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No fun zone: Simmons Drive, DagenhamThree-year-old banned from riding by Dagenham housing association
A three-year-old girl has been banned from riding her Barbie bike in a quiet cul-de-sac by a Dagenham housing association because of fears the tearaway toddler might damage residents’ cars.
Tracy Osborne-Facey was showing her granddaughter Lilly how to ride with stabilisers when an officer from London and Quadrant (L&Q) housing association told her riding bikes was banned in the street.
Tracy told the Barking and Dagenham Post's Sara Odeen-Isbister that it was one of many “over-the-top” rules enforced in the street by L&Q. The association said it had instituted a “no balls or bikes” policy after complaints from residents who believed their homes and cars could be damaged by children playing outside.
Tracy, 43, said: “I could understand stopping ball games maybe, but they’ve basically banned children from playing outside. But it’s not just the children. We adults are not allowed to congregate or talk outside either. I got a letter once telling me off for chatting to a neighbour outside for about 20 minutes.
“Others have received letters too about all kinds of things which they apparently shouldn’t be doing.
“The officer who told me Lilly couldn’t ride her bike said I should expect a letter about it soon. It’s ridiculous.
“I realise people want to live somewhere peaceful, but the children that play here are all under 12 and not antisocial at all.”
A housing association spokesman said: “L&Q strives to create places where people want to live but unfortunately due to the concern of the local residents we had to enforce a ‘no bikes no ball games’ policy around the area.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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54 comments
It isn't that far from Barking & Dagenham BMX track. Young children are welcome there and they even have strider bike events. A strider bike is a much better idea than having stabilisers as well.
That housing association place looks very uninviting. So the association would rather have fat unhealthy kids? Sounds like a step back to Victorian times with children seen but not heard.
That's unfair to the Victorians. They were the ones making great strides in raising social standards and social conscience. It is this present culture and its over emphasis on the individual and claiming human rights that drive this culture. Property rights trump many personal rights.
As a 3 year old she cant ride a bike but L&Q i'm sure will allow her to sweep the local chimneys!!
Life is too short to spend your time and energy worrying about a scuff on the paint of your cheap little car. If your car is that special, don't park it on the streets.
I see the L&Q Facebook page is open for comments... Maybe the girl hadn't paid road tax...
We used to live in a housing association here in northern Ireland and we moved because our kids were nearly afraid to go outside, every resident got that many stupid letters threatening eviction because of kids kicking a ball or playing on the communal green area, it was beyond pathetic.
Doesn't sound a great place to live.
If the rules really are that restrictive, it will be a souless place.
As it probably be a private road they could enforce their own rules, but are adults allowed to cycle there (or is it driving/walking only).
L&Q seem to be failing in their aim of " create places where people want to live"
It might not be a public highway though it could be the land is owned by the housing acssciation
It's a public highway so the child can ride regardless, no one has the power to ban someone from riding a bike.
How ridiculous.
'Health and safety' has made huge advances in cutting deaths and injuries in my industry (construction), but it is idiocy like this that makes so many people still regard it as a big joke.
Common sense isn't common, as my old dad used to say.
I don't think H&S has anything to do with it - it's purely so their precious hunks of bank-owned metal don't get damaged.
This would never get near a judge i fear.
Housing Associations can evict if they see a breach of a tenancy agreement. This poor family are probably scared they would lose their home if they are seen to be 'troublemakers'.
"L&Q strives to create places where people want to live"
start striving in a different direction.
[[[[ Nah---it's a misprint. Should read, "strives to create places where people want to die".
P.R.
Wow, what a hideous place. Why haven't those trees in the background been chopped down yet?
What about someone who lives there and rides a bike to get about?
The Residents will club them to death with rolled up copies of the Daily Mail
In the article above it says "No bikes, no ball games." I have not seen what signs are posted at this particular location but I have seen similar signs elsewhere. I imagine,
the intention, reprehensible as it is, is probably to ban children cycling, but the wording references just bikes not the rider. I would agree that if you cycled home from work to this estate you would have no problems. However, in my opinion, the wording does reflect an ingrained attitude that cycling is something children do and adults grow out of it to do grown-up things like drive cars. We have a lot of work to do in this country to get over that attitude.
Stephen
They should carry on and see what happens. Would love to see the judges face when presented in court with a 3 year year old cyclist accused of antisocial cycling!
+1!
They should carry on and see what happens. Would love to see the judges face when presented in court with a 3 year year old cyclist accused of antisocial cycling!
Problem is this isn't a criminal issue. This is likely to be part of a tenancy contract which was signed. What is likely to happen is they would just evict any people they don't like. Thanks to Maggie, it is law that private landlords can get rid of any tenant they don't like, for any reason.
"no bikes" despite it being a public road and right of way?
I think the landscaping around these houses should give some clues as to what the priorities are.
Cars > people
What an utterly depressing place to live and an utterly depressing reflection on society.
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