just got pulled by the rozzers!

A long time ago, I experimentally verified the fact that I can ride a unicycle when I am too drunk to walk.

I learned to unicycle predominantly under the influence of Carlsberg Special Brew..

I would not have had the patience otherwise..

I broke my unicycle doing jumps in the hallway when drunk

Think yourselves lucky. Over this side of Europe you are under the same laws for riding a bike as driving a car when alcohol is concerned. So you can get points on your license for jumping traffic lights and lose your license for being over the legal limit.

What if you don’t own a driving licence though?

Then they stamp on your face wiz zee jackboots.

We’ve just had this discussion at work. A colleague thinks you can lose your driving licence in the UK if you are found drunk in charge of a bicycle.

Any reputable sources (dvla, ctc etc) state this is not the case?

A colleague thinks you can lose your driving licence in the UK if you are found drunk in charge of a bicycle.

Not true.

As above; what if you don’t have a driving licence? Would mean people like me could drink-cycle with impunity. 😀

You don’t require a licence to ride a pedal cycle. You don’t have to give a sample of breath, blood or urine if you are stopped whilst on a pedal cycle. In fact the police have no powers to ask you to do so. Therefore, it’s entirely up to the judgment of the coppers as to how fit/unfit you are to ride your bike. As they cannot obtain proof that you have been drinking, which they’d need in order to charge you for being over the limit, then all they can do you for is drunk in charge, or drunken disorderly something like that, for which all they need is for you to fail a sobriety test ie walk in straight line etc.

I think the actual charge is ‘in charge of a pedal cycle whilst unfit through drink or drugs’ type thing. similar to being in charge of a horse etc.

Along those lines anyway.

‘Unfit’ is the key word. Evidence from sources such as CCTV, eye-witnesses, officer observations & Police Doctor examination are the norm to prove that the rider is so bladdered as to be unfit to ride.

A kebab in a pannier is overwhelming evidence of being pished and will more than likely get you convicted.

And thinking about it, in this country at least, you’d need to have tested positive for drink/drugs before your driving licence could be revoked, which if you were done on a bike but never provided a sample, you coon’t be.

Dun’t matter how pished / unfit you are on a pedal cycle, your DVLA driver record remains unaffected.

just got pulled by the rozzers!

I got pulled by a rozzer once. Turned out she’d joined the Police a few months previously.

Quite handy with the cuffs that one…

He’s just quoted this

Disqualification

That doesn’t mean that your driving licence is completely safe. A reader, John CB, has pointed out that the courts have a general power to disqualify you from driving a car for any offence, including offences committed on a bicycle. (PCCSA s. 146(1))

It’s up to the court whether to disqualify you, and it’s not necessary for the offence to be “connected with the use of a motor car”. The courts do need a “sufficient reason” for the disqualification, but if you commit a traffic offence, that’s probably enough. (R v Cliff [2004] EWCA Crim 3139 §15; cf R v Zain Cornell-Galando [2010] EWCA Crim 3151 §13)

For a disqualification to be possible under this provision, you don’t have to hold a driving licence – you can be disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence. But you do have to be convicted in court – so if the police give you a fixed penalty notice instead of prosecuting (and you don’t challenge it in court) the power to disqualify won’t apply.

http://ukcyclerules.com/2010/09/27/can-you-lose-your-driving-licence-for-a-cycling-offence/

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/6/section/146

I suspect there will be a number of drunk cyclists at the BBB this year. Hopefully they will all stay on site.

I assume that these rules or myths don’t apply on private land?

I fell asleep whilst riding home drunk one morning. I woke up when my face scraped along the road. I don’t get that drunk and ride anymore.

As that has never happened in relation to someone being unfit to ride a pedal cycle, I’d say it’s safe to assume that no, you can’t lose your licence for being drunk on a bike.

Because otherwise courts could then just go and disqualify people from driving for handling stolen goods, or assault, or fiddling their taxes….

