[Closed] Bizarre email from parish council to local cycling clubs.

Well I still vividly remember the road cyclist who shouted * off you * at me

Do you not get that a lot though and it was just a coincidence that he was riding a bike?

Yep see plenty of foolish/selfish cyclists when driving or cycling, once reported one to his club as he had his number on in an event - got an apology.

I use www.streetlife.com and try to take a calm approach to dealing with the odd complaint about cyclists that comes up there - I'm in the Surrey Hills so can get flooded with us. Most are accepting but some do get very angry and so I try to explain why cyclists behave in certain ways, such as dominating a lane when it's narrow, to help relationships. I'd be happy to link in with the parish council if it might help things.

project - Member

Our local parish council also got a similar letter,

BUGGERME PARISH COUNCIL
Clerk: Mr. L.E.A.N ON-ME
John Tiresome, Esquiite,
Chairman,
****ERHAM Wheelers.
Email:
Dear Mr. Tiresome,
Buggerme is a small rural Tory voting village with quiet country lanes,used for dogging activities, a gay/mixed village pub, farm traffic, horse riders and the occasional bus, It attracts a large number of doggers and members of your naturist club who often play/ride the lanes in large groups.
At our recent Parish Council meetings concern was raised that some of these dogging groups are often travelling to fast and in groups spread across the road, approaching junctions and sharp corners in a manner that represents a serious risk to both themselves and the potential oncoming traffic,older people may only get a quick stroke or flash of naked flesh.
Hence we have decided to write to yourselves to register our concern and ask that you
publicise our concern with your club members, and encourage more safety awareness when travelling in our area.
We are keen to welcome doggers and walkers to our lovely village but we do not want to see people injured or worse.
I have also written to Sloughbridge dogging Club in the same context.
Yours sincerely,

I M MASTERBATING

Clerk of the Council

Stick with your IT job, comedy isn't your forte.

Zzzzz.

Obviously for the common good.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUpbOliTHJY

I thought that sounded wrong as I typed it, obviously its time to watch it again.

Parish Councils are the third and lowest tier of local government. They have little or no power save for putting in the odd bench or getting a ditch dug. They can cause problems in rights of way debates on footpaths and bridleways but they are little more than a lobby group to the Highway Authrority, which I guess would be Shropshire County Council - who actively promote cycling and would recommend quiet roads and not A roads!

As others have said, it's a polite letter - don't whatever happens allow an impolite reply.

You could, however, as a user of the roads in their village ask that local car drivers respect people on bikes (although as no one ever reads the Parish Council mtg minutes this will not have any effect).

I am on our local Parish Council, and they are tiresome meetings and raise nitty little things like this, as well as objecting to planning applications where inappropriate - they have a purpose, but unfortunately no real power. But they are meant to be the voice of the community in council matters.

It looks like there's been a misunderstanding with some of the replies here, this email wasn't sent to me personally. I'd have thought the email being addressed to [b]John[/b] Ireson and my name being MidlandTrailquests[b]Graham[/b] was a bit of a give away.
I found it on the Bridgnorth Cycling Club Facebook page.

Attending a parish council meeting is a nice idea, but how many villages do both clubs regularly ride through? Would you expect a club member to give up dozens of evenings a year to attend parish meetings at every one?

Do you really think club members are "riding in a manner that represents a serious risk to themselves"? I'm sure the clubs ride thousands of miles a year without any significant incidents caused by the members.

The biggest risk in a village like Beckbury is cars, yet I would guess that most of the parish council drive cars, but don't cycle, so it's easier to ignore the elephant in the room and shift the blame on to someone else.

Go to the next meeting and turn up on your bike, better yet ride into the meeting room on your bike. Circle the table yelling 'hellooo there you doddery old ****wits, Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou'
Continue circling whilst you upset their tea cups and poke out your tongue. Knock grandads hat off and then wheelie out the door but not before farting and/or burping Bicycle Race by Queen.

digga - Member

However, a few weeks ago, whilst [s]driving[/s] [b]cycling[/b] , I was very nearly [s]ridden[/s] [b]driven[/b] head-on into by a [s]pack[/s] [b]continuum[/b] of [s]bikes[/s] [b]cars[/b] travelling on the margins of safety (within the speed limit, but unsafe for the actual section of road) and it was extremely frightening. If I had not been paying absolute attention and made a near emergency stop, there could have been a nasty [s]incident[/s] [b] accident[/b].

