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Cyclist told to wear hi-vis and a helmet… to take their bike on a ferry; German broadcaster allegedly blacklisted by team for asking doping questions; Tour de France caption contest; ULEZ High Court challenge; Giro Donne drama + more on the live blog

Bloggin’ on the Fourth of July… While we all wait for an American (probably Neilson Powless) to attack at the Tour de France, Ryan Mallon will keep you up to speed with all the latest cycling news and views on Tuesday’s live blog
Tue, Jul 04, 2023 10:08
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Cyclist told to wear hi-vis and a helmet… to take their bike on a ferry; German broadcaster allegedly blacklisted by team for asking doping questions; Tour de France caption contest; ULEZ High Court challenge; Giro Donne drama + more on the live blogSeven Serpents - 61 Ferry Walk.jpeg
04 July 2023, 08:07
Seven Serpents - 53 Ferry Bikes.jpeg
“I would find it more logical to wear a life jacket”: Cyclist told to wear hi-vis and a helmet… to take their bike on a ferry

Ah, Brittany Ferries, how we’ve missed you on the live blog…

Back in January, you may remember, we reported on the blog that former pro mountain biker and Active Nation commissioner for Scotland Lee Craigie wasn’t too happy with the ferry operator’s decision to charge cyclists £75 for taking their bikes from Portsmouth to Santander, an eyebrow-raising price which Craigie reckoned would cause bike-carrying passengers to “expect a valet service”.

Brittany Ferries, to their credit (kind of), swiftly got back to the mountain biker, citing the allocation of garage space for bikes, “reducing the space for other vehicle types”, a separate check-in and route through port for cyclists, and the use of different facilities as the reasons behind the hefty price tag.

> “Can we expect a valet service?” Former pro mountain biker charged £75 to bring bike on ferry

Now, six months later, Brittany Ferries are once again attracting the ire of bike-using passengers boarding their ships – for asking them to wear helmets and hi-vis clothing.

According to their guidelines for travel, posted on Twitter by cyclist Kirsty Lewin, Brittany Ferries tells cyclists that “as you’re travelling by bicycle, and given that our ports are busy places during embarkation and disembarkation, we have some extra important safety information for you.”

This extra important info continued: “Whilst in the port: Please ensure you’re wearing high-visibility clothing at all times whilst transiting our ports; Whilst on the move, please ensure you’re wearing a helmet; During the hours of darkness and in poor weather, please switch on all necessary rear and forward lights.”

Those guidelines haven’t gone down too well with Kirsty, who’s heading to Santander on her way to Madrid and Lisbon, who tweeted: “Seriously Brittany Ferries? have to wear a helmet and hi-vis to take my bike on your ferry?

“So I'll have to take two things I don’t own (and don’t need) on holiday to comply with this? I’m assuming that I don’t have to wear a helmet when pushing my bike??”

Others were just as bemused as Kirsty by the ferry operator’s guidelines.

“Do they make pedestrians wear hi-vis too or is this just a punishment for cyclists?” wrote Girl on a Brompton.

“Ask them if those walking from cars need the same?” added another Twitter user, while Charlotte noted that “I can understand hi-vis, just about – but helmets is daft.”

“I used Brittany Ferries in June,” replied Philip. “None of us had hi-vis and I had no helmet. I wasn’t even aware of those instructions, and no-one mentioned them.  A gasmask might be useful when you are waiting to get off.”

However, Matt pointed out that the guidelines are probably an offshoot of Spain’s quite intricate (and infrequently enforced) helmet laws, which require cyclists over the age of 16 to wear a helmet… unless you’re in a town or city, or riding up a steep hill, or during periods of excessive heat, of if you’re a pro cyclist…

Well, that clears that up then…

04 July 2023, 16:14
Ferries, helmets, and hi-vis: Reader reaction

A story about bike helmets causing quite the stir on road.cc? Who would’ve thunk it?

