7 Riders Sent Back to Wales After Breaching Lockdown in the Forest of Dean
A group of 7 riders have been told to return to Wales after breaking Lockdown rules in the Forest of Dean last weekend.
The group of riders were in breach of the current guidelines after they travelled from Wales to ride in the Forest of Dean. By riding as a group in the area, they were breaching rules in both England and Wales. The Forest Police unit, that covers the area, has confirmed the incident on Twitter saying: "Officers have advised 7 males attending Cannop Cycle Centre today to return home to Caerphilly, should they be found in the area again during lockdown they will be fined!"
Since October the Gloucestershire Constabulary has said it will be patrolling roads into England and stopping drivers from Wales and turning them around if the journey isn't allowed under current restrictions. While the force can't uphold guidelines in Wales they can hand out fines if English lockdown rules are broken.
The Gloucestershire Constabulary said in October: “While we cannot issue fines to those travelling from Wales into the county, we can inform the host force of those we stop about what has happened so they can take action.
"Officers will be running an operation over the weekend that will cover routes from Wales into the Forest of Dean and if we stop someone travelling from Wales we will be engaging with them to find out why, explaining the legislation and encouraging them to turn around if we are not satisfied with their explanation."
Currently, the area maintained by Forestry England is recommending people should only visit the area for their daily exercise if it is a short distance from their home.
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Obviously things are bad so I'm just stucking it up and riding the turbo trainer, but the temptation is there (balanced with the reality that it would cause me to have a very angry (and correct) wife (the most dangerous combination of all!))...
Some nice trails down your way though so I hope you're making do with what's local! Stay safe!
My three year old is also desperate to head to the FoD as he loves the pump track there but sadly he will have to wait until what he calls "the funny virus" has been laid to rest.
"If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local - unless it is necessary to go further, for example to go to work. Stay local means stay in the village, town, or part of the city where you live." www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#summary-what-you-can-and-cannot-do-during-the-national-lockdown
Basically if you can't realistically ride to it, it's probably not local
Time to practice , wheelies, manuals and cutties and work on fitness ready for when they open again.
Or build that mini-pump track you’ve always thought about
Not clear as an excuse is why we will be in lockdown indefinitely
Don't get me wrong - I don't believe either case, hence why I haven't gone to Cannock (or anywhere else), but I do believe that the guidelines are open to interpretation which can cause confusion or issues. You can read local as one thing and think it obvious, but I could read it differently. For example, wasn't BoJo criticised for riding his bike 10m from home the other day? He thought that was fine, but others didn't. For arguments sake is it worse to drive to a trail centre a couple of miles away (perhaps you have kids and don't want to ride main roads, etc) - some of the parents here seem to be in that position?
Finally, I know when I initially looked (just before Xmas) I didn't see anything about staying local under the exercise section, and it was only when I was directed to another party of the guidance I found it. I think that guidance is updated from what I read before so it is better than before.
All I'm saying is that, from what is on here, something like the Welsh system sounds far more sensible - there is a strict and clear limit on distance you can travel, and/or exercise has to start and end at your front door. There can be no arguement - you're either compliant or not. That seems far more sensible to me.
It also has a real impact on other peoples lives. The idea that 'I should be able to make up my own mind' only works if the decisions you make only affect your own family, in this case they dont. Its a selfish approach based on individuals being lucky that the virus doesnt cause them personally a risk.
In September the Surrey Hills had one of the lowest rates of COVID infections because as a community people were careful. During the October lockdown, the place was rammed with riders (and hikers) from the home counties and the Thames corridor, most not social distancing. The local shops stopped offering hot food and drink because of the abuse they got from riders refusing to wear face masks and adhering to capacity rules. Guess what? 4 weeks later we had one of the highest rates of COVID in the country. Its not all down to this but one cannot argue it didnt contribute toward it....and the number of people that are now dying in the region.
Get on your bike at your house and go for a ride locally...dont spread the virus out of selfishness.
I appreciate that 'local' can be open to interpretation, especially depending on your level of fitness, but the Welsh Guidance on this is as follows:
"There are no limits on the distance you can travel during exercise, though the nearer you stay to your home, the better. Your exercise should start and finish from your home and generally, this should not involve people driving to a location away from home."
Source - gov.wales/leaving-your-home-and-seeing-other-people-alert-level-4#section-58483
Just follow the bloody rules and if they don't make sense, use your common sense!
I can't wait to get back to BPW, Cwmcarn, Afan, FoD and BMCC!
thats the literal and figurative thinking. LMFAO
everything about it, operates exactly like a cult.
demand strict adherence
punish doubt
demonize outsiders that question the leader
take your money/life
just about the only thing they don't do that's cult-like is demand to sleep with your wife.....yet. LOL
Bah, I agree with some others on here, do we need daily updates on PB on rule breaking, or is this like the story of the two women going for a walk with cups of coffee - just a story to make an example and deter others from doing the same?