Disqualification under section 146 upon conviction of any offence provides both an additional punishment and a preventive measure available to the court, but the court cannot impose a period of disqualification arbitrarily. There must be a sufficient reason for the disqualification (R v Cliff [2004] EWCA Crim 3139).

What is sufficient reason will vary from case to case, and while this will fall short of needing to prove use of a vehicle to commit or facilitate the crime, the defendant should at least have shown either bad driving, (as in Cliff) or for there to be some connection with the offending to support the argument that a disqualification will prevent further offending. Examples may include; cases where the defendant regularly meets co-conspirators in his car; makes numerous calls in relation to the conspiracy from his car; or regularly uses the car to go to telephone kiosks to make calls.[/url]

Pretty sure there’d ned to be a bloody good reason why disqualification from driving would be seen as a ‘preventative measure’ for any such sentence to be valid. I spose in theory it’s possible someone might just possibly be disqualified from driving for being unfit to ride a bike, but I’d reckon it would be practically impossible for a court to impose such a sentence really. And I can’t see any court wasting time trying to do so, as it could be appealed successfully on a multitude of grounds.

Got stopped after a lot of beverages by the local friendly police. Clearly i was pissed as a newt and had no lights. They asked my address then let my tyres down.
That’s good policing as afar as i’m concerned.

Hmm, good idea that! 🙂

Prevention better than cure and all that.

I spose technically they could confiscate any equipment that you might cause harm with too, but that would be a right faff for them. Letting tyres down is technically ‘criminal damage’, but I spose if it’s to prevent a possibly more serious crime from taking place, then justifiable. Like ‘stealing’ someone’s car keys to prevent them from driving while unfit.

As Fred points out, if your colleague reads through it properly, that power is for use only when the defendants car is an aspect of his offending behaviour. Your car is not a factor in you riding your bike pissed, and disqualifying you would in no way prevent you riding a bike pissed, so what he quoted is irrelevant.

Wunundred! 😀

The Fuzz agrees with Elf. Society is safe.

I know, twice in one thread. Something’s not right here…

Given all the nanny state nonsense we all have to put up with I think the freedom to cycle after a couple pints should be exercised as regularly as possible

but then it states

Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, it is not a requirement of disqualification that the offence is connected with the use of a motor vehicle: the power to disqualify under s. 146 is a general power.

?

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_and_ancillary_orders_applications/

Friends of mine cycled home from pub, bit piddled, but not hammered, one of them fell off, ended up in Hospital for 2 weeks with a brain injury, as helmet wasn’t on properly and came off. Now recovered, but lost some sensation of smell etc…you think it won’t happen to you…but you never know!

Of course it could peter – but that is the point pisshed on a bike its you that gets hurt – not innocents. Your friend did not wipe out a family in a car.

Would be a bit difficult to wipe out a family in a car on a pushbike. Yes… its the rider that will get hurt, but also their family and children, your opinion seems a little bit selfish if you don’t mind me saying so, with no consideration to others who may be affected.
If you get knocked off your bike when drunk, by some n@bhead driving like a prat, who happens to be sober, who will get the blame do you think?

So you’d cycle home pissed but wouldn’t ride a motorbike home pissed.

True or false?

I’d like to see a distinction between the two (just out of interest).

So you’d cycle home pissed but wouldn’t ride a motorbike home pissed.

True or false?

I’d like to see a distinction between the two (just out of interest).

A troll surely

Last time I checked none of my pushbikes had 100+ horsepower or were capable of doing 170mph

I’d like to see a distinction between the two (just out of interest).

Well, one has an engine, and is capable of speeds of fifty miles an hour at least usually a lot more, and the other hazzunt.

Can you guess which is which? The clue might be in their names….

I enjoy a couple of pints with a pub lunch when out for a ride. I wouldn’t drive a motor vehicle but am quite happy to ride a bike. especially as I try to avoid the road wherever possible

but also their family and children,