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Peterborough's Bridge Street cycling ban now being enforced with fines

Council officers have been trained to issue the fines after local councillor claims he was "inundated" with emails complaining about cyclists, despite consultation responses largely against the ban...

Peterborough City Council staff will begin fining cyclists who flout the city centre bike ban, after special training was given to enforcement officers allowing them to issue the £30 fines. Those cycling on Bridge Street will be asked by officers why they are disregarding the ban or, if pushing their bikes, why they are obeying it. 

Police officers were out on Bridge Street yesterday, talking to passing cyclists ahead of the introduction of fines. The ban, which prohibits cycling on Bridge Street, has been in place for two decades Monday to Saturday 0900-1800 but was, controversially, extended in October to include Sundays, despite only one in ten consultation respondents being in favour of it.

However, sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, has said there is no alternative route through the city centre North-South which could replace the 220m stretch between Bourges Boulevard and Cathedral Square.

- Peterborough ignores consultation responses as shopping street cycling ban extended to Sundays

According to Peterborough Today the action was initiated by Peterborough City Council leader, John Holdich who was, apparently "inundated" with emails from residents, notably older people, after an interview with a local paper about the desire to clamp down on cycling on Bridge Street.

Despite the consultation responses suggesting residents were against strengthening the ban, Cllr Holdich insisted that instead enforcement would be more rigorous. He said in May he was nearly knocked over by a cyclist, and that people, especially the old and infirm, don't want cycling on Bridge Street. 

He said: “It’s the speed and disrespect they show.

“We need to get more enforcement. People are very rude when I ask them to get off their bike.”

Map showing the extent of Peterborough's cycling ban

Future days of action will not be announced, but will see council officers out on Bridge Street once again targeting cyclists, as well as people spitting, littering and begging.

Sustrans Eastern Regional Director, Nigel Brigham, told Peterborough Today: “The problem with Peterborough is there are no alternative routes through the city north to south.”

“There are irresponsible cyclists, but they are in the minority.

“We want to see a positive campaign that welcomes cyclists and pedestrians who behave responsibly in the city centre.”

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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28 comments

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alansmurphy | 9 years ago
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"He said in May he was nearly knocked over by a cyclist"

So he allegedly has a near miss and gets to change the rules, we can only hope he attempts to ride around London and meets a lorry!

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mattsccm | 9 years ago
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Yes it is daft and symptomatic of a greater problem , however I am puzzled. Just why is getting off and walking your bike for a few hundredvyards an issue?

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PaulBox replied to mattsccm | 9 years ago
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mattsccm wrote:

Yes it is daft and symptomatic of a greater problem , however I am puzzled. Just why is getting off and walking your bike for a few hundredvyards an issue?

Cleat wear...  26

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a.jumper replied to mattsccm | 9 years ago
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mattsccm wrote:

Yes it is daft and symptomatic of a greater problem , however I am puzzled. Just why is getting off and walking your bike for a few hundredvyards an issue?

I am puzzled. Just why is getting out and pushing your car for a few hundred yards an issue? Oh, one's transport and the other's a toy? Despite the fact that it's harder for me to push a trike with shopping than for most people to push a small car!

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Accessibility f... | 9 years ago
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I must be confused. Bridge Street allows no cycles (but oddly enough is bisected by a huge dual carriageway):

https://goo.gl/maps/vEiKu

And yet, the nearby Long Causeway, connected directly to Bridge Street, does:

https://goo.gl/maps/yrxak

Is there some manner of split in the space-time continuum that makes cycling on these two almost identical pedestrian zones dangerous on one but not the other? Or are councillors in Peterborough just fucking thick?

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cat1commuter | 9 years ago
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The city centre bike ban here in Cambridge was one of the triggers for the formation of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign. The ban was lifted in 2005, 12 years after it was introduced in 1993. Now the rule is cyclists give way to pedestrians. We still have some other shopping streets with a ban. It is incredibly hard to get them lifted.

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Airzound replied to cat1commuter | 9 years ago
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cat1commuter wrote:

The city centre bike ban here in Cambridge was one of the triggers for the formation of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign. The ban was lifted in 2005, 12 years after it was introduced in 1993. Now the rule is cyclists give way to pedestrians. We still have some other shopping streets with a ban. It is incredibly hard to get them lifted.

Yeah like Petty Cury in Cambridge which is rightly a NO CYCLING thoroughfare but nobbers, chavs, morons and students still insist on riding along it causing peds to scatter. Or cyclists riding the wrong way up Bridge and Sidney Streets. Snipers on the roof tops would stop this. Cambridge compared to the dump of Peterborough is a pretty easy place to get around by bicycle.

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IanW1968 | 9 years ago
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IME Local papers make up whatever inflamatory news they think will get clicks from the silly old buggers that still read that guff (immigrants, benefits, cyclists, muslims, EU etc) and a good proportion of councillers are opinionated gobshites who got the job uncontested and set about revealing their bigotry at the first chance.

thankfully their both as incompetent as they are ignorant.

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tonylen | 9 years ago
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If anyone wants to "inundate " ( ie send more than three or four emails) this elected councillor you can find him at john.holdich [at] peterborough.gov.uk

You would think that in a city such as Peterborough with its large European population there would be more efforts made to find a solution-lots of people who live there now will be completely (and rightly ) baffled by the actual positive aggression shown towards people just using a bike.

It's just people riding a bike.In a city.In England. In 2015. What a fucking miserable little country we are in danger of becoming

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congokid | 9 years ago
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So John Holdich was "inundated" with emails from residents, and insisted that instead enforcement would be more "rigorous".

