Police threaten "regular patrols" and £50 fines in crackdown on cyclists in pedestrian area

The issue of town centre cycling bans and authorities cracking down on people for doing so has been thrust back into the spotlight, police in Wiltshire stating that they will be patrolling an "area regularly" and residents should report wrongdoing as part of a crackdown on cycling in pedestrian areas.

In recent times we have reported on an increasing number of local councils deploying Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) and enforcing town centre cycling bans with fines, the action often controversial, with campaigners suggesting it only serves to deter people making journeys by bike, while perpetrators of anti-social behaviour may not be deterred.

In Devizes on The Brittox, a pedestrianised shopping street at the centre of the market town, cycling is prohibited, with those who ignore the ban liable to be issued a £50 fine, the Wiltshire Times reports.

> Cyclist ordered to pay £500 for riding bicycle through town centre as councillor claims hefty fine is "great result for our enforcement teams"

PCSO Debbie Lowe said they were "aware of reports of people using The Brittox footpath as a cycle route" and "officers will be patrolling the area regularly".

"We have been working with Devizes Town Council, who have put up signage to educate people about the rules," she said. "We have also been working with Devizes School to give parents and students some guidance. Officers will be patrolling the area regularly but if you have any concerns please contact us on 101 or online."

In the autumn, councillors appealed to the police and crime commissioner and the force's chief constable asking for more enforcement of the no-cycling laws, on The Brittox, Estcourt Street and London Road.

The local press says "many reacted positively to the news" of a crackdown, one resident telling them: "They may not be serious to some but as someone with mobility issues and hardly any hearing they are a concern to me and are a danger. For those that don’t think it’s an issue, how would you feel if your mother or father or child fell or got knocked over and broke something? They are a nuisance and as it is supposed to be pedestrians only, we should all be safe."

This type of enforcement, and the introduction of bans elsewhere in the country, often raises discussion about the impact on safe, responsible cyclists when such action is taken, often in the name of tackling anti-social behaviour. While slightly different here in that the laws were already in place and there has been no new introduction of a cycling ban or PSPO, there have been numerous examples in recent times of councils and police no-cycling action causing debate.

In November, Coventry introduced a PSPO preventing e-bike use in pedestrianised areas, a measure the West Midlands' Walking and Cycling Commissioner Adam Tranter slammed as "reckless" and something that will "discourage cycling and penalise responsible cyclists".

> "We get a lot of kids wheelie-ing through": Police claim danger of "anti-social behaviour" should be tackled with town centre cycling ban

Earlier this week, Oxfordshire County Council was set to approve cycling on a Bicester street that has been pedestrianised for 30 years, the Chair of Bicester Bike Users Group, Catherine Hickman, saying that there is "ample" room for cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist safely. Furthermore, she argued, the current situation, with enforcement of the cycling ban largely absent, means "the least responsible cyclists" cycle along Sheep Street regardless, the ban only serving to deter people who would otherwise access the route safely.

Back on the subject of enforcing no-cycling areas, North Lincolnshire Council, recently stated it had "escalated" and "intensified" its "war on cycling menaces" by implementing a complete ban on riding a bike in pedestrianised zones, as part of a wider crackdown on anti-social behaviour. In Grimsby, cyclists have been fined £100 for doing so, one rider ordered to pay £1,100 after refusing the fixed-penalty notice.

However, council officers have been accused of targeting "old and slow" cyclists after an 82-year-old pensioner was fined for riding through town, some locals saying the enforcement was not imposing the cycling ban in pedestrianised zones fairly and rather than cracking down on anti-social behaviour they are seemingly "targeting" people "they can get away with doing so".

One person who said they witnessed the incident which saw Barrie Enderby fined said there had been "other young lads riding past" who officers "didn't bother to stop".

Another claimed she had been "targeted", while someone else reported seeing "three youths doing wheelies and racing up and down" while a council officer "just stood [by]". In one reply a local woman said: "Catching all the wrong ones... I sat and watched them all last week, only targeting the old and slow cyclists that aren't in anyone's way."

Last month, Southend Council, in Essex, launched a consultation to impose stricter 'no cycling' rules in the town centre that could see cyclists being ordered to pay £100 for riding on the High Street. The consultation is set to be part of a plan to strengthen a PSPO which was first introduced in July 2019 to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Martin Terry said the council had received "a lot of complaints about cyclists and e-scooter users riding dangerously in the high street" and "older people are worried about it and there's been a number of people struck and quite badly injured by dangerous riders".

> "Why pick on a lone female cyclist?" Cyclist slapped with £100 fine – for riding on a cycle path