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"A load of tosh": Cyclists' reaction as latest person ordered to pay eye-watering fine for riding bicycle through town centre; Tory candidate's questionable LTN claim; Remco cools criticism of ex-teammate; Froome crash update + more on the live blog

Ridiculous aero helmets, new bikes, a couple of bike races, and everything else that's happening in the world of cycling this Wednesday — it's going to be a busy day for Dan Alexander on the live blog.....
Wed, Mar 06, 2024 09:06
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"A load of tosh": Cyclists' reaction as latest person ordered to pay eye-watering fine for riding bicycle through town centre; Tory candidate's questionable LTN claim; Remco cools criticism of ex-teammate; Froome crash update + more on the live blogVictoria_Street_West,_Grimsby_-_DSC07296.JPG
06 March 2024, 14:24
"A load of tosh": Cyclists' reaction as latest person ordered to pay eye-watering fine for riding bicycle through town centre

Yesterday we reported on North East Lincolnshire Council's news release, yep it warranted the local authority to put a full story on its website, about a cyclist being ordered to pay £500 for breaching a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). Their crime? Cycling through the pedestrianised town centre. I know, throw away the key...

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

24 hours on and the story has drawn more than a bit of reaction from our readers, so much so we're going to have a round-up of some of the highlights on this afternoon's live blog.

Councillor Ron Shepherd, second from the left in the council's picture below, called the latest hefty fine a "great result for our enforcement teams".

Grimsby town centre fine (North East Lincolnshire Council)

Over on Facebook, David Kelly told us he's local and "it's a load of tosh", his words not our... "They never stop the youngsters who are an actual issue," he added. That assessment echoes the sentiment of other residents who, after an 82-year-old told the council to stick their £100 fine where the sun doesn't shine, accused the council's officers of targeting "old and slow" riders, while ignoring youths "racing up and down".

> "Stick it up your a*se", 82-year-old tells council officer after being fined £100 for cycling in town centre

The council's line is that the enforcement work is to make Grimsby town centre a "safe environment people can enjoy", free from anti-social behaviour.

Chrissk, another road.cc reader local to Grimsby, told us: "There is a lack of suitable bike paths around the area and instead of addressing that they get some dodgy private company in to issue fines." We'll leave his one-word assessment of cllr Shepherd's work for you to find in the comments section of yesterday's story...

However, not everyone had sympathy for the cyclists fined, BigDoodyBoy making the point that, "Guys, it's the law. Like it or lump it, you've got to obey it. Whinging is not becoming. It makes you look like car drivers who are always going on about the 'war on drivers'.

"In the same way as someone sat in a car park with their engine running but otherwise parked up is breaking the law by touching their phone, these people are breaking the law. The risks are similarly low and we can argue the merits 'til the cows come home but in both cases the driver and cyclist deserve their punishment for breaking the law."

Pedal those squares: "There is anti-social behaviour and there are people going from A to B with consideration for others. My guess is if they enforced 'anti-social behaviour' correctly, everywhere would be nicer for all... it is very few people who do not give a damn about others, but sorting that out is more difficult that fining a 60+ man just plodding along."

M4rt1n74: "I've no problem with a zero tolerance approach to fines for cyclists riding on pedestrian areas but I feel the level of fine is very high. You can drive a car at excess speeds and receive a lower fine, you can park a car on pavements with no issues. The fine is even higher than going through a red light! Maybe a bit of common sense should be used in both sides."

Stuart Patterson: "I'm not particularly familiar with Grimsby, so this is based on generic experience in other towns, but I reckon it's easier to catch a 60-year-old pootling along, that a Deliveroo rider on a de-restricted e-bike doing 15mph who ignores you when you shout 'Stop'."

06 March 2024, 17:14
Fuel duty freeze "just tinkering around the edges" of necessary transport changes and “disproportionately” benefiting wealthiest motorists, says think tank – as campaigners slam "no mention of cycling or walking" in Budget
Cyclist and Palace of Westminster (copyright Simon MacMichael)

> Fuel duty freeze "just tinkering around the edges" of necessary transport changes and "disproportionately" benefiting wealthiest motorists, says think tank – as campaigners slam "no mention of cycling or walking" in Budget

06 March 2024, 15:37
Santiago Buitrago wins Paris-Nice summit finish, as Luke Plapp moves into race lead

Remember when they changed their name to Bahrain Victorious and we all took the piss out of them because they'd barely ever won, yeah nobody's joked about that recently. Santiago Buitrago earned the team their second WorldTour stage race victory of the past hour, with an impressive display at Paris-Nice's Mont Brouilly hilltop finish.