Well, can we have a bit of rigour from him? Exactly how many emails did he receive in this supposed inundation?

He was nearly knocked over by a cyclist, and people, especially the old and infirm, don't want cycling on Bridge Street ... "it’s the speed and disrespect they show ... people are very rude when I ask them to get off their bike.”

It sounds to me that he already had his own agenda and is using this as a way to impose it on everyone using a bike and teach them a lesson, rather than cater properly for them with infrastructure that keeps them apart from pedestrians.

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PaulBox | 9 years ago
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Sounds like a council prick just doing what he fancies.

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philbo | 9 years ago
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Seems a strange response from a council who are largely pro cycling, closed off major routes for the tour of Cambridgeshire and hosted a stage of the 2015 Tour Series which went right along Bridge Street the route in question.
Cycling has exploded round here and and the whole council needs a joined up approach. Sounds like a couple need to move with the times.

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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I think the long term way to deal with this sort of nonsense is to win over retailers with data on the benefits of cycling to their business. When the local shops are the ones asking to allow cyclists through, that would probably have more influence than anything sustrans might say.

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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Anyway Peterborough is a dump. Avoid.

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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“We need to get more enforcement. People are very rude when I ask them to get off their bike.”

This is dreadful considering how polite motorists are when you criticise their driving.

Cyclists are just like everybody else shocker!!

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mrmo | 9 years ago
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so councillor decides to override the home office guidance....

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Tynedoc | 9 years ago
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Councils appear to be numpties everywhere- what a daft idea when there are other much more pressing environment & transport problems....

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StuInNorway | 9 years ago
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You'd have thought adding a proper cycle lane through the middle, properly marked and segregated from the pedestrians would be a better option if it's the only sensible route north-south.Then the other parts could be marked for no cycling and fines applied there(ideally with pedestrians (especially those with kids in buggies) wandering down the cycle lanes also receiving the same fines of course.

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Joff replied to StuInNorway | 9 years ago
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edited

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Joff replied to StuInNorway | 9 years ago
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StuInNorway wrote:

You'd have thought adding a proper cycle lane through the middle, properly marked and segregated from the pedestrians would be a better option if it's the only sensible route north-south.

Peterborough City Council had the perfect opportunity to do just this when they undertook works to redevelop the public realm areas, including Bridge Street.

Instead, they ignored a cycle lane petition started by one of their own Councillors and as a result of the works, removed cycle parking from Bridge Street and tucked it away out of sight on a side street.

A far cry from a city with 'green' aspirations.

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localsurfer | 9 years ago
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Will they be banning mobility buggies for the same reasons?

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BigglesMeister replied to localsurfer | 9 years ago
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localsurfer wrote:

Will they be banning mobility buggies for the same reasons?

Agreed, especially those 100kg mobility buggies being driven by 100kg over eating lard dole bludging arses (technically invalid carriages requiring registration and insurance etc). Momentum = M x V so, a skinny little 65kg lad on a 15kg bike he bought himself vs a 100kg lardy on a 100kg buggy provided by the tax payer. The momentum of both vehicles will be the same when the skinny guy is travelling at 2.6 times that of the chubby chariot, not a fair fight.

The solution here is for normal people to inundate the councillor with requests to clamp down on the p*ss taking fat mofos taking up space on their out of control chubby chariots.

I can't believe for the life of me that people are actually being paid to do this. Waste of tax payers money, P45 for the councillors ASAP - election due soon ?

Don't get mad, get even.

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BikeBud replied to BigglesMeister | 9 years ago
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BigglesMeister wrote:
localsurfer wrote:

Will they be banning mobility buggies for the same reasons?

Agreed, especially those 100kg mobility buggies being driven by 100kg over eating lard dole bludging arses (technically invalid carriages requiring registration and insurance etc). Momentum = M x V so, a skinny little 65kg lad on a 15kg bike he bought himself vs a 100kg lardy on a 100kg buggy provided by the tax payer. The momentum of both vehicles will be the same when the skinny guy is travelling at 2.6 times that of the chubby chariot, not a fair fight.

The solution here is for normal people to inundate the councillor with requests to clamp down on the p*ss taking fat mofos taking up space on their out of control chubby chariots.

I can't believe for the life of me that people are actually being paid to do this. Waste of tax payers money, P45 for the councillors ASAP - election due soon ?

Don't get mad, get even.

Troll.

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Bikebikebike | 9 years ago
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I'm very confused when someone is described as cycling arrogantly or disrespectfully. Does anyone understand what this means?

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nowasps replied to Bikebikebike | 9 years ago
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Bikebikebike wrote:

I'm very confused when someone is described as cycling arrogantly or disrespectfully. Does anyone understand what this means?

It's all in the face. I look down my nose at the less fortunate, and wear a haughty expression at all times.

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oozaveared replied to Bikebikebike | 9 years ago
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Bikebikebike wrote:

I'm very confused when someone is described as cycling arrogantly or disrespectfully. Does anyone understand what this means?

Confidently! Like a normal road user that is entitled to be there.

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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So, the consultation didn't go as the councillor wanted it to, so blaming 'masses of emails he got'?

Sounds like a suitable target for a freedom of information request for someone local...

I wonder why those against didn't add their response in favour of the ban to the consultation?

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STiG911 | 9 years ago
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'Excuse me Sir, I've stopped you to ask why you're obeying the law?'
Really?

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