Contesting a Fixed Penalty Notice for riding on the pavement in London

[josh]

Cheers for your words of wisdom guys,

So basically it's an injustice that would take more effort than it's worth to fight. Whatever happened to innocent until poven guilty hey?

I will pay the fine and learn from this experience NEVER to stop or give my information to police when I am on my bike because they are not reasonable folk... and couldn't catch me in a million years anyway if I got back on and rode away

 

[jefmcg]

Well, you are not actually guilty. I got a FPN last year, and did some research. Paying it is not an admission of guilt.

 

[Piemaster]

For such a heineious crime involving a bicycle I feel this would be a more appropriate punishment and I'd make you make your own way on this
Thats the problem with modern society. Too soft on criminals and cyclists.


Seriously though it seems they were being a tad severe, an 'Oi, walk it would have served'?
Pay up. There was one in local paper last week fined £175 for cycling on pavement, £15 victim surcharge and £40 costs.

 

[albion]

If you get the guys name I consider making it public and maybe find out how many this guy has caught.Bad policing certainly causes deaths.

 

[StuartG]

I will pay the fine and learn from this experience NEVER to stop or give my information to police

To do so only gives credence to the 'they should be taxed, insured and have number plates' brigade.

I think your options are quite simple. If you are a member of LCC/CTC etc contact their legal department and establish whether there is a point of law at stake. If there is fight, otherwise its pointless and minimise the damage by paying the FPN now. If you are not a member of LCC/CTC then join now!

If you do pay the FPN you are still entitled to ask the police and their overseers why they are not following Home Office policy on footway FPN enforcement. If you have time you could try some FFIs on FPN training for PCSOs. You may also want to check out the Neighborhood Team to see whether local people have decided to prioritise pavement cycling (a favourite amongst petrol heads). In which case the PCSO is doing just what they are supposed to - serving the expressed (if misguided) needs of the community. If you are in London this might be a starting point:
http://www.met.police.uk/saferneighbourhoods/about.htm

 

[CopperCyclist]

Cheers for your words of wisdom guys,

So basically it's an injustice that would take more effort than it's worth to fight. Whatever happened to innocent until poven guilty hey?

I will pay the fine and learn from this experience NEVER to stop or give my information to police when I am on my bike because they are not reasonable folk... and couldn't catch me in a million years anyway if I got back on and rode away

Don't do the second paragraph, more trouble than it's worth.

The PCSO was completely wrong to 'force you' to take a fixed penalty ticket, The fact you refused to sign it suggests you didn't agree with the issue of it. Fixed penalty tickets are optional, and you had the right to refuse to accept one. True, in this case the PCSO could then get your details and summons you to court, but often this is more work than makes it worthwhile.

 

[ianrauk]

Don't do the second paragraph, more trouble than it's worth.

The PCSO was completely wrong to 'force you' to take a fixed penalty ticket, The fact you refused to sign it suggests you didn't agree with the issue of it. Fixed penalty tickets are optional, and you had the right to refuse to accept one. True, in this case the PCSO could then get your details and summons you to court, but often this is more work than makes it worthwhile.

Wish I had known that at the time......

 

[JamieRegan]

If you choose to just pay the £30 because it's the safest option, then I suggest you keep all the details and a receipt of payment.

I was issued with a parking ticket last year, I'd ran out of petrol, literally 5 yards from work - I was running late and stupidly tried to chance it - so I had to push my car onto a double yellow. I left a note on the window with times etc and I was 6 minutes running to a petrol station and back, but in that time I got a ticket and the warden wasn't interested in my tale of honest woe.

Anyway, it turned out that the double yellow lines had been painted illegally. I found this out about 9 months later and I still had my details, so I managed to get my money back.

If you hear of someone winning a case similar to yours, you could challenge the legality of it, retrosepectively.

 

[dellzeqq]

My understanding is that the courts have held that 'scooting a bike' is not riding. One of the forum legal beagles may be able to find the relevant case law*.

at the risk of out-trivia-ing the master, 'scooting' has been held as riding (in relation to RLGing)

The only defence one might offer is that afforded by the 'Boateng Memorandum'. Should I dig it up?