The Colombian bridged to Luke Plapp on the first ascent of the climb and the pair stayed away, GC favourites Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič seemingly unbothered by the stage win heading off up the road. Ultimately, the Belgian did launch his attack in search of the final remaining bonus seconds, but was pipped on the line by Mattias Skjelmose.

It all means we've got a race on our hands heading towards the weekend, Australian Plapp taking the lead ahead of his attack companion. UAE Team Emirates duo Brandon McNulty and João Almeida remain in third and fourth respectively, while Remco sits 30 seconds off the race lead, Roglič at 1:10...

06 March 2024, 15:17
Police apologise as charges against cyclist accused of "riding on the wrong side of the road" while filming phone driver dropped on eve of trial
Charges against cyclist accused of “riding on the wrong side of the road” while filming phone driver dropped (Dave Clifton)

> Police apologise as charges against cyclist accused of "riding on the wrong side of the road" while filming phone driver dropped on eve of trial

06 March 2024, 15:03
Phil Bauhaus wins uphill sprint at Tirreno-Adriatico

Tirreno's third stage ended with a confusing uphill sprint, made more complex by the crash of Jasper Philipsen in the final kilometre. Few will be thanking the organisers for dropping a 225km day in the middle of a stage race in March, but decent prep for those going to Milan-San Remo next weekend, I guess...

The testing nature of the finish, after a relatively straightforward, but energy-sapping, long day in the saddle, meant the top-10 turned into a fantastically diverse mishmash of all sorts of riders, from pure sprinters to well-positioned GC hopefuls. 

At the head of them all was Phil Bauhaus, the German sprinter fending of Jonathan Milan's late surge. Alberto Bettiol flew the flag for the classics men in fourth, while Damiano Caruso represented the climbers in seventh, having helped his German sprinter to victory. 

For the most hardcore racing fans among you, eagerly awaiting news from Belgium and the 1.1 Altez GP Oetingen p/b Lotto. That was won by Lorena Wiebes. We'll have more from Paris-Nice shortly...

06 March 2024, 12:37
"You never should take away the character of a person, it's how I am": Remco Evenepoel comments on Declercq situation ahead of testing Paris-Nice stage

Some final words from Remco on the Declercq incident before the start of today's lumpy Paris-Nice stage: "You never should take away the character of a person, it's how I am. I often say what I feel in my stomach, it's the way I react after a race often, but I know it's not 100 per cent what I mean. What I said is not what I regret, it's just the way I said it.

"Tim also knows he was riding in the way, he apologised for that, we shared some messages, we spoke together, we will speak in the bunch and everything will be forgotten."

06 March 2024, 11:05
"I'm strapped up and ready to take on the day": Chris Froome continues Tirreno-Adriatico after crash on stage two

Chris Froome can't catch a break, the four-time Tour de France winner falling during yesterday's stage and ending the day in hospital for an X-ray. No fractures means he's back on the bike today. "Strapped up and ready to take on the day," he wrote on social media. 

Just the 225km on the cards, an uphill sprint likely, Gualdo Tadino the ancient town the scene of the finish. Mathieu van der Poel was the winner the last time we visited, in 2021, will the sprinters have enough punch to contest the finish after such a long day in the saddle? Perhaps this is Biniam Girmay or maybe even Julian Alaphilippe territory?

06 March 2024, 10:52
Introducing the Big Bike Orchestra
06 March 2024, 10:26
Under-fire council defends controversial survey, claims it had "heard anecdotally that there are issues with e-bike and e-scooters being ridden dangerously in the borough"

You might have seen this yesterday...

2023 Volt Infinity-Shimano STEPS e-bike - riding 1

> Cyclists slam council's "biased survey" asking "how much of a nuisance and danger e-bikes" are to residents

As a quick update, we contacted Tower Hamlets Council for comment, the local authority saying it had "heard anecdotally that there are issues with e-bike and e-scooters being ridden dangerously in the borough".

"This is a fact-finding survey, not a statutory consultation, to find out more information. We welcome people from Tower Hamlets to respond to the survey."

06 March 2024, 09:55
Remco Evenepoel cools criticism of former teammate, having accused Tim Declercq of "nasty" TT blocking
Soudal Quick-Step TTT Paris-Nice 2024 (ASO/Billy Ceusters)

[ASO/Billy Ceusters]

Soudal Quick-Step leader Remco Evenepoel wasn't best pleased with the antics of former teammate Tim Declercq during yesterday's Paris-Nice team time trial. Praise the lord, we don't have to talk about helmets for five minutes...

