Hundreds more cyclists fined by "enforcement officers" under town's controversial cycling ban, months on from rider ordered to pay £1,050

A council that has been fining cyclists under a controversial town centre cycling ban in Grimsby has today revealed that hundreds more riders were fined between April and September.

The long-running saga around the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in Grimsby has seen riders stopped and fined by "enforcement officers" if they ride in pedestrianised sections of the town. North East Lincolnshire Council believes the action necessary to crack down on anti-social behaviour, however others have suggested the PSPO is only discouraging people from making cycled journeys to the area's shops, all while failing to actually deter those whose anti-social behaviour is cited as the reason for the policy.

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North East Lincolnshire Council today revealed that 1,472 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) had been issued during the six months between April and September, the fines issued by Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement (WISE) officers. Not all these are for breaching the cycling PSPO, and other offences mentioned include littering, dog fouling, smoking in a smoke-free zone, and parking.

With that said, in April alone 50 people were issued FPNs under the cycling PSPO, while FPN numbers for the following months suggest hundreds more have been stopped and issued FPNs by enforcement officers too.

After April the statistics do not specify the exact PSPO breach that saw an FPN issued, but considering other examples of PSPOs include one to tackle fishing without a permit, it seems likely that the more widely reported cycling ban (which had 50 incidents in April alone) is accounting for the majority.

In May, 117 people were issued FPNs, the number hitting a peak of 152 in August and 150 the previous month in July.

Portfolio Holder for Safer and Stronger Communities, Councillor Ron Shepherd, claimed the stats are "proof that what we're doing is working".

"There is clearly a need for these officers and they are working hard to make the borough a safe and comfortable place," he said.

"Those found to be breaching parking conventions or PSPOs will be dealt with accordingly. As these numbers prove, there are consequences to your actions and I implore people to follow the rules to make North East Lincolnshire a better place for everyone."

Just last month, Cllr Shepherd admitted that the council would be reducing the number of 'no cycling' messages played through a loud speaker in the town centre from four to two an hour, because locals thought it was "too repetitive". He has also claimed the area has been "rejuvenated" with "café and street culture" thanks to the PSPO.

The no cycling policy has made headlines over the past few years, notably because of some of the eye-watering sums those who failed to pay their FPNs were ordered to pay by the courts.

Last summer a cyclist was ordered to pay £1,150 after being caught riding through the town centre and failing to pay the £100 fixed penalty notice. Likewise, the council has reported that a cyclist, Adam Wherrett, has recently failed to pay his FPN and has since been ordered to pay £508 in total having been prosecuted at Grimsby Magistrates' Court.

In October 2022, a pensioner made headlines after telling the council to stick its £100 fine "up your arse", his case also attracting outrage from locals who reported seeing council officers targeting "old and slow" riders while ignoring youths "racing up and down".

That is, in essence, the major criticism that cycling groups have made about such town centre cycling bans — that they discourage people cycling into the town, while also failing to deter the sort of anti-social behaviour it is believed they'll combat.

Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it claims have the effect of criminalising cycling.

"Some councils have used PSPOs as a geographically defined version of an ASBO to restrict the use of public space and criminalise behaviour not normally regarded as illegal," Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK's head of campaigns, has previously said.

In March, we reported that elsewhere in England, Worcester City Council opted against extending its city centre cycling ban PSPO, council figures stating that it was "more about culture wars than what we want for the city" and that they were "never convinced dangerous cyclists were the big issue", with the ban feeling like "political theatre". Campaigners also argued it acted as a "psychological barrier" to more people using bicycles.

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Birmingham City Council is considering introducing a PSPO restricting cycling in parts of the city centre, the council yesterday insisting that the policy would not be "a ban on cycling", just "merely a reflection of how cycles are used in the city centre".

However, the plans have been labelled "clumsy and unworkable" by active travel campaigners, many despairing at the proposal which it was suggested "directly contravenes several of the council's own transport policies and will disproportionally impact people who use their cycles as mobility aids".