth in the number of cycling events.
However, some locals have voiced strong opposition to the rise in cycling and as we reported last month, events such as Redhill Cycling Club’s Anniversary Race have been targeted by saboteurs who have sprinkled drawing pins on the route.
Now, Mole Valley neighbourhood Inspector Richard Hamlin, referring to that incident and another one that took place during June, has warned of the potential consequences of people attempting to disrupt events.
"On one of those occasions at least five cyclists were sabotaged,” he told the Dorking & Leatherhead Advertiser.
"The inconvenience factor is significant but there is also the danger factor. For most road bikes the pressure in the tyres is incredibly high. So the risk is that a tyre bursts and a cyclist can hit somebody.
"If we were to find anyone responsible for that we would be looking at a charge related to endangering road users and we would take it very seriously.
"My message is that if you are frustrated by cyclists then by all means contact your local residents' association, contact Mole Valley District Council and contact us and let us know what those frustrations are.
“We are working with cycling groups and they are keen to know what they can do to help.”
Inspector Hamlin insisted that police were taking the issue seriously, saying: "We are dealing with these incidents and if we catch those who choose to try to take the law into their own hands we will deal with them robustly."
He also said that in his experience, the vast majority of cyclists were riding responsibly.
"On Saturday morning I spent an hour in Newdigate and saw about 200 cyclists," he explained.
"199 of them were cycling in the correct manner. They were in good humour, they were in single file and they were respectful.
"There was one idiot who tried to overtake a car and I stopped him in the middle of the road and gave him some advice about the standard of his cycling. This wasn't an organised event but he told me I had spoilt his race.
"The message there is that we are aware of these issues and we do address them if we can.
"We don't want to deter cyclists, we just want to improve the relationship between them and other road users," he added.
It is not just in Surrey that some locals have taken to targeting cycling events in recent years, with events in Wales and the New Forest also seeing attempts at sabotage.
Anti-cyclist sentiment by a small but vociferous minority isn’t just affecting those taking part in events – as highlighted in the following post to Twitter by Sportive Photo Ltd this morning.
I'm gutted that two of our photographers no longer want to work in The New Forest, the hassle from irate car drivers has finished them off.
— SportivePhoto Ltd (@sportivephoto) July 14, 2015
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.
Latest Comments
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To paraphrase Field of Dreams, "Build it right and they will come: and use it!"
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20 comments
"The inconvenience factor is significant but there is also the danger factor. For most road bikes the pressure in the tyres is incredibly high. So the risk is that a tyre bursts and a cyclist can hit somebody."
Not concerned for any injury to the cyclist then !!
Start spreading tacks in front of me and I quite possibly will hit somebody.
Just to really stir it up.... in the time he observed 199 "good" cyclists and one cyclist who had the audacity to be going faster than a car, how many driving infractions were witnessed but ignored?
I thought you meant they were seriously considering sabotaging cycling. My mistake. They're on our side.. as long as we ride in single file, don't overtake cars or go quickly.
Single out through Newdigate because of the parked cars outside Bob's Shop. Back in formation after.
I hope that Inspector Hamlin's turn of phrase was simply poorly chosen...
"We are dealing with these incidents and if we catch those who choose to try to take the law into their own hands we will deal with them robustly."
How is it possible to characterise the activities of bastards who set out to deliberately endanger and potentially seriously injure other legitimate road users as "taking the law into their own hands"?
This is typical victim-blaming language that is sadly all too common when public authorities (police, courts etc) deal with cyclists.
What he is obviously saying, is that if anybody is going to sprinkle tacks on the road, it's going to be the police...
They have stingers for that:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_strip
The phrase 'taking the law into their own hands' is not very well chosen. It implies that the cyclists are doing something illegal which the police, rather than Charles Bronson and the Surrey Vigilantes, should prevent.
If the spiked cyclos were to capture the perps and drag them by their ankles behind the peloton for several miles through the leafy byways, then hang them in some shady bower, that would be taking the law into their own hands
This is unacceptable conduct. We must't assume it's drivers. It could be anyone.
Single file = "correctly"? Hmmm.
Yes, **correctly**.
Things to do on a bike ride (in reverse order of importance):
3. Post a good time
2. Enjoy the ride
1. Survive the experience
So, yes, you definitely do have the right to ride 2 or more abreast. & I'm sure the coroner will say so at the inquest... Myself, every time I hear a car coming up behind me I remind myself there's a 50-50 chance the driver is below average, & we all know how skilled the 'average' driver is, so I tuck in as tight as I can & hope for the best.
This is a rather sad statement. Fear shouldn't be your primary response when riding. You probably won't live forever anyway, just enjoy it a bit more.
50-50 chance they're below average? Yeah, that's not how gaussian (or normal) distribution works. It's actually a bell-shaped curve, and most drivers (perhaps 75%) are indistinguishably close to average...
Well, yes and no. By definition 50% of a normal distribution is below average. The question of whether that is significant depends on the size of the standard deviation.
Good on you, Surrey Police.
If Inspector Hamlin were to observe 200 motorists I expect he'd have a hit rate of more than 0.5% poor driving, close overtaking, etc.
What's wrong with overtaking a car?
Nothing. A person (in a car, on a bike, on a horse...whatever) can legally pass another (in a car....etc) so long as it is safe and legal. Assume in this case that it was not safe and/or legal if there was rebukes offered.
I was told (while on my bike) that I was not permitted to overtake a guy in a car because "You don't have an engine". You can imagine my laugh-filled response to the driver...!
Have to wonder, few months back I was filtering past the (stationary) Cheltenham races traffic, one of the drivers said, what do you think your doing.... No point arguing the point, I get illegally, and often dangerously, overtaken by cars at this point virtually every time I ride home from work.
Tee hee. Newdigate.
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a puerile sense of humour - makes me smirk every time I cycle through.