To celebrate this extremely rare phenomenon, I decided to round up a few of your thoughts from the comments section and social media, because you never know when we’ll next get to talk about helmets (probably next Monday, to be honest)…

Off the back: “Just a few points. If you are pushing a bike, why the need for hi viz? If so why not every passenger in the vicinity also? If you require everyone to wear PPE in that environment is it not then the ferry companies’ responsibility to provide it? Why not just say, ‘All cyclists must dismount’? There! stupidity avoided (potentially).”

Espressodan: “Let's hold our righteous indignation. Think what you like about health and safety, I'm sure all port and ferry employees have to wear high vis as they move around areas where vehicle traffic goes. I don't see why cyclists should be any different, the threat is the same.”

Miller: “I took my bike on the Plymouth-Roscoff Brittany Ferries route last year. We had to walk bikes onto the car deck just like the photo above, it was pretty simple. Two risks though: a crew member roped our bikes to a metal rail in the wall and my bike has the paint scratches to prove it, and, walking in cycle shoes on a wet and oily metal floor was lethally slippy. Didn’t quite fall on my arse but it was close. This might have been a genuine use case for a helmet…”

And finally, well done to road.cc reader Mark1a, who won the Jasper and Pog caption contest with this potentially iconic road.cc meme:

road.cc Helmet live blog joke (mark1a)

The cheeky git…

04 July 2023, 15:54
Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen pips Caleb Ewan to win stage four after messy, crash-marred finale

How quickly things can change at the Tour de France.

After a quiet (alright, alright, deathly dull) day through the south of France, punctuated only by a belated attack from French duo Benoît Cosnefroy and Anthony Delaplace, and an even more belated, and ill-fated attempt to snag some KOM points from Neilson Powless, the race violently erupted into life for its final three kilometres on Nogaro’s motor racing circuit.

After yesterday’s complaints about twisting, unpredictable finishes, it was the vast lifeless expanse of a motor racing circuit that actually produced the most chaos we’ve seen so far at this Tour: a series of crashes, including one that brought down Soudal-Quick Step sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, marred the finale, as riders jostled for position on the wide straights and sweeping bends.

But, as is quickly becoming the standard formula for this Tour’s sprints, Alpecin-Deceuninck emerged calm and collected from the melee, Mathieu van der Poel once again perfectly teeing up Jasper Philipsen, who held off a fast-finishing Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) to secure his second straight win at the Tour by half a wheel.

Behind, Bahrain Victorious’ Phil Bauhaus confirmed his form by finishing third, while Mark Cavendish, again in the mix but not quite threatening to win, managed fifth.

Two Tour sprints in, and Jasper Philipsen is swiftly cementing his claim to be the fastest man in the race. Now for the Pyrenees, where a completely different race should resume once again.

04 July 2023, 15:10
Yikes! Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini’s dramatic moment at the Giro Donne

That photo of Van Vleuten getting back on the road, disaster averted, just as Longo Borghini overshoots the bend, ending her own GC ambitions… Perfect timing from the photographer. A dramatic stage distilled into one defining image. 

04 July 2023, 15:08
Cavehill Road, Belfast (credit - Sustrans)
Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure forced to back down on cuts to school cycling and walking funding following campaign

A day after we learned that Belfast’s Cycle Network Plan was “at risk of collapse”, according to one councillor, finally we have some good news when it comes to cycling in Northern Ireland.

The Department for Infrastructure – which has come in for some hefty criticism in recent months concerning its approach to active travel – has now backed down on proposed cuts to funding for cycle training in schools.

The DfI proposals were set to axe the Sustrans-led Active School Travel programme, which helps pupils develop the skills to walk and cycle safely to school in 48 percent of schools in Northern Ireland.

> Sustrans says cycling schemes and 21 jobs are at risk due to potential £500,000 cut to Scottish government active travel funding

However, following a campaign led by Sustrans and Cycling UK, and supported by 120 schools and hundreds of parents and carers, the department has hastily backtracked its proposals, assuring the two active travel charities that sufficient funding to continue the scheme will be available for the next school year.

