Monday, July 07, 2014

Quad bikes and antisocial behaviour

I've heard a lot of complaints about anti-social use of quad bikes and off road bikes. These have been passed on to the local police, who have responded, despite their limited resources.

Sadly, due to service cuts, there aren't as many traffic officers trained to ride the off-road bikes, so there is a huge demand for their services. These are the team that can conduct pursuits safely across areas like Fox Hollies Park - there used to be a unit operating out of Stechford, but that was removed. Nevertheless, the police have put together a sufficiently persuasive bid that saw the bikes put to work in Acocks Green and they recovered the stolen bike in the next picture.

They have also been tackling quad bikers who are driving in an anti-social manner, particularly on the Gospel Estate. Two have so far been issued with s59 notices, which means if they are caught repeating the behaviour, the drivers will have the bikes removed and impounded. They then face a £250 recovery charge, plus £10 a day until the bike is collected by somebody insured to take it.

The police have also had helicopter support to deal with the problem - with the chopper even lifting on a number of occasions specifically to support operations against anti-social behaviour and vehicle theft in Acocks Green.

The problems haven't been fixed, but it is really good to hear that the police have been able to respond to the concerns raised.

They always need your support, so if you have any information that can help tackle this behaviour, you can always contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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