 

[wintonbina]

Hey guys,

Today I was half walking, half "scooting" (where you put one foot on the pedal) my bike through a tight footpath in London. I was following pedestrians and going at their pace with no possible danger to anyone. A Community Support Officer stopped me and issued me a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for "cycling" on the pavement which I refused to sign.

On the notice it says I have the option of paying £30 or going to court to contest the fine.

Question: Does anyone have experience with taking a FPN to court? Surely its his word against mine that I was cycling... can I win?

Would really appreciate your advice here.

Thanks​

Was it a Police Community Support Officer or a Council one? If the latter I believe you don't have to legally give them your details, if the former then perhaps pay up but write on the form 'Paid under protest' which means you can appeal (I think ).

And move on, life is too short Tony

 

[gaz]

I got caught two years ago over a badly design section of what i thought was connecting shared use path. but in fact for 3 meters it is a footpath only and the coppers where doing a stake out.
Luckily for me I got around it by agreeing to go to a HGV sit in course, what that had to do with cycling on the pavement, which to my knowledge was a shared use path, I don't know.

Best thing imo to do, pay up and learn from it.

 

[xpc316e]

You admit that it was a 'tight footpath' and that you were scooting along with one foot on the pedal. I assume that you did this because you considered it inappropriate to actually ride your bike. Why not do the decent thing and get off it? You'd then not incur the wrath of either pedestrians, or PCSOs. If I were you, I'd pay up and learn a lesson.

Next time you come up against a figure of authority I suggest you refuse your details and see what happens. You'll probably get yourself arrested for your trouble.

 

[Mozzy]

I know I'm being thick but .... if you refused to give your personal info (and assuming it is correct) what happens next? Arrest? Also, is enforcement only restricted to cities? I've lost count of the amount of cyclists here in Bridgie and Taunton cycling scooting etc on pavements all the time; agreed not busy like cities though.

Mozzy

 

[xpc316e]

I know I'm being thick but .... if you refused to give your personal info (and assuming it is correct) what happens next? Arrest? Also, is enforcement only restricted to cities? I've lost count of the amount of cyclists here in Bridgie and Taunton cycling scooting etc on pavements all the time; agreed not busy like cities though.

Mozzy

If you are unable to provide an address suitable for the service of a summons, or decline so to do, you can be arrested under PACE. PCSOs in general don't have the powers of arrest that a Constable has, but I believe that they will detain you until a PC arrives to arrest you.

Enforcement is definitely not limited to cities.

 

[Cubist]

So, we learn that scooting IS riding. The OP has therefore committed an offence. We are quick on the forum to jump on unlit ninjas, pavement cyclists, BMX bandits and Chavs on jump bikes, as well as page after page on RLJers. Here we have someone who has broken the law, and the consensus of opinion is that he shouldn't have been dealt with for it.

OP, pay up, or contest it at court. Your choice.

The person who dealt with you chose not to exercise the discretion everyone wants to be levelled at them, but not at WVM, or close passers, or people who threaten us as we ride, or bad tempered bus drivers, arse-slapping minxes, or Corsa driving knuckle-draggers. If the police fail to deal with them as we think fit, then they must be idle, stupid, ignorant or corrupt.

You committed the offence, you must, I'm afraid, face the consequences.

In my opinion scooting is not safer than simply walking along pushing your bike. Scooting along a pavement, in the grand scheme of things, is hardly up there with armed robbery, but where do you all suggest we draw the line? What is an acceptable low level of offending?

My personal beliefs are as one poster put it, only to deal with the offence if someone is hurt, but clearly that is not in force as a protocol in the area where the OP was ticketed. There was a recent post about a van-driver nearly hitting some children on the pavement he was crossing to reach a parking space. The police dealt with that as "no one was hurt so no action is required." and everybody was up in arms. Where is the consistency of opinion?