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“MINI-MOTORBIKES 'WILL BE CRUSHED'
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Misuse of mini motorbikes
can lead to confiscation |
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Mini-motorbike riders who break the law riding on public land could be fined or see their machines crushed, Home Secretary John Reid has warned.
The government has given £200,000 to help enforce laws on "mini-motos" in 28 areas of England and Wales.
New guidance makes clear the bikes - often bought for children - should be used only on private property.
Mr Reid said the bikes were "at best a nuisance, running through to a menace and at worst very, very dangerous".
Mr Reid was in Wythenshawe, Manchester, to see minimotorbikes being crushed. The North West in particular has seen rising complaints about improper use.
"I've been looking at some of them here," he said. "There's unguarded chains - that's like a chainsaw - there's plastic petrol tanks.”
We’re trying to make sure mums and dads in particular know that, that their children can be fined or indeed the present that they're getting them, if they're not careful, will very quickly end up in one of these crushers."
'It's Torture'
The Motor Cycle Industry Association estimates that sales of mini-moto-type vehicles have risen from 10,000 in 2002 to 100,000 last year.
Northumbria received 3,000 complaints about off-road bikes last year.
Sheila Lomas, 49, from Cheadle, described how minimoto riders raced across the park where her block of apartments is sited.
"They are just so noisy and there is no let-up from it," she told BBC News. "When it's hot we cannot have the windows open because we cannot hear the television.
”It’s like a Chinese water torture day in, day out, seven days a week."
She said the bikes were dangerous to children playing in the park and it was only a matter of time before somebody was seriously injured or killed.
Such complaints have prompted the promised new crackdown from the government.
The Home Office Respect Task Force's guidance stresses reckless users can receive penalty points on their driving licence.
If the offender is a child, points could be placed on a future licence.
Advice on how to tackle people misusing the bikes is also being sent to all police forces and crime fighting partnerships.
'Not toys'
Louise Casey, the government's Respect co-ordinator, said parents should know about the penalties their child could face and think twice before letting them having a mini-moto.
Misuse of mini motorbikes can lead to confiscation
Jim Battle, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, welcomed the government initiative, saying the issue topped people's list of concerns.
"It's the sort of thing which just causes absolute nuisance to people.
It's what appears to be the inability of the authorities - the police and others - to stop it," he said.
"People are saying enough is enough."
Councillor Battle said the motos were dangerous and urged ministers to change the law so the bikes have to be registered.
Government officials say they have not ruled out changing the law but at the moment want to ensure existing rules are enforced.
But shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The public demand effective and sustained action against anti-social behaviour, not a series of announcements fed out over the summer whose purpose is to simply grab headlines and then be forgotten about."
The 28 areas receiving the £200,000 to tackle the problem are:
Manchester, Mansfield, Liverpool, Sunderland, Birmingham, Harlow, Southend-on-Sea, Tendering, Reading, Gloucester, Derby, Coventry, Hodge Hill, Blackburn, Chester, Oldham, Salford, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, South Tyneside, Hull, Wakefield, York, Camden, Kent, Halton in Cheshire, West Cumbria, Newport.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://tinyurl.com/hbqrq
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