“This is a victory for common sense and will benefit the future generations of Northern Ireland. Cycling UK applauds DfI for listening to parents, schools and individuals on the impact and importance of teaching cycling and walking to children across Northern Ireland,” Andrew McClean, Cycling UK’s spokesperson in Northern Ireland said.

“Civil servants are having to make difficult decisions in the face of budgets cuts and in the absence of a Minister and an Assembly, but this reversal is the right decision for a greener and healthier Northern Ireland. Officials have recognised minor savings from cutting the Active School Travel programme is disproportional to the huge benefits it delivers in schools and local communities.”

> Mum compares school run to “going into battle” as Sustrans calls for School Streets to be introduced in Northern Ireland

He continued: “Cycling UK hopes this is a sign of positive change within DfI, as Northern Ireland needs to see investment in active travel as a long-term saving. Every person we can support and encourage to drive less, and cycle – or walk - more instead will lead to better health, cleaner air, and more pleasant communities across Northern Ireland.”

04 July 2023, 14:09
Hooray! We finally, finally have a breakaway!

Anthony and Benoït, we’ll be forever in your debt…

04 July 2023, 13:39
It’s one of those days at the Tour, isn’t it?

Thank goodness for the Giro Donne, eh?

04 July 2023, 12:42
20-year-old Antonia Niedermaier holds off Annemiek van Vleuten for dramatic Giro Donne stage win – as Elisa Longo Borghini’s GC hopes are dashed by horrific crash on final descent

The Queen Stage at this year’s Giro Donne certainly lived up to its billing this afternoon, as Canyon-Sram’s promising German Antonia Niedermaier held off the chasing pink jersey Annemiek van Vleuten – whose pursuit was hindered by a fall on the final descent – by just nine seconds in a tense, nail-biting finish in Ceres.

Meanwhile, Van Vleuten’s big rival for the pink jersey, Elisa Longo Borghini – after putting pressure on the Dutchwoman on the steep Sant’Ignazio climb – saw her GC hopes cruelly dashed after she crashed heavily on a tight corner, just seconds after the Movistar rider went off the road herself.

As expected, Van Vleuten’s trademark pyrotechnics on the early Passo del Lupo – the Cima Coppi of this year’s race – split the field to blitz, with Longo Borgini’s Lidl-Trek teammate, and pure climber, Gaia Realini the only rider capable of following the rampant world champion on the mountain.

However, after an elite group eventually coalesced in the valley, GC contenders Juliette Labous and Silvia Persico jumped off the front. But with little rope afforded to the two dangerous attackers, 20-year-old Niedermaier – who started the day outside the top 10 and without a WorldTour win to her name – took advantage, blitzing past the leading duo with 25km to go and forging on ahead solo.

On the last major climb of the Sant’Ignazio, with its ramps of 12 percent in the final kilometre, Italian champion Longo Borghini, sitting in second overall, put the pressure on Van Vleuten, blowing the favourite’s group apart in the process and reducing Niedermaier’s lead to just 13 seconds.

Longo Borghini’s attempt to crack the pink jersey was thwarted when Van Vleuten attacked towards the top of the final climb, teeing herself up, it seemed, to take the stage as well as striking a decisive blow in the race for the overall.

But, with Niedermaier holding on valiantly ahead, both Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini were undone by the tricky, twisting descent. First, Van Vleuten was forced off the road briefly after overshooting a bend, but managed to regain her composure fairly quickly.

Just seconds later, and even more dramatically, the Italian champion also misjudged a tight left hander, crashing heavily into – and flying over –a mound of dirt at the side of the road. Thankfully, Longo Borghini was able to eventually get back on her bike, cruising across the finish line over seven minutes down, her face bloodied and her hopes of winning her first ever Giro Donne decimated.

Elisa Longo Borghini crashes during 2023 Giro Donne (GCN)

Van Vleuten’s off-road detour, meanwhile, played into the hands of the battling 20-year-old Niedermaier.

