Fixed Penalty Charge - for unicycling

Well, after riding several hundreds of miles through London in the last
2 years, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. But today I
received a fixed penalty notice by the City Of London Police for
cycling on a footpath.

Now, I know that none of you are UK lawyers (or if you are, I’m not
expecting legal representation), but I’d like to know what the legal
standpoint is with unicycles on the pavement in England. I’ve used the
search facility, but haven’t come up with anything more than vague
rumour, speculation or feelings. Does anyone know where I could
actually look up what the law is regarding this, or how I would go
about finding out?

Just for the record, I was on my N36, and I ride that on the road or
cycle paths for around 99% of my journey. The place where I got pulled
up was approaching some traffic lights where nearly all the vehicles
waiting had left a reasonable space for me to ride up to the lights,
except for one van that was millimetres from the kerb. There was an
easy way up on to the path, and I was on it for around 5 – 10 meters.
But the copper was lurking just around the corner, on the last day of a
one week ‘stinger’ operation to catch red light jumpers, pavement
cyclists, people with their MP3 players too loud, and other such
hardened criminals. It seems like he was running short of his quota
for the week.

The officer recorded the vehicle as a “Nimbus Unicycle” (after I
corrected him for calling it a Nimbus Bicycle). If it did go to court,
and I was to turn up with my 20” Nimbus, and explain that I play hockey
on it, and am probably more manoeuvrable than most pedestrians, do you
think that the judge would see that in my favour? Or would they find
CCTV footage, realise it’s not the same, and get me in more trouble?

I know it’s only a £30 fine, but one of the main reasons I ride to work
each day is to avoid the £25 per week that the underground would cost.
So, one mornings ride will cost me 6 days worth of travel.

STM – in a very bad mood today


--
semach.the.monkey
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Sorry, i know nothing about the laws over there, but do they penalise
skateboarders for skating on the footpath?


--
mill_mobile
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semach.the.monkey wrote:
Now, I know that none of you are UK lawyers (or if you are, I’m not
expecting legal representation), but I’d like to know what the legal
standpoint is with unicycles on the pavement in England. I’ve used the
search facility, but haven’t come up with anything more than vague
rumour, speculation or feelings. Does anyone know where I could
actually look up what the law is regarding this, or how I would go
about finding out?

I've never managed to find a definitive answer. I believe that an 1851
amendment to the 1835 Highway Act made pavement cycling illegal, and I
understand that the definition probably covers unicycles, but I haven't
actually read the legislation.

You could do worse than reading:
http://www.unicycle.org.uk/thelaw.html

I remember that, at the time the fixed penalty notice was introduced,
someone wrote a letter to the Home Office asking what the situation for
unicycles would be. He received a reply from a Home Office minister
(Paul Boateng IIRC) stating that the FPN should *not* be applied to
unicyclists. Although the application of the FPN in this case is
within the letter of the law, it is against Home Office guidelines.

I thought I had a copy of this letter, but I can't seem to find it. I
suggest posting to uk_unicyclists to ask if anyone has a copy or can
remember who it was sent to. If you can get a copy then I should
imagine it would be extremely valuable in fighting your case.


--
Danny Colyer

http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
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Firstly: bad mistake in correcting him. Had he recorded bicycle he
would probably have invalidated the ticket.

Secondly: Your unicycle is a "toy" of course. No way is it designed
for road use...surely not your honour. "Are you seriously suggesting I
should be riding my "toy" on the roadway, in London traffic?" "It is
much more like skateboarding than cycling."

And of course there was that PC who actually told you that you should
not be wobbling along on the road, just a few weeks ago, and to get on
the pavement, but to take care with the pedestrians.


Nao


--
Naomi

The dress in which I unicycled was not THAT short, but in retrospect, I
think that maybe the blue one would have been more appropriate to the
terrain. Nao April 2007.
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Firstly: bad mistake in correcting him. Had he recorded bicycle he
would probably have invalidated the ticket.

Secondly: Your unicycle is a "toy" of course. No way is it designed
for road use...surely not your honour. "Are you seriously suggesting I
should be riding my "toy" on the roadway, in London traffic?" "It is
much more like skateboarding than cycling."

And of course there was that PC who actually told you that you should
not be wobbling along on the road, just a few weeks ago, and to get on
the pavement, but to take care with the pedestrians.


Nao


--
Naomi

The dress in which I unicycled was not THAT short, but in retrospect, I
think that maybe the blue one would have been more appropriate to the
terrain. Nao April 2007.
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Naomi wrote:
"It is much more like skateboarding than cycling."


Fatal mistake! The International Cycling Union (remember that middle
word, "cycling") don't recognise 24 hour racing or downhill racing as
proper events, but 'are pushing for skateboarding to be in the
Olympics' (http://tinyurl.com/2ffwvj). So, logically, you'd be alright
on the pavement on a mahoosive 50lb+ mountainbike but with a skateboard
you'd better be on the road or you're in trouble...

Phil


--
phil

"Cattle Prods solve most of life's little problems."
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semach.the.monkey wrote:
The officer recorded the vehicle as a “Nimbus Unicycle” (after I
corrected him for calling it a Nimbus Bicycle).


Well, that was an error -- correcting his error. You prolly coulda
gotten off on a technicality had you let him write 'bicycle.'

Good luck!


--
David_Stone

Dictator for Life,
NYUC

Check out my blog (or else):
http://newyorkunicycle.blogspot.com/
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im no law expert but...


i no from GCSE law that unicycling is aloud everywhere unless its in
the law which it isnt..in theory you could unicycle in a shopping
centre if it said no i bikes cos its a uni not a bike


be pedantic my friend


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gagtape

WHAM!
'This is my myspace' (http://www.myspace.com/supernoodlay)
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gagtape wrote:
im no law expert but...


i no from GCSE law that unicycling is aloud everywhere unless its in
the law which it isnt..in theory you could unicycle in a shopping
centre if it said no i bikes cos its a uni not a bike


be pedantic my friend



i have tried that
only got about 5 metres before getting yelled at
i pointed out the mistake, i was on only one wheel, security didnt like
it


--
mcnuggets300

there's the right way, there's the wrong way, and there's my way

pkplonker's got it right:
~''~ Unicycle for the Flying Spaghetti Monster ~''~
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semach.the.monkey wrote:

If it did go to court, and I was to turn up with my 20” Nimbus, and
explain that I play hockey on it, and am probably more manoeuvrable
than most pedestrians, do you think that the judge would see that in my
favour? Or would they find CCTV footage, realise it’s not the same,
and get me in more trouble?

STM – in a very bad mood today



I don't think you should argue that you are more manueverable than
pedestrians, but I do think that you should argue that it was the
safest thing to do for everyone around you. Clearly the car was in the
way and staying on the road would have meant having to either get in
the way of cars or if you dismounted you would have have to remount,
and a unicyclist mounting a coker can often scare drivers so it would
have impeded traffic. Then as for the people on the footpath, they were
all well aware of you and you were aware of them, clearly nobody got in
your way and you didn't get in other peoples way. Just argue that all
in all it would have been way safer for everyoen if you went on the
sidewalk. Mention things like not only is it dangerous for me on the
road in situations like that but its also dangerous to drivers because
you are such a distraction and they don't know what to do about you.

I would also recomend you look up the laws for bikes. Usualy if they
have laws for unicycles its in the same spot as bikes. Check local
Bi-laws and Federal Laws.


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ntappin

'how to build a strong comfy saddle from junk.'
(http://tinyurl.com/hxcb3)
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