POLICE AWARENESS

Last Sunday, on a ride out with other members of the club, five of us got pulled by the police at the end of a trail in Gargrave. The officer made us wait until another officer was summoned. Apparently this officer had tried to pull over 6 lads on off road bikes, he managed to pull one but the other riders legged it.

Also to arrive on the scene was Traffic Sergeant Les Moorhouse who took us at our word that it was not us. (Also we had full mapping on a GPS showing where and when we had been). He was pretty pissed off at these guys who had done a runner and pretty pissed off at trail riders in general at that point. He gave us a good talking to, asked about tyres and number plates. Some of ours were legal some not, and he was very generous about not climbing all over the bikes checking for non legal stuff. We were then sent on our way.

Today I called Sergeant Moorhouse just to tell him a little about the club and what we are trying to do regarding illegal trail riding and also to try smoothing the way for any future meeting with the law. I had a good long chat with him and he had a bit more of a relaxed approach to us.

He is fully aware of illegal trail riders, he gets dozens of calls a week regarding it, but he also agrees that there is a small minority out there ruining it for the rest of us. He and his force are collating any info they get from landowners and ramblers alike, and putting this on file for the authorities to refer to and take any necessary action as they see fit.

He went on to say that he has no problem at all with legal trail bikes being used on legal trails and the road, but he was fully aware of the fact that most of us use illegal tyres and have non standard exhaust pipes and also small number plates.

His policy is not to ticket everybody for this but to be lenient and give most people a talking to and the chance to put things right. His force are talking about having a clamp down on trail bikes now that it is the time off year for increased activity, very similar to what they do at Kirby with the road bikes. The words he used were “not enforcement but education” which really sounds like a bit of a chance to get our act together.

The biggest bugbear is small number plates covered in mud and difficult to read. His answer was simple: fit larger plates and at least make an effort to clean them at the end of a trail. Exhaust noise was also a problem area, with the legality, and the cause of many complaints from the general public out and about, and let’s face it who needs an extra horse power or two when out trail riding.

And last but not least was tyres, I explained about Michelin AC10 tyres looking like a motor cross tyre but all he wants is it to say ‘road legal’.

After this discussion I came to the conclusion that it’s not all doom and gloom and that taking some small steps in the right direction will go a long way as to keep us on the road and a clean licence.

And finally don’t swear and hurl abuse at tall guys in a blue Subaru Impreza as they pull in front of you, as this is were the trouble all started.