In a tense pursuit match on the final uphill drag to the line in Ceres – one that may well come to encapsulate both the past and future of women’s cycling – the young German talent bravely held off the 40-year-old Dutch superstar to secure her first ever WorldTour win, and with it moved up to second overall behind Van Vleuten, who has increased her pink jersey buffer to over two minutes.

“I’m really overwhelmed because it’s my first Giro Donne and I’m so young. I can’t realise it now, but I’m really happy about it,” a delighted Niedermaier.

She may not realise it now, but Antonia Niedermaier picked a hell of a day to signal her arrival at the top of the sport.

04 July 2023, 11:58
Victor Lafay, 2023 Tour de France (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
We need to talk about the green jersey

Nothing is happening at the Tour de France today – and I mean nothing, no breakaway, no splits, nothing – so I thought I’d take the opportunity to bring up the big controversy from this year’s race so far (and no, I’m not talking about the whole Jonas and Wout thing, or Bahrain’s, ahem, interesting way of handling tough questions).

I’m talking about the green jersey.

Victor Lafay, 2023 Tour de France (A.S.O./Pauline Ballet)

(A.S.O./Pauline Ballet)

As regular racing fans and readers of the blog will know, ASO’s new, darker, broodier, seemingly Bora-Hansgrohe-inspired take on the green points jersey has been knocking about since Paris-Nice (where, incidentally, Bora’s Sam Bennett was its first wearer, causing untold amounts of confusion and games of ‘Spot Sam’).

But, since the Tour is the only race that matters, seemingly, it’s taken until July for the penny to drop that, yes, that is the new green jersey.

And, let’s just say the British racing green/Saudi Arabia football kit homage has divided opinion (and when I say divided, I mean 99 percent of fans and pundits hate it).

Probably the most positive thing I’ve heard about the new kit so far is from GCN’s Adam Blythe, who noted that it’s a nice shade of green, just not for the Tour’s green jersey. Ah, makes sense.

Meanwhile, Carlton Kirby – who, if we’re honest, doesn’t need any help when it comes to misidentifying kits in the peloton – compared it in comms to a “smoker’s bogey”. Delightful.

But what do you think? Is the new green jersey an abomination, a sacrilegious insult to the sprinting memory of Zabel, Cav, and Sagan? Or is it not that bad, and we’re just not used to it yet?

Supersurvey

I told you we only ask the important questions on the blog…

04 July 2023, 11:26
Stop ULEZ protest, London, 29 January 2023 (The Havering Daily)
“It will have a devastating impact on the poorest motorists”: ULEZ expansion judicial review gets underway at High Court

A judicial review into London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) at the end of August gets under way today at the High Court, following an appeal by five Conservative-led councils.

According to the Labour mayor’s plans, the ULEZ – inside which motorists will be charged £12.50 a day for driving non-compliant, high-polluting cars – will be extended to outer London from 29 August, a decision described by Khan as “not easy but necessary to reduce the capital's toxic air pollution”.

As part of the expansion, a £110m scrappage scheme will also be introduced, which aims to provide low-income Londoners with grants of up to £2,000 to replace their high-polluting vehicles.

> Boris Johnson blasts “unnecessary” ULEZ expansion as “mad lefty tax” designed to “rake in money from hard-pressed motorists”

However, since the start of 2023, Khan has faced increasing pressure from local authorities to reconsider the expansion. Eleven of the 19 outer London councils initially expressed their apprehension towards the scheme over issues such as the seven-month timescale of implementation (which they believe does not give residents enough time to switch vehicles), the scrappage policy, and poor public transport links.

But in the end, it was the Conservative-controlled Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Harrow, and Hillingdon councils who launched legal action over the expanded ULEZ, after publicly declaring that they would “do everything in our power to stop it from going ahead”.

The councils argued that there were five grounds for a judicial review, though in April the High Court ruled there was only sufficient evidence for three of them.