Anyway, I am pretty much sticking to the lot of the rules anyway, no group rides out of area for me, 'worst' I have done is walk for a few hrs with one other person and they can get f*cked if they think im stopping to do that, (unless the shit completely hits the fan of course) my brain would explode.
In order for it to be nobody elses business in this instance you would need to be able to crash your bike, hurt yourself and crawl off home to treat yourself or just go into the bushes to die off, neither of which is a reality.
Pretty much every action a person takes in a society is the business of someone else in some way or another, sometimes it doesnt matter, sometimes it does.
Because not all grown-ass adults can be trusted to be a good judge of what is an acceptable risk. Or to consider or care about risk at all. Some people might not be fully aware of the risks. Some people just wont give a toss.
That's why they have to have rules.
I'm not enjoying the rules in anyway, but i do understand why they have to be out in place.
In my reasoned opinion, it tells me that the chance of me being hospitalised is pretty small. In addition, I am allowed to do doorstep rides according to the rules. I could just as easily crash locally as at somewhere I drove to. All I'm saying is, it's a free country. You can't make people stay in if they don't want to.
I think this news story is almost as absurd as that professor that got arrested for jaywalking in New York. I can decide for myself when and where it's safe to cross the street. I can decide for myself when and where I want to go for a bike ride. I'm not going to be going to do the Mega or try to progress my jumping on the Vision Line during lockdown, but I sure as shit am going to be going out for my daily exercise. I'm intelligent enough to stay away from others and to not push to hard. I'll be all right.
I do not feel the need to try to protect other people from their own stupidity. Young lads, they all think they're invincible. More power to them. Their parents and grandarents should take more responsibility to influence their behaviour if they're worried about covid.
Plus all the NHS staff off sick or isolating due to the virus.
But it’s ok, you’ve weighed up the risks and deemed it to be ok for you.
I was looking at it more from a spreading/transmission point of view.
The risks i was talking about is people deciding for themselves whether to break the rules and travel out of their area - potentially turning a low infection-rate area that could potentially benefit for an ease in local restrictions into a high-infection area.
As i said earlier, i'm not enjoying the lockdown rules. But i can see the merit in trying to contain the virus as locally as possible.
I live within short riding distance of a fantastic trail network, so i can still ride there if i want to. But if the trail centre got closed completely (they've already shut the car parks) because a bunch of people across the country descended upon it and caused a massive spike in cases, i'd be quite upset.
you have anything that proves this statement, or are you just extracting that from your balloon knot?
States in the article paramedics took pictures ambulances queuing and waits of up to 5hrs.
Could be bullshit, probably isn’t - what is your motivation to prove it is?
also, they took photos of ambulances. no evidence there are people in them. I have no inclination to believe or disbelieve it. What I do know is that if you're going to state something, you need to be able to prove it. not simply assert it.
Why would paramedics and the Bristol post want to lie to you?
If the situation is true, is it fear mongering or simple explanation of a real situation?
Morons are still calling 999 or turning up to ED for bollocks reasons adding strain.
Instead of seeing 5-8 patients in a 12 hour shift ambulance are seeing 2-3 due to wasting hours of their time sitting outside of ED (sometimes with very unwell patients). The reason for this is because they have to keep each patient in the back until there is a bed because they can’t queue in the corridor where 1 paramedic could look after 4 or 5 at a time as is normal in busy times).
People are dying and others are struggling to recover.
Not sure what ‘balloon knot you are referring to but we do get to see the numbers and statistics from the Ambulance service).
Why the f*ck would o want to make this shit up?
But if you want to keep on being a dick, you carry on.
Stay home and wear a f*cking mask. It’s not that difficult. It just sucks and is boring as f*ck.
no
It’s the right thing to do whenever you are anywhere near other people.
Next thought: total BS article.
Apologies for being ambiguous in my reply.
see, you took about 14% of the information, and decided to be a cheeky c*nt. typical.
I know we all want to escape the doom and gloom but this is real.
if it's 7 dudes travelling togther, what's the difference. to which I mean, they clearly have already mixed and you can consider them a "bubble". So long as they keep to themselves, what the f*ck does it matter where they ride...OUTSIDE?
Please don't go down the judgmental cynical click bait route
Quite honestly if this stops even just a few riders from breaching the rules and spreading covid around by letting bored people know that they face fines, then that's a good thing. The shit hasn't gone away just because we're bored of it.
If an infected person travels around they'll spread it where they go...
Have you never seen a zombie film?...
I don’t want to get into a big debate here, and I don’t condone the actions of those in the article, but, leaving aside the group element, which is obviously problematic:
I fail to see how travelling in a car to ride somewhere, riding outdoors, then driving home spreads the virus. I’m not aware of any evidence that demonstrates that the virus can be spread in an outdoor environment with a high dispersal rate.
