I sometimes ride home through some woods near to where I live, i’ve being doing it for years without any problems, there are official footpaths and loads of tracks made by dog walkers, foxes, deers, The Halifax Cat Beast etc etc
Anyway a chap out with his dog started moaning about it not being a cycle route and that it was his private land, which I think it is, I didn’t fall out with the guy but had a little bit of a debate ending with him telling me I was tresspassing!

I’m not wanting to start a whole thread about cheeky trails being right or wrong but is there any thing legally that he can do if we ‘accidently’ cross paths in there again?

he can ask you to leave (by the shortest practical route) and he can sue you for any damage you cause

I think

So you’ve been asked to stay off some private land by the owner and you’re planning to ignore his request and go back.

Nice.

well depends if he can catch you 😉

he could probably inform the old bill that you are committing an act of indecency (if you are riding naked)

is that what cheeky trails means, yunki ?

Erm, he can ask you to leave? I’d just be polite and carry on doing exactly the same as you always have.

he and his agents may use reasonable force to remove you from his land.

Join a union.

Last debate I got into around Halifax with an old lady walking her dog I told her I was the land owner 😆

Yunki, I better keep well wrapped up then 😉

Nick Its not like the woods are next to his house, its not fenced or walled, infact there in a bit of a state, fallen tree’s, crumbling walls etc and said he doesn’t have a problem with other users, not that I ever see any.

If you see him again point out he’s putting pressure on his descendents ;o)

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/news/archive/2002/dukeapologises

I got told off earlier!!

Me too . . . cycling through town and young police officer stands in front of me, holding up his hand, saying ‘get off your bike’ . . . sheesh, I was pootling along, helmet, full hi-vis jacket and a backpack full of flowers FFS . . . only thing missing was a basket of kittens on the front 🙄

Maybe his time would’ve been better spent keeping an eye out for mobile phone using drivers than accosting little old ladies on their BMXs bicycles 😆

project – Member

he and his agents may use reasonable force to remove you from his land.

Only if you refused to leave for whatever reason, surley?

If you agree to leave and are seen to do so, does reasonable force still apply?

does reasonable force still apply?

course it doesn’t…..but if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it……etc

Just tell him you’re employed by the council to ride round all the footpaths picking up all the dog shite with your tyres! Maybe you should change the name from ‘Secret Woods’ to ‘Illegal Woods’! 😆

property is theft. fight the power. etc

seriously though, if he was farming it or something I could understand

Of course, just telling the old coot to go & sod off wouldn’t cross my mind.

School boy error should have gone with a polite hello afternoon etc and ride on

Me too . . . cycling through town and young police officer stands in front of me, holding up his hand, saying ‘get off your bike’ . . .

Happened to me a few times riding through the shopping precinct… special constable women gesturing at me, I laughed and kept riding, but I go a different way now cos I’m scared of getting in twubble.

You’re on his private land and he doesn’t want you there that should be enough really to keep you out even though you may not like it (it’s not like it’s tax-payers’ land). He’s paid for / inherited (whatever) the land and I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if someone started exercising dogs in your garden.

Tresspass is (IIRC) a civil matter and you can be sued for damages.

He can possibly use some force to evict you but if you’re rude, aggressive or vocal he might just call the five-0 and they could turn up and arrest / warn you for breach of the peace or public order,which are criminal.

….or he might just shoot you! 😉 😆

All possession is theft.If you have a set of bombers on your bike,own him.He has the same mentality as all the private landlords here.Arrogant and greedy.

Tresspass is (IIRC) a civil matter and you can be sued for damages.

No one has ever been sued for damages resulting from trespass by bicycle.

In fact if you offer him 20p to cover any damages and he refuses it, then takes you to court and the judge finds that 20p is a fair offer for the negligible value of the damage you have caused, I think he can award costs against the plaintiff as you have already “paid into court”.

Re the shooting comment

There was a conviction in the South a couple of years back for something very similar.

Someone killed while out on a X-er. They ended up on some farmland and was mowed down by a 4WD being driven by the land owner or their representative. I don’t think death was the desired outcome but it was the end result.

I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if someone started exercising dogs in your garden.

The ironic thing is there is a well used footpath across a small stream right at the bottom of my garden and have found a few people sat on our bench eating their lunch! If they take ther Kit kat wrappers home its fine with me!

splashdown – Member

….or he might just shoot you! Ill wear a flak jacket next time, just in case 😉

and no chance of 4X4’s its too overgrown! 😆

If there are ‘official’ public footpaths then you could walk with the bike, until he cant see/get you and get back on again?
Pretend you dont speak english, wear headphones but have nothing playing pretending you cant hear etc ..

Was he actually the landowner? thats the crucial thing as only the landowner or thier agent can ask you to leave -and only then by the shortest route no other sanction is available

Myself I believe so long as you are being reasonable ie doing no significant harm then **** ’em. Most land was stolen anyway – it used to be common land and stolen by a bunch of imported French aristocrats.

If he is the landowner you should respect his wishes….

My dad is a farmer and there are a few urban legends of farmers who having seen a group having a picnic in a random field (miles from a ROW) collected the family followed them home had lunch in their garden and pissed in the corner…..

It works both ways being the moral of the story.

As for woods not being farmed etc, if all of a sudden you have to start erecting signs to fell a tree or dig a hole on your own private land because people have decided they would like to use it then it’s a PITA.

If you’re not sure if he’s the owner or not, maybe you can check by asking him ‘Parlez vous Francais?’ 😛

Allows me to crack out a favourite joke:

Why did Marx drink camomile?

Because all property is theft.

Time for a Wednesday night / Saturday daytime mass trespass with all the “Saddles” mob, straight through secret woods…round and round and round… 😈

There was a conviction in the South a couple of years back for something very similar.

Someone killed while out on a X-er. They ended up on some farmland and was mowed down by a 4WD being driven by the land owner or their representative. I don’t think death was the desired outcome but it was the end result.

It was a member of a club I ride with. He was on a trail bike riding green lanes and took a wrong lane thinking it was an extension of the green lane he was on. The land owner chased them in a 4×4 then caught up with them on a public road where they’d stopped at a junction. He then deliberatly rammed the biker, pushing him over the junction and into the ditch on the other side pinning him under the vehicle and killing him.

10 minutes on the computer… and you can show him that you have bought a cycling permit from the other warden last week! 🙂

landcruiser’s suggestion gets my vote.. 😀

Keep riding it respectfully. Hopefully you will encounter him again and suggest a non-confrontation setting where you can discuss things, like the pub. You could buy him a pint. He might come around to your way of thinking.

What will you do when you get home from your next bike ride and the guys casually walking round your garden?

What will you do when you get home from your next bike ride and the guys casually walking round your garden?

Shoot him? 😆

its his land, so respect his wishes.

As others have said how would you like it if the farmer took his trials bike around your for garden for a bit.

Some people on here seem to be the embodiment of the selfish, self righteous and egotistical cyclist stereotype that the press likes to portray.