Declercq, the mile-munching domestique who spent years laying the foundations of many a teammate's victories with the Belgian team, has left for Lidl-Trek and attracted the ire of his former employer's big-name GC hope. Evenepoel accused Declercq of, having been dropped from Lidl-Trek's TTT effort, then riding in front of the Soudal Quick-Step effort behind on a technical bend.

"A thank you to him. That was really nasty. Tim may have been an ex-teammate, but you don't do something like that. Did he do it on purpose? I hope not, but it is possible," Remco said. However, not long after, the 24-year-old cooled off and wrote on Strava that he was "a bit overhyped" and "I don't blame him for getting in our way [...] the commissioner should have warned him so he knew we were getting closer[...] Tim didn't make us lose the race today."

Tim Declercq, 2021 Tour of Britain (SWpix.com)

Declercq told Het Nieuwsblad: "It was unintentional but it can happen, but I don't see what I could do about it. In principle, that car should have said to me: they are there. Then I would have stepped aside because this is the last thing I would do. Remco should know me as a person, that I would never do something like that on purpose."

 

The pair then exchanged messages under Evenepoel's Instagram post about the day, Declercq apologising if he lost Soudal Quick-Step any time, but it "was really not on purpose".

Right, back to stupid-looking aero helmets...

06 March 2024, 09:45
🚨NEW BIKE KLAXON🚨Giant unveils the "lightest, most efficient TCR ever" — but is it enough for it to remain the brand's flagship road race bike?

> Giant unveils the "lightest, most efficient TCR ever" — but is it enough for it to remain the brand's flagship road race bike?

06 March 2024, 08:58
Tory mayoral candidate claims LTNs are "blocking ambulances" despite support for schemes... from the emergency services

Last week, the latest polling for the London mayoral election in May had Conservative Party candidate Susan Hall 25 points behind Sadiq Khan. Hall's campaign will, by many, be remembered for her pre-Christmas claim that her wallet being stolen on the tube was evidence of lawless London, only for it to be returned by a Good Samaritan because she'd in fact "dropped it" — however, with the big day less than two months away, the Tory candidate has ramped up her campaigning, posting a video on social media claiming that "LTNs [low-traffic neighbourhood schemes that prevent drivers rat-running certain roads in residential areas, in a bid to encourage active travel and tackle air and noise pollution] are blocking ambulances".

To make her point, Hall spoke to one emergency services worker...

As the ambulance attendant, Hazel, tells her: "They're not helping at all, get rid of them. Just simply get rid of them." The Ranty Highwayman, an account run by a highway engineer, asked Hall if Hazel's "speaking on behalf of the NHS, the London Ambulance Service, a transport contractor or herself. This is an important point that needs answering."

An important point indeed, especially considering some of the official emergency service communication about LTNs...

In 2021, the London Fire Brigade said low-traffic neighbourhoods have had no impact on response times. LFB said: "LTNs have been part of London's transport strategy since the 1970s. LTNs help to make streets around London easier to walk and cycle on by stopping cars, vans and other vehicles from using quiet roads as shortcuts.

"We haven't yet noticed any impact on our attendance times due to the LTN schemes established in 2020; however, we will continue to monitor their impact at a local level."

Railton LTN (picture credit TfL)

And while one year's data does not necessarily reflect long-term trends, particularly in a year after the coronavirus pandemic caused such disruption to peoples lives and routines. However, looking a little further back, Waltham Forest – which has created a number of LTNs in recent years under its Mini Holland programme, saw average response times fall from 5 minutes 2 seconds in 2018 to 4 minutes 54 seconds in 2019 and 4 minutes 43 seconds in 2020 (again, admittedly a pandemic year).

> Pop-up bike lanes don't slow ambulances according to… the ambulance service

Last year, police in Tower Hamlets urged the council not to scrap a Liveable Streets scheme, saying that it has resulted in a reduction in antisocial behaviour-related crime. 

One Twitter (X) user who replied to Hall commented: "Here's an ambulance driver driving straight through the filters of an LTN to swiftly get to their destination.
Note: no motor traffic backlog to hold the ambulance up and the driver did not incur a fine as emergency vehicles are exempt, as are buses."

Another reply — from the Hackney Cyclist account — featured a police officer speaking about LTNs, warning of "a lot of scaremongering" around the schemes...

"[We] wont' be able to help people, we won't be able to catch suspect, there'll be a victim in need and we won't be able to get there because we'll need to do a U-turn... That's just completely false. Please don't believe any scaremongering."

Cycling lawyer at Leigh Day law firm, Rory McCarron, pointed out the response time data from Greenwich showing the biggest cause of delays to London Fire Brigade call outs was traffic, not LTNs. "What you going to do about excessive car use?" he asked.

