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Last time I visited the tip by bike I got told I couldn't arrive by bike, and I needed a trailer permit for my bike trailer. I assumed it was all uneducated nonsense from the staff so followed up with the council.
Eventually I've had the following disappointing response.
The site at xxxx does not allow for pedestrian access as there are no separate footpaths leading into the site. Thus as a cyclist you would have to access the site using the same road that the cars and other vehicles would use. The operator of the site does not allow for this to happen as it is too unsafe - the area that a bicycle would have to ride into has numerous vehicles either reversing into or out of parking bays creating clear hazards for a cyclist. Equally a cyclist would be hard to spot and thus the operator has felt that this would not be safe practice in Health and Safety terms. The Council supports this approach.
I appreciate that you feel you are not getting the same access to a service that a car driver would however in this situation I am afraid that Health and Safety considerations must take precedence. I will also look into the issue of a trailer permit for a bike however the fact remains that you will be unable to enter the site either on your bike or as a pedestrian walking your bike.
Obviously I'm using public roads to get there which is where I'm supposed to use my bike and cycling on a footpath alongside a road is an offense anyway. Then there's the fact that everyone is a pedestrian once they get out of their cars so it sounds like nonsense to me.
I'm following up with these facts, but does anyone else have anything useful to add?
Just bullshit. It's like banning you from supermarket car parks because drivers kill.so many cyclists there.
Good luck, I hate this kind of crap with a passion.
Might be worth looking to see if cycling UK or that barrister guy have said / anything to say on the matter?
Ask them to send you a copy of the risk assessment that deemed cycling to be "unsafe" and clarify the measures they put in place to prevent site personnel and motorists outside their cars to be safe.
See if the same council has a sustainable transport officer. They might have a different view and enjoy challenging this sort of thinking.
Dovebikers got a point, maybe ask to see the risk assessments for disabled users eg wheelchairs.
Then ask why bikes are different.
It's that paranoid fear of petty litigation should anything happen
Onzadog has a good point re the risk assessment for cyclists and pedestrians once out their car.
The council's sustainable transport person is also a good line to take.
To be fair to the tip operator, they have to assume everyone is even more stupid than a Tory minister, based on what we had locally when they reopened after lockdown
It's crazy that because there's a chance of litigation because people can't operate their cars properly that it isn't the cars that are banned!
Great points re: sustainable transport officer and risk assessment report. Thanks, I'll definitely be using those ideas.
Just go in your car? 🤷🏻♂️
I don't use my car for short journeys, but I do have the luxury of owning one. Many people don't, so I'm standing up for this and the environmental side.
Why should some short sighted bureaucracy go unchecked?
All of that other advice seems good and you should do that.
If you get nowhere with that then can you please consider just going on the bike but make loud engine noises as you do it?
Are motorbikes allowed in?
They love their red tape at the tips near here. Had an interesting discussion at one of the Oxfordshire ones when I went in my old defender 90. Was told I'd have to pay to get rid of the garden waste in the back because it didn't have windows and was therefore a commercial vehicle. Pointed out it had seats in the back and the council website said if it had seats and/or windows it was ok, also not registered as a commercial vehicle. Eventually got shown their picture book of what was a commercial vehicle. Then I got told that it was illegal to insult a council employee after suggesting it may be better if they could read the website rather than relying on picture books. Went back in same vehicle 2 weeks later once the side windows had been fitted and not even a second look.
Heath and safety my bottom! It's more likely that they want to track site use with their anpr cameras.
My local tip is the same, you used to be able to walk or cycle in. Then they started charging more for commercial tickets, banned pedestrian & cyclist access for "elf & safety" and installed anpr cameras and height restrictions.
Now mid covid 19 you have to book a slot and they've also banned vans & trailers.
You could try an FOI request for accident & near miss statistics involving cyclists on the site for the last 5 years😀
Same down here
No pedestrian access to tip
But cars ( which hit and killed an elderly gentleman a few months ago inside the tip ) are absolutely fine
Not sure about you , but I have never killed anyone by walking into them
Surely if your objective is taking something to the tip then taking it in your car seems a lot less time and trouble.
a cyclist would be hard to spot and thus the operator has felt that this would not be safe practice in Health and Safety terms
Made me actually laugh.. but then I thought... people at the tip aren't used to cyclists being there. People driving on the road are used to us, and they are ****ing bad enough. Do your own risk assessment... is it actually worth the hassle?
Also, the tips are currently doing bookings by reg no. due to Covid.. how would you book your bike under that system? You can bet they won't be arsed to try to work it out.
Luckily, I have a thicket near my house that I don't have to book and has no cars, so I load my trailer up, ride over and dump stuff there. 😀
I've got a trailer slot booked for the weekend.
I await the that's a commercial vehicle comments (it's a 1980s land rover) no business would run it as a commercial vehicle.....it would bankrupt them.
I've had them claim my camper van was a commercial vehicle.....I asked what sort of business they would run from it.....a mobile brothel perhaps ? The funniest thing about that was he couldn't get it in his head that I wasn't actually going to remove anything from the camper and that all I was disposing of was the tiny little 750kg limited trailer on the back it was just that my camper had the towbar.....
They are just being propper jobsworth and good on you for sticking it to them when they come out with these rediculous statements.
Jekkyl I guess that all depends on your priorities in life. I prioritise not using my car for short unnecessary journeys on environmental grounds. It takes me longer to do some things, but I'm being active while doing it and it means I'm not burning dead dinosaurs doing so.
