Just a few questions from a legal stand point. One can ride bridal ways but not footpaths? Although i have been told you can ride footpaths unless it states no cycles so am a little confused?

I know you can ride what you like untill you caught and that most people ride "cheeky"trails but was just wondering what the law said?

I am based in Berkshire.

Better say which country you're in.

In Scotland you can ride just about anywhere.

In England you need to start pushing your politicians to get the same rights.

Go look here

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/enjoying/places/rightsofway/prow/default.aspx

KS – Thank you for that most helpful. It seems the story I was told about being able to ride a footpath unless it states "no cycles" is unfounded.

Also, it's not technically a law enshrined in English law per se, you're merely breaching a civil ruling if you ride on a footpath (unless there's a specific by law stating otherwise in which case you'll see specific signs saying so) and again, technically the land owners could have you for nuisance or even trespass but it's never happened. If they ask you to leave, just leave..

edit: And it's only the land owners or their representatives who can do this by the way, a member of the public has no more say in the matter than you do.

You can however ride a footpath with the landowners consent.

So it seems its not Law but rather a rule that "most" people adhere too.

but rather a rule that "most" people adhere too.

More like a rule that most people ignore!

I don't know any riders who just stick to legal trails.

not illegal to ride on footpaths

The problem is that we are considering where it is legal to ride baased on what a track is called, e.g. (quoting from the page linked above)

Types of public rights of way

England has about 190,000 km (118,000 miles) of public rights of way, providing many opportunities to enjoy the natural environment.

footpath-yellow

Footpath – open to walkers only, waymarked with a yellow arrow

bridleway-blue

Bridleway – open to walkers, horseriders and cyclists waymarked with a blue arrow

restricted-purple

Restricted byway – open to walkers, cyclists, horse riders and horse drawn vehicles. Waymarked with a plum coloured arrow.

In fact a footpath is a trail where the right to pass on foot is recorded on the definitive map, likewise a bridleway is a trail where the rights of horses and walkers(and cyclists by dint of a subsequent law) are recorded. The fact that a trail is recorded as a footpath DOES NOT MEAN that a cyclist has no rights: merely that they have not been recorded. As Samuri says, if a law has been passed stating that cyclists are forbidden from riding on the trail, a sign will be displayed.

note that footpath in this sense does not mean the pavement at the side of the road

Someone had to post this link

it may not be illegal to ride on footpaths but it's bad form to do it

ooh trailseeker that looks a nice bit of trail.

Down in the SE I don't worry as it doesn't seem to be a problem at all down here, but I do make sure that when on footpaths I'm very careful around walkers – somewhere like The Lakes or Peaks its probably another story, mainly I guess due to the sheer number of red-socks.

Never poses a problem around here, well very few places, and yes me too when in The Lakes I play strictly to Bridleways only.

it may not be illegal to ride on footpaths but it's bad form to do it

a bit like not wearing a tie at the dinner table ?

Hehehe that was my thought too SfB.

"Oh bad show old chap!"

Bad form?

Go on then why's that?

It's just not Cricket Dave.

well put it this way, every morning i walk from the train station to my office (glasgow punters its anderston to charing cross) and every morning at the same time 8.50am or so there is a guy who rides up the foot path and pushes past all the folk walking from the train….all so he doesnt have to cross the junction and ride up the road on the other side

the other morning he came round the corner and was met by 50 or 60 folk fresh of the train on a narrow footpath, rather than dismount and walk or cross the road and ride up the road he simply pushed his way through the crowd!!

cyclists should be on the road, trails, cycle paths or shared surface footpaths not footpaths for peds

I can't say I've ever seen 50 or 60 folk in total out on the trails around here on an a Bank Holiday Monday never mind a quiet day.

what tosh, a footpath and a pavement are 2 different things

And there are different rules for footways (like pavements) than for footpaths.

enduro-aid Thats not the kind of footpath folk are talking about here and is bad form.

Mind you I can't remember the last tome I saw a copper bollock some one for riding on the pavement. Seen plenty of folk ride past police men on the pavement.

SFB if you want to get technical (i'm a civil engineer for Glasgow City)

In "proper industry terms"

A pavement is the term used for the bit where the cars etc are what you would call the carriageway.

A footway is an area for ped use that runs along side the afore mentioned carriageway.

A footpath is an area of seperate or segregated land for ped use which is not next to a road i.e a path through a park

cyclists are only allowed on a footway or foot path IF it has been designated for both peds/bikes, this information is generally found within the traffic regulation order for the area

these are the rules for scotland, they may change for england or wales

Oh not the old "Trust me I'm Engineer" line. 😛

Dont mind the odd cheeky bit but tend to avoid if att all possible and really only use local ones when it is quiet never really do in Lakes or Wales as plenty of other options.

cyclists are only allowed on a footway or foot path IF it has been designated for both peds/bikes, this information is generally found within the traffic regulation order for the area

Fairly sure that TROs don't have jurisdiction when off specifically built paths (i.e. footpaths through fields). And they have to be specifically applied for IIRC too don't they? Like the fact that half the yellow boxes in the road don't have accompanying TROs and so have no legal backing.

Riding on footways is bad form but acceptable IMO if done slowly and giving way to pedestrians. Footpaths are open season, but obviously with due care and attention to other users (even in England).

aye coffeeking you are right they have to be applied for but you will find that in most cases footpaths through public areas like parks or gardens will have TRO's in place to stop quads and motorbikes etc using them

as for the TRO's and yellow boxes in citys, it used to be the law that each street had its own TRO but it has recently changed and we are now putting out blanket TRO's covering half the city