These include the belief that the expansion is too big and should thus be treated as a new scheme, that the consultation was flawed, and that it did not consider the potential for those bordering the zone to take advantage of the scrappage scheme.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Paul Osborn, the Conservative leader of Harrow Council, said the local authority believed the ULEZ expansion would have a “devastating impact on the poorest motorists in Harrow”.

“People who do low paid jobs in antisocial hours, they don’t have public transport alternatives,” he said. “They’re being asked to pay £12.50 every day to go to work and if they work over midnight, they’ll be asked to pay £25 because they have to pay it for the next day as well.”

However, Hirra Khan Adeogun, head of Car Free Cities at climate change charity Possible, told the programme that the legal action was a distraction from the main issues concerning pollution and the environment.

“It’s such a shame to see these local authorities wasting time and taxpayers’ money trying to prolong the negative impacts of air pollution and climate crisis,” she said.

“It’s absolutely essential that people in outer London get cleaner air and be part of a greener London and that includes poorer Londoners who are most at risk when it comes to toxic air.”

Meanwhile, Khan told Reuters: “The independent assessment confirms that ULEZ works and the expansion will lead to five million more Londoners breathing cleaner air.

“You’re not going to please 100 percent of people all the time. No politician in history has managed to do so.”

Earlier this year, Khan also argued that the opposition to the scheme was simply a political strategy by Tory councils who he says are “in the pocket of vested interests”.

The BBC was also told in January that the councils keen to instigate a judicial review accept that it would be unlikely to succeed, but that it would nevertheless act as a “delay tactic” to “tangle the mayor up in court and push a decision on the matter closer to the 2024 London mayoral election”.

04 July 2023, 10:47
Annemiek van Vleuten exploding a bike race to pieces, and other completely unsurprising things

We may not be able to watch it on the TV – ah, the joys of following one of the biggest races in the world – but Annemiek van Vleuten is busy doing Annemiek van Vleuten things at the Giro Donne this morning.

The pink jersey, with her Yorkshire 2019 legs and head seemingly in place, has exploded stage 5 to pieces on the early Passo del Lupo, the Cima Coppi of this year’s Giro. Pocket rocket Gaia Realini is currently the only rider able to follow the rampant Dutch star’s pace on the nine percent gradients, with Niamh Fisher-Black about 20 seconds behind and Realini’s Lidl-Trek teammate, and yesterday’s stage winner, Elisa Longo Borghini around three quarters of a minute back.

Will Van Vleuten be able to nag career win number 101 in classic AVV fashion? Well, it’s a good job we only have another ten minutes to wait until we can finally watch some of it…

04 July 2023, 10:35
Ah, that’s where I knew him from!
04 July 2023, 09:41
Bahrain Victorious team bus (licenced CC BY-SA 4.0 by Marianne Casamanceon on Wikimedia Commons))
Leading journalist Hajo Seppelt claims Bahrain-Victorious are refusing interviews to German broadcaster ARD following questions about doping

We all know the Tour de France loves nostalgia (which is why we’re heading back to the Puy de Dôme on Sunday after 35 years), but I for one certainly didn’t have ‘US Postal/Johan Bruyneel blacklisting tactics from the early noughties’ on my Tour throwback bingo card for this year…

But that’s the strategy apparently being deployed at the moment by Bahrain Victorious who – according to a tweet posted this morning by leading anti-doping journalist Hajo Seppelt – are refusing to give interviews to ARD after the German broadcaster asked the team’s sprinter Phil Bauhaus questions about doping for a report at last month’s Tour of Slovenia.

2023 Tour de France stage 3 Jasper Philipsen, Phil Bauhaus, Caleb Ewan © Zac WiLLIAMS SWpix.com (t-a Photography Hub Ltd) - 1

German sprinter Bauhaus finishes second on yesterday’s stage to Bayonne, his first ever sprint at the Tour (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

ARD’s report – which focused on the current effectiveness of the fight against doping, especially in Slovenia, the home country of current stars Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, and Bahrain rider Matej Mohorič – featured an interview with yesterday’s second placed finisher Bauhaus, whose Bahrain Victorious team has come under scrutiny in recent years for its management’s alleged links to Mark Schmidt, the German physician jailed for his role as head of the ‘Aderlass’ doping ring.

