http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8057536.stm

Eeeech! How many times do people do this and somebody doesn’t die? Loads! What a disaster. 1 life lost, 1 life ruined, plus families and so on.

al.

“Loads!”

really?

We used to do it towing a pallet with a bit of rope round the towball, see how long you can hang on …

… but this was rural Shropshire, you have to make your own entertainment 😉

“Loads”

Hmmmm, cant say I;ve ever indulged myself.

Mr Hollister, 37, had drunk four cans of cider before the stunt in Easter Compton, near Bristol, in 2008, the court heard.

Natural selection. It’s about time we thinned the herd a bit.

Err, was doing something similar with my mate riding a mountain board down country lanes while clinging onto my wing mirror. We were quite sober tho.

Hmm. In retrospect was a bit too “extreme”.

I think I’ve grown (a bit) since then.

been there, substitute rollerboots for the bike.

i was the driver 🙁
his face will never be the same.

lesson learned, lucky escape.

Snow + canteen tea tray + Austin Allegro with towbar + 20ft of climbing rope + deserted car park = an afternoon of hilarity.

But on an open road, have to agree with BoardinBob.

All innocent fun, not sure why anyone should be jailed for it when both parties consented and knew the risks. It is bloody hard to hold on to a moving vehicle on uneven ground.

he got jailed as he tried to cover it up.

I wouldn’t have expected the driver to get such a harsh sentence. Perhaps they are getting harder…I doubt there’s much precedent fo rthis (esp since that charge was created)

Yes I think the judge was making the point that he took a month to come foward.
We used to ride down a long hill to an industrial estate on our skateboards & grab the trailers of artic lorries to tow us back up!
A bit silly looking back, but seemed a laugh at the time.

“called paramedics but left the scene after providing scant details.”
so he was drink driving then?

also lied to police, claiming he had just stopped to help the victim and had not been involved in the accident.

After a long sunny afternoon of drinking at a country pub I had a tow to my mates house. I was on a schwinn cruiser and the tow was up some seriously steep but relatively quiet country lane. Luckily I wasn’t ‘thinned from the herd’!

me and my friends used to get tows all the time off drivers in london when we were younger, and none of them were consenting (or very happy, when they noticed!).

old style taxis had protruding petrol caps on the nearside back corner, they were perfect for it. 🙂

there’s clearly more idiots about than i’d imagined…

😉

I think that’s pretty bad when drivers who mow down cyclists get away with it, harsh sentence.

I’ve done it before, from CyB up the road to the log cabins, it was pretty sketchy, but I still think that’s too harsh. I guess they’re making an example of him because he lied.

Bike + Rope + Rollerskates + Brother = My first broken arm.

You’d have to be a dumbass to do this with a car. Darwin Award perhaps?

After a long sunny afternoon of drinking at a country pub I had a tow to my mates house. I was on a schwinn cruiser and the tow was up some seriously steep but relatively quiet country lane. Luckily I wasn’t ‘thinned from the herd’!

Section 30 Road Traffic Act 1988 says: “It is an offence for a person to ride a cycle on a road or other public place when unfit to ride through drink or drugs – that is to say – is under the influence of a drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the cycle.

That’s harsh! I’ve also done it loads, usually holding onto onto the side of the car with the window down – you get a good view of what’s coming that way. a mate once lost it in a hole at the edge of the fireroad while being towed and lost his DH bike under a transit. seen an intense M1 flattened too as the uplift tractor he decided to lassoo his own cord to reversed to let a returning tractor pass and the tool towing himself had wrapped the rope round his stem instead of holding it.
way back before all the politics etc. I got towed up the fire road at inners at about 40 with a tow rope :oops:. 😆

I used to get towed by wagons up a road on the way to work, several times they yelled for me to grab on and I’d meet them daily. They accelerated slowly as it was a steep hill anyway, and the road was fairly smooth and straight so it was a calculated risk. Certainly wouldnt do it without the driver saying so though as you have no idea if they know you’re there.

Need to be super-vigilant too, fortunately wagons move slower than cars so them having to swerve for things happens really slowly and you can just let go and pedal on 😀

Seems a harsh sentence to me.

The bike rider was consenting to be towed.

Would a team car driver in the TDF or other bike race receive similar treatment. I think not.

Would a team car driver in the TDF or other bike race receive similar treatment. I think not.

They probably would not be drunk, or leave the scene, or lie about it when questioned for a whole month, or do it on an open public road though.

The bike rider was consenting to be towed.

Most junkies will consent to shooting up. Will we let the drug dealers off because the junkies were up for it?

Yep, i’ve done it a few times before, clinging onto the window, or my personal fave was onto the cap on the edge of roofbars which popped off as i was holding it. Bit sketchy, bit silly but id do it again, laugh innit? Probs best not to do it after a few drinks mind.

i got a tow off the bar on the back deck of a traditional routemaster and the conductor told me off. my protestations while still being towed that i had an oyster card fell on deaf ears, sadly. 😆

They had oyster cards in 1956? 😉

they’re still running on the number 9 route and were on a lot more than that at the time, about 4 years ago. 🙂

Most junkies will consent to shooting up. Will we let the drug dealers off because the junkies were up for it?

Drug dealers do not get done for murder in these circumstances though.

Drug dealers do not get done for murder in these circumstances though.

If they can be charged, they will

I loved downhill skateboarding as a teenager and had quite a rep for going down the longest/steepest roads. Not much traffic where we did this.
There would be a small crowd to cheer and one or two would have a motorbike. They would tow us back up the hill at speeds faster than that we did down. Had some close moments when your wheels hit a little(too big ) stone… How I miss those times. 🙂 Never bothered with knee/arm guards or helmets either.

But they can’t be charged.

But they can’t be charged.

Fail.

Police investigating the death of Leah Betts yesterday arrested a teenager in connection with supplying the drug.

A 17-year-old youth from Basildon, Essex, was charged with supplying a Class A drug and bailed to appear at Chelmsford magistrates’ on 10 January. Leah died after taking the drug at her 18th birthday party at her home in Latchingdon, Essex, on 10 November.

Got my Raleigh Arena 5 speed up to 60mph before I bottled it, holding onto my mates shoulder, he was on a Yahama RXS100 at the time.

Mind you I was 14 and didn’t know any better, we didn’t have helmets in them days either.

They probably would not be drunk, or leave the scene, or lie about it when questioned for a whole month, or do it on an open public road though.

It doesn’t say he’s drunk.

Anyway as can be seen on this thread. It’s something plenty of us have done and lived to tell the tale. The witness says they were “whooping with shouts of excitement” ie having a laugh. It was an accident,the circumstances of which he lied about.

i’m with you on that, pipsy.

It doesn’t say he’s drunk.

No it doesn’t.

It does look likely though doesn’t it?

It does look likely though doesn’t it?

I’m guessing that if they knew the cyclist had drunk 4 cans of cider, then they would have known the same about the driver if he’d done likewise.

72mph behind a GPX250 when I was a Uni, you don’t half slow down fast when you let go and the wind hits you.

Amazing – if he’d hit a cyclist out riding his bike on a ride/commute he’d have been unlucky to lose his license.

Talk about the Law being an ass!