Unfortunately, though, all sensible discussion about this sort of thing has been lost in the false dichotomy of ‘you’re either pro-lockdown or anti-life’. Personally I find this unhelpful.
I’m happy to change my opinion if anyone can provide peer reviewed evidence that contradicts what I’ve said.
As ever with these things, let he who us without sin cast the first stone...
JP
@Jprestidge: Im not sure anyone would argue that the riding aspect in itself spreads the virus but listening to the reasoning behind not traveling a fair distance to ride does make sense and includes the following hard to argue against points:
- If everybody did it, popular outdoor spots could become rather busy.
- Driving from home usually involves getting fuel, maybe stopping food etc - So more visits to petrol stations / shops, perhaps in different areas than that in which you live..
- Activity is activity and more potential to spread the virus if you carry it, however small the chance and being out for longer / in different areas wont help.
I dont agree / disagre with all the above, but have heard all of the arguments.
If it's strictly travelling in a car, getting out and riding alone outdoors, then getting in the car and going straight home; then i imagine you're right, the risk of spreading the infection is minimal (apart from amongst the occupants of the car in this particular story, who hopefully live in close enough proximity that they don't spread anything too far among themselves).
But not every journey will be strictly zero contact, even if the contact is unintentional:- stopping for petrol, getting takeaway food/drinks, using parking meters, using public toilets.
It seems better (although don't confuse that with me being happy about it) to just say no to people travelling out of their areas, rather than saying if you do travel, please ensure you don't deviate from your otherwise-safe destination in any way.
Facillities are still open in lots of places (eg cafes for takeaway etc) that are available to the locals. Can we really trust people travelling out of their area to not use facillities because they're for local people only? Or is it likely there will be at least *some* people who will be of the attitude of "no-one knows i'm not from here so i may as well get myself a coffee"?
I appreciate what you're saying and if you're being level-headed and you can honestly say you will be sensible and personally not pose any risk - what's the harm?
Unfortunately, we don't live in a world where we can trust everyone to do right so our rules have to cater to the morons.
You're comment seemed reasonable enough so i hope i've responded with my thoughts in an equal fashion.
Meanwhile, you trust those with zero consequences.. and the most to gain.
Yours in sarcasm JohnnyBoy
now, please go offset that 81k with a discount for anyone over 90yrs old, subtract all the suicides and violent deaths caused by lockdowns, destructions of families from substance abuse and stress, etc etc etc
but hey, I actually don't expect you to give it a lick of real thought. I wouldn't expect you to start thinking for yourself, that shit is too scary!
Lockdowns and restrictions are incredibly difficult and potentially damaging for individuals and communities, there's no doubt about that, but it's a bit reductive to assume that if anyone doesn't agree with your point of view it's because they haven't bothered to think about it.
before you say, "Right! they kept the hospitals from being overran!!". yes. initially, but ask yourself, why wasnt the government errecting emergency field hospitals like mad that first month, then dealing with the issue? they had 9 months to prepare for the "second wave" that everyone knew would happen. They did absolutely f*ckall. the entire government should be lined up against a wall at this point.
also this: torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/canadian-experts-research-finds-lockdown-harms-are-10-times-greater-than-benefits?fbclid=IwAR3ep21Ey2_Yy3pAJS0ndPSwjWWlFNCFQcItpuG01RBBg5jA0ygD_MTeDn8
I also understand both the Darwinian and Utilitarian arguments you seem to be pointing to, which I'm sure have validity and relevance, although they also have a lot of flaws in the context of an interconnected global system where different countries are taking such radically different paths.
I'm still interested, though, in your assumption that anyone who hasn't reached the same conclusion as you just hasn't spent enough time thinking about it. It fascinates me that some people seem to feel they've somehow reached a stage of enlightenment that decimates all debate beneath its feet.
No criticism or slight intended, by the way - just interested in your angle.
my only issue is on the anti-democratic, anti-debate, anti-logic handling by governments. There is mountains of evidence pointing to what to do and who to protect and who to let continue their life at near normal levels(kids, healthy adults under 65) But instead, we keep repeating the previous unsuccessful measures. why? could it be the powers that be cannot let the cat out of the bag that this was all a collosal f*ckup?
In response to what I can or can't "clearly see" or what is or isn't "anti-deomcratic", I feel this kind of tub-thumping, single-minded certainty is one of the things that gets us so quickly into trouble as a society these days. It seems likely to me that it's why Trumpism has prospered and why Western nations feel so politically divided, with extreme rhetoric on both sides.
I've also just remembered that this is a mountain bike website so I'm going to stop filling it up with pseudo-politics and go and look at some pictures of people doing skids on their push-irons to remind me that some things are still right with the world!
I’d rather read about ebikes than this!
Ringmaster
Boris Johnson does, so I would.
That was the problem.