There was a tone of ‘I know we shouldn’t, but you don’t own the land/woods/jumps’ and ‘we’re not causing any harm’.
it sounded awfully similar to our defence to riding/ building where we shouldn’t.
Been following the FOD situation the last few days and there are a few differences between what they are doing and what we do when eg riding footpaths:
They are breaking the law and can be prosecuted directly by the police, we are breaking civil law and cannot but can be by the landowner.
They were on purpose-built trails that are being badly damaged, we are on a path that is not to the same degree.
They have an awful lot more power to unleash compared to us and therefore have higher energy to dissipate in a crash.
They had deliberately gone to a specific place to do what they did, we tend to incorporate ‘cheeky riding’ into larger loops.
For balance they do look like a lot of fun but only in the right location. I personally see them as the same as the on-road quads you hear being ragged around: great toys that can be a lot of fun but they attract the ‘yobbo’ types far too easily so are abused. The machines aren’t the issue, it’s the users.