This time last year, on the eve of the Tour de France, the homes of a number of Bahrain Victorious riders were searched by police, while a raid was carried out on the team’s hotel days before the start of the race – less than a year after the team’s vehicles and hotel were also searched by police in Pau (the Mecca of cycling doping raids) during the Tour as part of the ongoing Europol investigation into allegations of doping within the team.

> Bahrain Victorious Tour de France cyclists' homes searched by police

And just like Bahrain Victorious were quick to shut down any questions about doping at last year’s Tour – ending a pre-race press conference at such a rate Jasper Philipsen would have struggled to keep up – the squad appear to be adopting the same ‘no tricky questions’ policy at this year’s race.

“Team Bahrain Victorious does not give ARD any interviews at the Tour de France – because we asked Phil Bauhaus questions about doping shortly before the Tour – against the background of raids on the team in recent years, an investigation by the French public prosecutor, and due to the current team manager’s apparent ties to convicted German doctor Mark [Schmidt],” Seppelt, a journalist whose work has uncovered doping in cycling, Russian athletics, and German sport, over the past two decades, tweeted this morning.

“I well remember dark times on the Tour when well-paid professional cyclists reacted similarly to journalists just doing their jobs.”

Bauhaus, for his part, messaged Seppelt following his tweet, writing: “I would be happy to speak to you in person or on the phone. We have the same interests – a clean sport.”

04 July 2023, 09:09
Photo of the Day: Pog and Jasper Disaster take a look at the latest viral videos

Caption Contest: What are Jasper ‘Disaster’ Philipsen and his good mate and decent bike rider Tadej Pogačar saying to each other, as they peer nervously at the TV monitors during the Belgian sprinter’s anxious 20-minute wait to find out whether he’d be stripped of his stage win for irregular sprinting?

Or maybe they’re not taking about Philipsen’s (ultimately quashed) sprint deviation charge at all, and are instead catching up on all the latest juicy Jumbo-Visma goss?

Jasper Philipsen and Tadej Pogačar discuss the stage three finish at the 2023 Tour de France (A.S.O./Pauline Ballet)

(A.S.O./Pauline Ballet) 

Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

Add new comment

78 comments

Avatar
Steve K replied to JohnnyRemo | 1 year ago
2 likes

JohnnyRemo wrote:

Steve K wrote:

  I just walked the bike onto the ferry and secured it with a cafe lock; 

What were you expecting - pirates? 

I don't think the lock would have stopped them.  No, it was just to stop it from falling over.

Avatar
ceebee247 replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
3 likes

Ive just been on the dover to dunkirk ferry with dfds with my bike - £25 each way - staff uber friendly and helpful - no hi vis required or helmet - was first on and first off and did not rush me at all - waited till I was safe before allowing the other cars/lorries to move. they do need to update their cycle parking - basically a bike stand with some ropes to hold the bike in place. pretty sure something better could be done for minimal outlay. anyway can't recommend them enough.

Avatar
NotNigel | 1 year ago
6 likes

.

Avatar
Roulereo replied to NotNigel | 1 year ago
0 likes

Could have done a similar meme on the (lack of coverage on the) Migrant riots in France and Switzerland, but now more news about the cricket...

Avatar
espressodan | 1 year ago
4 likes

Let's hold our righteous indignation. Think what you like about health and safety, I'm sure all port and ferry employees have to wear high vis as they move around areas where vehicle traffic goes. I don't see why cyclists should be any different, the threat is the same.