That was fun. Anyway, as we said at the start, 25 points behind in the polls... 

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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51 comments

Avatar
marmotte27 replied to Patrick9-32 | 8 months ago
2 likes
Patrick9-32 wrote:

Where does the tory party find these people? Its like they are holding a competition to be the worst person alive. 

You need to be stupid and/or evil to be a rightwinger.

Avatar
Rendel Harris | 8 months ago
22 likes

It's worth noting re Susan Hall (#stupiderwithsusan), as I did on Twitter, that "Hazel" is not an emergency services worker, she is a mental health transport assistant, in other words someone who sits in the back of an ordinary, not emergency, transport ambulance and looks after patients with severe MH difficulties. A tremendously worthwhile and praiseworthy job, but one that has absolutely nothing to do with emergency response. Clearly Hall couldn't find a single one of London's 5,700 frontline emergency ambulance staff to appear to support her nonsense on LTNs so had to fall back on someone who works in patient transport. It's also worth noting that the Mayor of London has no control over traffic schemes apart from those on TfL roads, i.e. a small handful of major arterial routes, so her promises to remove LTNs are entirely worthless, it's down to the borough councils. However, she doesn't know what a copper's salary is, how much a bus fare is or who owns Hammersmith Bridge, so I suppose it's a bit much to expect her to know the actual remit of the office for which she is running.

ETA It's worth noting also that her claim that she wants to remove LTNs because she's listening to Londoners and it's what we want is a complete lie, the last poll of which I am aware on the matter (July 2023) found that 58% of Londoners support LTNs with only 17% opposed, hardly a surprising finding for a city in which 50% of households have no access to a motor vehicle.

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ktache replied to Rendel Harris | 8 months ago
1 like

At least Shaun (Baron Bailey of Paddington...) had some presence and a fairly good backstory. With Susan Hall they seem not even ro be trying...

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brooksby replied to ktache | 8 months ago
2 likes

ktache wrote:

At least Shaun (Baron Bailey of Paddington...) had some presence and a fairly good backstory.

He blew it when those pictures of his office Xmas party in 2020 surfaced…

(Althought it didn't stop him getting a knighthood).

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Steve K replied to brooksby | 8 months ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

 

He blew it when those pictures of his office Xmas party in 2020 surfaced…

(Althought it didn't stop him getting a knighthood).

Didn't they emerge after the election?  And he got a peerage!

Avatar
stonojnr | 8 months ago
1 like

Fwiw for balance, the current London Mayor and Labour candidate for this year's election stated on his LBC radio show last Thursday in response to a listeners question about LTNs where reportedly one London bus took 121 minutes to travel 2.9miles across Streatham "The LTN in Streatham is causing huge problems" though he also stated Streatham Wells "is a council LTN not my LTN".

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/transport-for-london-lambeth-low-...

Nobody asked the London ambulance service if ambulances were impacted around the Streatham LTN,but I'd be surprised if they weren't given the congestion that it is reportedly causing.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to stonojnr | 8 months ago
8 likes

Yes, he has agreed that there are problems with the Streatham LTN and TfL, as an interested party as they are responsible for the A23 which is the road that has primarily suffered from the increased congestion, have been working with the local council to iron out the problems and ensure the scheme can remain in place without having quite such a deleterious impact on surrounding roads. Rather a different approach to Ms Hall's "We must rip them all out" strategy.

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stonojnr replied to Rendel Harris | 8 months ago
0 likes

the solution to Strethams LTN might well be rip it out, then where would the policy be ?

If we're going to criticise a candidate for election for their stance on LTNs, it's best to get the whole picture from all sides, don't you agree ?

Avatar
Patrick9-32 replied to stonojnr | 8 months ago
1 like

stonojnr wrote:

the solution to Strethams LTN might well be rip it out, then where would the policy be ? If we're going to criticise a candidate for election for their stance on LTNs, it's best to get the whole picture from all sides, don't you agree ?

What if *situation I have no proof for* in *area that's not in question* was happening eh?? What then?? Checkmate lefties. 

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stonojnr replied to Patrick9-32 | 8 months ago
0 likes

Lol that reminds me of a Zapp Brannigan joke

who cares which side of politics you're on, real world is more complex than "lefties right" or "tories bad", or LTNs always work and you're an idiot to be laughed at if you say otherwise.

Understand that much, and you wont be left using Maslow's hammer as the tool for everything.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to stonojnr | 8 months ago
5 likes

stonojnr wrote:

the solution to Strethams LTN might well be rip it out, then where would the policy be ? If we're going to criticise a candidate for election for their stance on LTNs, it's best to get the whole picture from all sides, don't you agree ?

