Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 118 total)
  • Bridleway access problem individual…
  • petercook80
    Free Member

    Hi all, this sort of thing may have been asked before but I couldn’t find anything.

    Near my home is a short bridleway section that I often use to avoid a large road roundabout as part of one of my local rides. However last week I had a chap (who I happen to know from walking dogs) have a go at me for cycling on said bridleway. I explained that is was a bridleway – the 2021 OS maps say it is, the signposts at each end of the path say it is and the Surrey CC Definitive rights if way map says it is. He however was adamant it was no longer a bridleway because the Park Keeper said so (the bridleway skirts around a park). I explained that was wasn’t really sufficient evidence to support his argument.

    I have since learned that he had only slightly previous to me had a right go at another cyclist on same path so it seems I got off ‘lightly’ as I know him to a degree from dog walking.

    So I was just wondering if I bump into him again and he tries to block the path (which he is the type that may well do that) or continues to verbally have a go at cyclists what the best course of action is. (Reasoned debate and facts did not seem to work) – my feeling is just to turn around and cycle around him (plenty of room in the woods to do so) and carry on. It would be nice to report him in some way but I am not sure that’s possible or just a waste of someone’s time.

    Thoughts anyone….

    neilc
    Free Member

    Do you know where he lives and does he have a lawn?

    joebristol
    Full Member

    If you can’t avoid him again on there I’d just produce a map and show him. He hasn’t got a leg to stand on if everything says it’s a bridleway.

    Even if it wasn’t a bridleway, unless he’s the landowner he still hasn’t got a leg to stand on.

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    oldnpastit
    Full Member

    What is wrong with these people?

    petercook80
    Free Member

    I know roughly where he lives (I can easily find out exactly) – and I presume he would have a lawn – I think I know where this might be going….. but that’s not quite the route I wanted to go.  🙂

    AntLockyer
    Free Member

    Just say OK and cycle round him. You’ve expended way more of your life on this than you needed to.

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Just ignore him and ride round.
    You cannot have a rational discussion with idiots, so I would not bother trying.

    Your time is not worth wasting in trying to change his mind or put him right.

    petercook80
    Free Member

    I agree. That particular day I had had a lovely little ride out, including some nice interaction with a couple of horse riding groups who thanked me for verbally letting them (and the horses) know I was approaching from behind them. The weather was good and it was a very enjoyable couple of hours and then this numpty spoilt it all……

    I have now printed the map from Surrey CC ‘definitive map’ and was going to pop that in the bag just in case. I suspect it wont help. One of the things he said was ‘OS maps aren’t always right you know, they do go out of date’   and better still when I mentioned the signposts he said ‘Oh the first bit is a bridleway then it ends…!’  so you can see the problem as far as showing a print of the map goes….

    dissonance
    Full Member

    Ignore the idiot.
    If you are feeling energetic try and find out who the “park keeper” is and ask them to confirm whether they believe the same and why.

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Exactly, you can’t engage with these eejits. As if anything you say will make any difference.

    Blow him a kiss and proceed on your way.

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    However last week I had a chap (who I happen to know from walking dogs)

    Does he have a dog actually with him?
    Don’t wear bibs for a few days, its easier to slip baggies/undershorts off if you meet him and “Rover” on the section in question.

    jimdubleyou
    Full Member

    If he stops you again, ask for the name and number of the park keeper, as you’d like to report him for Misconduct in a Public Office. It’s an offence for a public official to wilfully misrepresent the status of a public bridleway*.

    *complete bobbins obviously, but might be worth a laugh…

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Tell him to contact the local RoW team for clarification.

    They may not thank you for it, but they’ll be best equipped to shut him up.

    v7fmp
    Full Member

    option a) flying headbutt. or option b) just ignore him.

    clearly is a prat, so dont waste your time if day on him.

    fettlin
    Full Member

    Yup, move along/around him, no point arguing with him.

    If you happen across the park ranger then a polite request if they could clarify for your own sanity, but there isn’t much mileage in arguing with Dog Walker.

    TBF, there should have been at least some public notification of the intention to change the designation of the track, or a notice posted at either end saying the designation has been changed. If you haven’t seen it (and haven’t missed it), it hasn’t happened (pretty much).

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    I’ve had this once before, a lady was so concerned about where I “might” ride that she stopped her car, pulled over onto the Bridleway, leapt out and came scampering over to berate me for something that I hadn’t yet done, but “might conceivably do”.

    Worth politely pointing out that obstruction is in itself an offence and that you’re at liberty to take phone footage of them doing so, if their dog is off the lead on a Bridleway then this too isn’t quite on. Be polite and agreeable, suggest that you’d welcome copying in the individual to an comms with the local council and helpfully suggest that they take the issue up with the OS people too. Above all else, kill with kindness. As soon as they realise that they’re not getting a rise out of you they’ll go away.

    large418
    Free Member

    Ask him if he is the Landowner or the Agent of the Landowner. When he says “No?” you can quite rightly tell him that obstructing you is a criminal offence and you’ll be talking to the police. And tell him he has absolutely no jurisdiction here.

    Or just ignore him

    petercook80
    Free Member

    Thanks all, I am as confident as I can be that it is a bridleway (for all those reasons mentioned in my post) and I said to him that I will continue in that frame of mind and continue to ride on it.