Have you seen the standard of driving in a tip site? I felt nervous in my old beater of a car and nervous in the work hilux. Most people seem to drive as if it is just then in the middle of an empty field, then you can add the ones doing their bi annual trailer trip with no concept of how car and trailer affect each other.
Plenty of jobsworths and challenged individuals working in them though, but will save that rant for another day.
I've run a few bike recycling shops at various tips around Warwickshire and I can hand on heart say that if you want to meet workers that love a bit a red tape/health and safety bullocks and hi-viz clothing then the tip's your place. Good luck, there should be access for pedestrians and cyclists it's nuts to ban them
Going to the tip used to be fun - when you could have a rake around and get some goodies to take home.
Nowadays, you can see why folk flytip
Jekkyl I guess that all depends on your priorities in life.
and your sense of perspective. You are not going to achieve much by not using a car for one short trip to a tip where a car seems to be necessary and if you had done so you would have completed the tip task and can get on with other stuff in your life.
You currently haven't been to the tip (so still have the waste) and am now involving yourself in loads of council hassle just so you (and possibly the one other person in the borough who may want to cycle to the tip) can cycle to the tip to prove a point.
I believe the phrase is "choose your battles"
I believe the phrase is
“choose your battles”"know your place"
FTFY
Its nice that the battles most of have are moderate but its always worth standing up for inequality.
Go in the car, this is pathetic
Calling is inequality is a touch dramatic but you carry on. Like I said, all about sense of perspective...
Why not wait until after Covid-19 is under control?
Council services are under attack from cut backs and cost savings. They've enough to worry about right now.
I used to love my small local tip.got my 1992 marin from there for 20 quid as well as an unused mongoose bmx that just needed the crank putting back on from loose hence why it was scrapped.regularly used to ride my bike in to check out their bike stock.no one ever said anything.
There's a petition here that a few posters might like to get behind:
https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/257243
"British Roads are now so busy, especially during rush hours, that it is unreasonable for Cyclists to use many roads, and as there are usually Cycle lanes available now, it is now time to enforce use of these lanes for safety of the cyclists, and avoid road closures after an accident."
Unfortunately, its closed now, though.
Go in the car, this is pathetic
And if you don't have access to a car ?
Pay a man in a van to fly tip it ?
Go in the car, this is pathetic
If we're going down the insulting route, so is some peoples over reliance on cars for short journeys.
The tip is closer than the supermarket for me, and I haven't driven to the supermarket yet this year.
Having said that, if it fits in the bike trailer does it not fit in a couple of bin bags?
And if you don’t have access to a car ?
He does.
He does. But there are millions of others that don't.
The tip is inaccessible for them currently.
Easy to see why folk pay the lowest bidder to fly tip
Good to see the stw behaviour Police out in force!
Contact cyclinguk.see if they can send the council an email if your a member.to be fair I bet your the only bike trailer combo the tip hasever had to deal with.
He does. But there are millions of others that don’t.
The tip is inaccessible for them currently.
Easy to see why folk pay the lowest bidder to fly tip
Agree with all of that, but in this case the OP has a car, could just use it and get on with his life.
Ours in east staffs are the same for bikes and pedestrians. Private non commercial vans they are fine with and even commercial vans getting rid of private waste. e.g. plumbers van with a load of garden waste they are fine with.
On the whole they do a good job. The people chucking stuff on the other hand - half of them can't even be bothered to sort waste into the correct containers.
Or he could challenge some classic LA H&S tripe?
And he could be left to do so without criticism.
Similar thing happened here, to our local XR bod and passionate cycle campaigner, he took it up with council and rules reversed within a few weeks.
Stuff like this needs challenging as it’s discriminatory and just nonsense. If the site isn’t ‘safe’ for cyclists (but is for pedestrians?) then they need to put procedures or infrastructure in place to make it safe, a bike is just another vehicle after all.
We have 2 locally, one run by LA staff, one contracted out. The LA one is a bloody nightmare, weren't interested when I took my caddy with some roofing slates, then spotted some copper piping, wasn't a problem after that. 🙂
Agree with all of that, but in this case the OP has a car, could just use it and get on with his life.
Ah yes good old "I'm ok jack."
Fair play to him for being bothered to stand up to the tip jobsworths
I understand they have to be hard on the vans and I can accept that but to say no bikes on HSE grounds is bull shit. Best stop going to supermarket by bike too... That car park could be dangerous.
Agree with all of that, but in this case the OP has a car, could just use it and get on with his life.
Without wanting to trivialize some much bigger issues from the last few years, they may well also be* white and male. Should we ignore all issues that aren't directly our problem?
*assumption based on stereotyping
You're obviously even more crabbit than usual this morning tr, I'll leave it.
Fly tippers are a scourge, but it is no surprise it’s on the rise when councils make it so disgracefully hard to dispose of waste properly and responsibly. Our main tip is an awful place, but I’ve found one on the outskirts of town which is a far more relaxed and pleasant experience - can’t beat a good tip trip!
Thanks to all the people with a positive attitude on this matter. It's very helpful.
You’re obviously even more crabbit than usual this morning tr, I’ll leave it.
tips have got on my goat recently. - Cant go in with my landy to get rid of my private DIY waste - (manky cardboard mostly from the kitchen thats been used to protect floors etc) already sent 2 x 5 ton 8 yarders out paid for - theres not enough to fill another but the guy at the tips solution is i should put it in my car because my land rovers commercial ......
sounds familiar.