Where would what policy be? Khan doesn't have a policy on LTNs because they are not under his control, I don't understand what point you're trying to make. Susan Hall is saying that she wants to "rip out" all LTNs (despite the fact that many of them have been running for decades without anyone making a fuss, and also despite the fact that if she became mayor (which, thank God, is as likely as Lord Lucan winning the next Derby aboard Shergar) she would have no authrity to remove the LTNs whatsoever. Khan has said that he recognises that one LTN may need changes and will work with the local council to effect that. I live relatively close to the Streatham LTN, by the way, and it doesn't need "ripping out", it just needs a few changes. Of course what would make it really good would be if healthy able-bodied people could stop driving 3/4 of a mile to the supermarket, but apparently that is an impossible dream.

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chrisonabike replied to Rendel Harris | 8 months ago
0 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

stonojnr wrote:

the solution to Strethams LTN might well be rip it out, then where would the policy be ? If we're going to criticise a candidate for election for their stance on LTNs, it's best to get the whole picture from all sides, don't you agree ?

Where would what policy be? Khan doesn't have a policy on LTNs because they are not under his control ...

Possibly pedantry but surely it's a bit more nuanced - e.g. he presumably can't say "fix this one so" but ... he has been overseeing TfL expanding the cycle ways but been frustrated (indeed - getting a bit chippy with Ken and Chelsey over their intransigence / reversing things after having taken the cash).

If mayors had zero influence over the details the Conservative candidate's pledge to rip these out would be even more risible than it is.

Not being from London it was a long time before I realised the place is basically a bunch of different large towns / small cities stuck together.  Who'd want to try to herd those cats?

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Born_peddling | 8 months ago
4 likes

Northerner here and isn't it just like a Tory to be absolutely full of it 💩. Because they have nothing to actually campaign on without sounding like complete hypocrites.... So back to basic causing hated on the roads wouldn't mind betting this peroxide blonde (can't get any vainer than that type right?) lives in a gated community etc just like how our PMs wife refuses to stay at number 10 because she's have to stop working.... hilarious thing about it is the PM has the gaul to say workers in this country are lazy while profiting from his wife's business cause he has no "real world" quals have you seen the tit handles a hammer? He still doesn't give an F while they keep moving the voting goal posts... He's already referred to moving elections back another two years!

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Born_peddling | 8 months ago
11 likes

Born_peddling wrote:

Because they have nothing to actually campaign on without sounding like complete hypocrites....

I live in the Forest of Dean (just been for a ride in the glorious spring sunshine) and my MP is Mark Harper, who is attacking the Green Party for raising the price of council owned car parking: because he's got nothing else, quite sad really.  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=800310061908432&set=a.360841945855248

Meanwhile, in other news, locals have taken to calling potholes "Harpers".

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wycombewheeler replied to eburtthebike | 8 months ago
3 likes

meanwhile in the home counties, tory MPs go full on in championing global warming favourable policies, cheaper council car parks looks like small change.

https://www.stevebakerwatch.com/

"global warming policy foundation" is presumably in favour of policies which achieve global warming, as opposed to his involvement in the european research group, which certainly did zero research into Europe whatsoever.

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ride2smile | 8 months ago
25 likes

Low  high traffic neighbourhoods block ambulances from getting where they need to be.

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essexian | 8 months ago
11 likes

Susan Hall... please don't give this person the oxygen of 
publicity. She is not suitable to hold any level of public office, let alone Mayor of London. 

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to essexian | 8 months ago
10 likes

She's as truth averse as the previous Tory candidate for the Mayor of London, not to mention the last Tory Mayor of London, the same one who spaffed £42 million of public money up the wall for a useless bridge that nobody wanted and was never built and who then, over-promoted beyond his ability as PM, went on to break the country economically and politically.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to essexian | 8 months ago
3 likes

C'mon, she is still traumatised from being robbed on  the Tube !

And from being taunted by Nick Ferrari

//pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/EWNgvD0XkAA9myD.jpg)

Avatar
brooksby replied to Hirsute | 8 months ago
3 likes

Hirsute wrote:

C'mon, she is still traumatised from being robbed on  the Tube !

That was mentioned in the Grauniad article I linked to earlier.  She went on radio or something saying how London was so awful now and she'd had her bag stolen on the Tube, and the next day someone handed it in because they'd found it abandoned on a platform.  Not actually stolen.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Hirsute | 8 months ago
3 likes

Aero helmet, there - is that a time trial?

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