Avatar
brooksby replied to espressodan | 1 year ago
7 likes

espressodan wrote:

Let's hold our righteous indignation. Think what you like about health and safety, I'm sure all port and ferry employees have to wear high vis as they move around areas where vehicle traffic goes. I don't see why cyclists should be any different, the threat is the same.

How do people who came on board in a car get to the passenger areas?  Do they have to wear hi-viz as they cross the vehicle hold?

Avatar
Off the back replied to espressodan | 1 year ago
4 likes

Just a few points. If you are pushing a bike, why the need for hi viz? If so why not every passenger in the vicinity also? If you require everyone to wear PPE in that environment is it not then the ferry companies responsibility to provide it? 

Avatar
Hirsute replied to espressodan | 1 year ago
4 likes

Everyone on the vessel moves around areas where vehicle traffic goes.
I think the objection is applying it to one group only.

Avatar
Adam Sutton replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
2 likes

Depends if cyclists are expected to move around while vehciles are moving. Generally you are expected to return to, and be back in your car before cars start to disembark. Basically there are a lot of unknowns here. Allowing cyclists to leave separately, either before or after would be the safer option surely? I suppose tight turnarounds may affect that though.

Avatar
giff77 replied to espressodan | 1 year ago
1 like

Very different scenarios. The crew are moving about directing traffic etc. Vehicles are being controlled and directed. They usually put cyclists on last and instruct the same to disembark last so there is no conflict. 

Avatar
mark1a | 1 year ago
7 likes

.

Avatar
NotNigel replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
2 likes

'Anxiously waiting to see if they've  published the result in the heading of the article.'

Avatar
The Larger Cyclist | 1 year ago
3 likes

Back in the 80's I went to Ireland on the ferry and the crew member who escorted us on to the ship and secured our bikes was.........happy, shall we say.  There was a aroma of alcohol in the air!  Back in the day when ferries were roll on, roll over.

Avatar
NotNigel | 1 year ago
3 likes

.

Avatar
Off the back | 1 year ago
2 likes

A helmet to push a bike? I would have thought they would not allow people to actually ride their bikes into the ferry and off again for 'health and safety' reasons. So why the need for a helmet? Also the high viz for controlling a piece of luggage is also a bit curious. Why not just say - all cyclists must dismount . There! stupidity avoided (potentially) 

Avatar
brooksby replied to Off the back | 1 year ago
2 likes

Off the back wrote:

A helmet to push a bike? I would have thought they would not allow people to actually ride their bikes into the ferry and off again for 'health and safety' reasons. So why the need for a helmet? Also the high viz for controlling a piece of luggage is also a bit curious. Why not just say - all cyclists must dismount . There! stupidity avoided (potentially) 

Which in all fairness, doesn't seem unreasonable in that environment...

Avatar
I love my bike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Alternatively, maybe travel as a foot passenger with bike in a bag, then no need for a helmet or hi viz? No extra fee either.

Avatar
brooksby replied to I love my bike | 1 year ago
1 like

I love my bike wrote:

Alternatively, maybe travel as a foot passenger with bike in a bag, then no need for a helmet or hi viz? No extra fee either.

Just a lot more faff.

I didn't notice anyone suggesting that motorists take their cars apart and put them in a shipping container or anything - they seem to be just allowed to drive on and drive off... surprise

Avatar
I love my bike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Just pragmatic coping with their rules. I've been on countless ferries with my bike & the almost universal rule has been to push bike (except crossing the Rhine upstream from Strasbourg, but cars were driving off even before the boat had completely stopped!).

Avatar
Miller | 1 year ago
3 likes

I took my bike on the Plymouth-Roscoff Brittany Ferries route last year. We had to walk bikes onto the car deck just like the photo above, it was pretty simple. Two risks though: a crew member roped our bikes to a metal rail in the wall and my bike has the paint scratches to prove it, and, walking in cycle shoes on a wet and oily metal floor was lethally slippy. Didn't quite fall on my arse but it was close. This might have been a genuine use case for a helmet, lol.

