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Police Slammed for Pulling Over Biker Procession
Oct 26 2007 by Roland Hughes, Daily Post
POLICE were branded “totally disrespectful” for pulling over bikers forming a funeral procession for a young dad.
Around 40 bikers turned up on Wednesday to the funeral of dad-of-two Sean Bowers, who died in a house fire last week.
But while travelling to the wake to pay their respects, the bikers were all pulled over and “spoken to” by traffic police, who had spotted them going to the service.
The hearse, driving family members from the funeral to the wake, also pulled over of its own accord ahead of the apprehended bikers.
Members of the biking community have now hit out at the action, although no bikers were cautioned by police.
Police said the bikers were not wearing helmets and insisted they were only spoken to, following a spate of biker fatalities.
Sean, 24, died in a blaze which destroyed his mum and stepdad’s house in Pen-y-ffordd,
He had left a chip pan unattended following a night out, and three other family members were able to escape. His funeral was held at Colwyn Bay crematorium on Wednesday, with several biker friends in attendance.
After the service, family members made their way to the wake in a Flintshire pub, followed by close to 40 bikers who did not know the direction.
In the tradition of biker funerals, they were not wearing helmets as they rode down the A55, leading police to summon the force helicopter and later intervene near Llanddulas. Bikers were asked to hand over their documents.
A North Wales Police spokesman said: “A patrolling officer came across the procession travelling on the A55, involving up to 40 motorcyclists, many of whom were not wearing helmets.
“Whilst there was no intent or action to disrupt the funeral proceedings, the riders were stopped after the event. This was in the interests of rider safety, and in light of the recent spate of fatalities involving motorcyclists.”
The incident has come in for criticism on biking websites, in particular one forum set up in tribute to Mr Bowers.
One post reads: “The actions of the police beggars belief and is totally disrespectful...”
Another says: “Would you believe it, the b******s had a road block set up on the A55 and stopped everyone...and did spot checks on all the bikes... How sad is it, when they knew it was a funeral procession, and they had to jump in and ruin it with the excuse that bikers en masse scare the general public?”
Two years ago, biker Lance Vaudin, of Guernsey, was fined £25 for riding without a helmet at another biker’s funeral.
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Please rest assured that MAG is investigating and will be responding to this.
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