Now as it happens, I knew who the guys......etc etc [b]so down the pub we decided we'd better have a good moan at the parish council[/b]

I do struggle with the idea that cyclists have to be the only road users that must never, ever appear to possibly, but rarely actually, act in a way that will cause harm to others

We are keen to welcome cyclists and walkers to our lovely village but we do not want to see people injured or worse.

It all really boils down to your interpretation of this sentence. It could mean:

a) We really do want to welcome people to our village because it is nice, we are nice and we want to you be able to share in it.

Or it could mean:

b) We are a bunch of a narrow-minded NIMBYs who have paid a lot of money for our houses and would prefer to never have to have our insular and smug existence disrupted by anyone, ever. On the other hand, Stanley, who runs the corner shop and is on the council has pointed out that half his income is from passing trade, so we will tolerate you, but only on our terms.

For what it is worth, I think the original letter is probably well-meaning, but some of the sentiment in interpretation b) may well be behind some of it.

My parents are members of their parrish council, twice a year about 12 of them get together and discuss important matters such as "who's turn it is to buy the wine next time" and "approval of the accounts (passing the recipt for the wine to the nominated secretary". Once they had to refuse european funding for a bus stop because there were no busses.

I'm sure the clubs ride thousands of miles a year without any significant incidents caused by the members.

TBh I would reply as ninfan stated and state you always obey the law and say how far you have cycled without any accidents

Attending a parish council meeting is a nice idea, but how many villages do both clubs regularly ride through? Would you expect a club member to give up dozens of evenings a year to attend parish meetings at every one?

No, just the one that wrote the letter.

Clubs are like the ambassadors for the sport aren't they? Don't get the confrontational attitude and I can't see what the problem is with engaging with the communities the club serves (presumably there might even be the odd member from thereabouts?). Like others have said it's an opportunity to be seen positively rather than as a passive aggressive, entitled set of toss pots.

antigee - Member
I do struggle with the idea that cyclists have to be the only road users that must never, ever appear to possibly, but rarely actually, act in a way that will cause harm to others

In the case I mentioned, there was very nearly a head-on. The opinion of other riders, toward the rear of the group, who saw the leaders, was that they [i]were[/i] in the wrong. This was all prior to my commenting on the matter.

FWIW I think it very dangerous for any road user to travel around in a bubble of self-righteous entitlement.

hora - Member
Well I still vividly remember the road cyclist who shouted * off you * at me when I dare beep him as I was indicating left about to turn and he still powered up from the distance and tried undertaking me.

TBF he probably knows you

Firstly, whether you like it or not, all road users have a duty of care to other road users. End of. That's just the law and, to me at least, it seems fairly simple.

True. But you have to ignore an awful lot of far more dangerous behaviour by drivers to highlight a single incident of cyclists behaving badly. There is also quite a good argument that drivers have a far higher duty of care as they're the ones introducing most of the danger to the environment.

aracer - Member

Firstly, whether you like it or not, all road users have a duty of care to other road users. End of. That's just the law and, to me at least, it seems fairly simple.

True. But you have to ignore an awful lot of far more dangerous behaviour by drivers to highlight a single incident of cyclists behaving badly. There is also quite a good argument that drivers have a far higher duty of care as they're the ones introducing most of the danger to the environment

FWIW, I cycle on the road as little as possible, but when I do, as when I'm driving I am generally staggered and appalled by the standards of driving and anticipation around cycles.

As others have said it sounds like someone ahs been given the action of contacting cycling clubs because someone has raised concerns.

I know we occasionally get emails from our Chairman telling us to ride responsibly when we represent the club by wearing the jersey on group rides.

It is just a box ticking excercise. Be polite, move on.

You are unlikely to convince the "concerned" that you are doing nothing wrong and to let the complaint fade away is better than trying to argue with some one with too much time on their hands. It would be like joining in a politics thread on here - futile.

FWIW I think it very dangerous for any road user to travel around in a bubble of self-righteous entitlement.

Agreed, but it seems much more acceptable to use the internet in one.

Fairly polite letter in my opinion.

In the off road world the NIMBYs head to the press and kick up loads of fuss about [url= http://www.surreyhillsmtber.co.uk/239/surrey-advertiser-article/ ]Drunken, Swearing, Hooligans[/url] or being [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-15182884 ]vandals[/url] and getting the police involved (in the latter case I think badger bothering was also an accusation, but turned out the badgers moved in after the trail was built).

p.s. Esquire - my bank used to call me Esquire a long time ago.