    I think ignoring the twunt is the best policy its just sad that they exist …  and if he gets more obnoxious or tries to physically obstruct I will consider reporting him…

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    He’ll be stopping others so he probably needs to be reset nicely

    If you know who he is contact the local authority and tell them that this individual is obstructing the PRoW and it would be very helpful if they asked him to stop. Highlight that the route is important to avoid a busy highway.

    If stopped again, film him and tell him he’s being reported to the police and LA for whatever made up crime you want to state

    Or ask him to ring the police and tell them you are committing a crime, after he gets bollocked for wasting their time he’ll hopefully stop

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    what park where, I’m in Surrey and can feel a bike ride coming on…….

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    He however was adamant it was no longer a bridleway because the Park Keeper said so

    I’d have been tempted to ask precisely what precipitated that conversation, mainly just for giggles mind, though I can see no way that conversation came about unless he was being told not to do x y or z on a footpath.

    nickc
    Full Member

     came scampering over to berate me for something that I hadn’t yet done, but “might conceivably do”.

    Christ seriously? what the eff is the matter with some folk..!

    fossy
    Full Member

    Just ignore, so long as he doesn’t block you. Smile and wave.

    I encountered a driver on the wrong side of the farm track the other week going round a blind bend. I’d just passed a couple of walkers, and I could hear the car, dived to the side, but he came skidding to a stop, completely on the wrong side. I just said ‘whoah wrong side’, nothing else, then rode up the embankment on my MTB. He said ‘hang on, lets discuss it’. I just said ‘get over it’ and carried on.

    Thing is I recognised who it was, and he was a tit in his 20’s, and still is in his 50’s.

    burko73
    Full Member

    Some people are just nuts when it comes to ordinary people enjoying themselves on bikes. I’m not sure where it comes from but it must be that they get whipped up by the gutter press about cycling and think that by confronting ordinary people riding bikes they are doing their bit for their country in some way. I guess the baby boomer generation (some of them) just don’t have anything else to worry about?

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    I have now printed the map from Surrey CC ‘definitive map’ and was going to pop that in the bag just in case.

    The best and most sensible option. It’s a bridleway until the council/definitive map says otherwise.

    Show him it. Point out you’ve been patient and polite with him. Point out that continuing to stop and harass cyclists is a public order offence* and criminal records are neither big nor clever.

    *OK, I haven’t actually fact checked that.

    gwaelod
    Free Member

    make a note of his description in case there is a rope across a bridleway incident in 6 months time

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    Christ seriously? what the eff is the matter with some folk..!

    99% of folk I see out on my local trails are lovely, but there’s always that one who likes to write a strongly worded letter to the Daily Mail because someone says “bum” on BBC2 thirty seconds after the watershed. There’s not much that you can do except to not allow them to spoil your ride, which is really what they’re trying to do. Just console yourself with the fact that their partner/dog/grandkids hate them for the same reasons as everyone else does.

    Dickyboy
    Full Member

    He’ll be stopping others so he probably needs to be reset nicely

    This +1 others may not be quite sure of their rights. It’s a rare day that I can’t get these sorts of idiots to see the error of their ways, even when I’m in the wrong and cycling on a footpath etc 😬

    zippykona
    Full Member

    Where is it? I’d like to ride on it.

    towzer
    Full Member

    I’d be filming him and contacting the local row officer and if he exceeded polite conversation/attempted to stop or block you plod

    “ a person, without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding [F1level 3 on the standard scale].”

    From
    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/137

    Below defines bridleway as a highway
    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/329

    I’ve had issues with a stereotypical old dog walker on a bridleway that runs parallel to an old railway track now a cycleway. As usual she wouldn’t listen to reason and just went apoplectic when I rattled off a list of access and obstruction laws and fines.
    I left her to call the cops as I suggested.
    Funny how no woman on her own should risk starting an argument with a stranger in a wood, yet the sight of a bike and all caution goes out the window.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    Organise a pootle.

    Waderider
    Free Member

    You lot down south need to mobilise for proper access laws like up here in Scotland. There really is no need for this nonsense.

    rhayter
    Full Member

    I’ll happily join your mass-not-at-all-trespass ride as I’m Surrey, too. Maybe the county is a hot spot for anti-cycling NIMBYs? There’s an older chap near why I live who decided that stepping in front of me while I cycled along a canal tow path at about 10mph – to tell me to “slow down” – was a smart thing to do. Having said that, most walkers, horse riders and even drivers round here are just fine.

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    Organise a pootle

    Miniature, toy or standard?

    petercook80
    Free Member

    I just had a reply to an email I sent to Surrey CC – this confirms that it is a bridleway so that’s been printed off to go with a print out of their map so I will try and reason with him next time I see him and see where that goes……

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    Reminds me of another village idiot I encountered in Tilford, Surrey a few years ago. Attempted to block our path on the bridleway, but I just went up the bank and around him and in his desperate lunge he fell flat on his face. I left him rolling on the floor clutching his throat shouting “my neck, my neck!”.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    What is wrong with these people?

    They are ****s.

    Spin
    Free Member

    Some people are just nuts when it comes to ordinary people enjoying themselves on bikes. I’m not sure where it comes from

    I think it comes in part from access laws (footpath, bridleway) that legitimise a them and us attitude to other countryside users.

    Phil_H
    Full Member

    You lot down south need to mobilise for proper access laws like up here in Scotland. There really is no need for this nonsense.

    It happens up here too. These clowns for example although I think the grim reaper may have dealt with this couple.

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