Avatar
Cugel replied to Miller | 1 year ago
3 likes

Miller wrote:

I took my bike on the Plymouth-Roscoff Brittany Ferries route last year. We had to walk bikes onto the car deck just like the photo above, it was pretty simple. Two risks though: a crew member roped our bikes to a metal rail in the wall and my bike has the paint scratches to prove it, and, walking in cycle shoes on a wet and oily metal floor was lethally slippy. Didn't quite fall on my arse but it was close. This might have been a genuine use case for a helmet, lol.

Did you know that, even in Broken Britain, there are still thousands and thousands of very fine roads and tracks for cycling, through some very nice scenery not yet (yet) turned into an open coal mine or a landfill? 

The best bit: no ferry required, especially not one run just to annoy the passengers whilst ripping them off then burning thousands of gallons of expensive oil sold by a nasy regime busy committing even worserer crimes than planet-rape, across the middle east and elsewhere.

You can even cycle straight out of your bike shed, leaving the car on the drive to perform its primary task of signalling your status to the other car owners. In't cycling great!?

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joe9090 replied to Cugel | 1 year ago
1 like

Thats soounds like the Brexit shi1te one readson twitter. Im pretty sure you didnt mean it that way but thats how I read it. 

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Bigfoz replied to Cugel | 1 year ago
4 likes

But you'd still need to put up with crap weather and worse drivers. The 2 weeks I spend cycling in the Vendee each year (anywhere between 700-1,000km) are so far above the UK wide experience that I start wishing I was back in France halfway through my first ride at home. Great roads in great condition, friendly easy going drivers, and not many cars. Where there are cars aplenty, seperated cycle tracks absent of glass and holes.

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Legin | 1 year ago
6 likes

They just don't want the business.

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Off the back replied to Legin | 1 year ago
6 likes

But if they don't get the business how can they afford to pay their workers more than minimum wa.... oh wait 

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brooksby replied to Off the back | 1 year ago
6 likes

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/p-and-o-ferries-get-away-with-sacking-...

Quote:

Then:

Kwasi Kwarteng, 18 March 2022: “P&O Ferries has lost the trust of the public and has given business a bad name.” 

Rishi Sunak, 20 March 2022: “What we’re seeing is appalling and the way that they’ve treated their workers is awful… We’re looking across government at our contractual relationships with P&O and reviewing those.” 

Boris Johnson, 23 March 2022: “We condemn the callous behaviour of P&O. It is no way to treat hard-working employees… It looks to me as though the company concerned has broken the law and we will be taking action.” 

Grant Shapps, 27 April 2022: “It’s completely unsustainable to have the head of P&O, Peter Hebblethwaite, who came to a committee room like this and openly and deliberately explained how he sought to break the law – he actually said that was his intention and that he would do it again – to remain in the post of leading that company. He will have to go.” 

Now:

No criminal prosecution has been pursued against P&O Ferries.  

Hebblethwaite remains its chief executive, earning a basic salary of £325,000 a year, and was promoted to new directorships at the company on 1 April 2022. 

“Fire and rehire” and “fire and replace” practices remain legal and critics say increased financial deterrents remain too weak to be effective. 

A civil investigation by the Insolvency Service, which has the power to disqualify company directors, is still ongoing. 

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Off the back replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Thanks Brooksby but I've told you before I also have google 👍🏻

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brooksby replied to Off the back | 1 year ago
2 likes

Off the back wrote:

Thanks Brooksby but I've told you before I also have google 👍🏻

Other people might not 4  I was trying to find something that compared-and-contrasted all of the "OMG we have to prosecute them!" stuff at the time and how Absolutely Nothing has actually been done.

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Off the back replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Seriously? There are people online on a web based forum who don't have access to Google? 
 

just think about what you're saying there 🤦🏻‍♂️

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Off the back replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

Off the back wrote:

Thanks Brooksby but I've told you before I also have google 👍🏻

Other people might not 4

Who doesn't have Google? Ya know, the biggest website on the entire internet. 

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