Footpaths...

[mr_ship]

Just perusing a local club website (Bogtrotters) and noticed a lot of the routes they ride in the Lakes and elsewhere use a fair few footpaths.
Where does the law stand on this and can you be prosecuted?

Just wondering... :?:

 

[IDB1]

Interested in this too.. was pondering the very same thing yesterday (only in a different area)..

Although, round here you have to dodge tractors and the local rabbiters drive their 4x4's down the footpaths and shoot from them..

 

[Pickle]

As I understand it, and I may be wrong, technically you cant ride footpaths on a bike.

Restricted bridleways however, you can.

My local loops are mostly footpaths, and I have only ever encountered problems half a dozen times in the 5 or so years I've been riding them. The problems have only ever been from the farm managers (not the farm owner whose land they cross) telling me that pushbikes arent allowed. At first I was polite, apologised, and carried on. The last time I got a bit shirty as he told be to get off my bike and never return.....I said it would never happen and I havent seen him again. Annoying, as I have met the farmer who was very polite and it was him who pointed out a lot of additional footpaths accross his land for me to explore!

I have never had a problem with walkers, as I find if you're polite they dont mind.

 

[lewis1641]

you are not allowed to ride bikes on footpaths.

i doubt you would ever get prosecuted for doing so unless you were causing criminal damage (not just tyre marks)

if you ran over a pedestrian on a public footpath you'd be in a losing position straight away if action was taken.

if i am riding on a footpath i always give way to any walkers. on a bridleway i assess the situation. to be honest walkers usually stand to the side for bikes but not always and i dont expect them to.

be polite and courteous and you should go far wrong. if someone questions you tell them you are looking for someone to ask permission to ride on the footpath!

if it is the landowner, ask them. sometimes they say yes.

i know a farmer and he is happy for me to ride my bike across his field as long as i stick to the footpath. he is a reasonable guy and there are many more like him

 

[hamster]

Firstly you cannot get prosecuted as far as I understand it - it's a civil offence like trespass, and would require the landowner to make a civil case against you.

Rights of way are your right over the landowner. Clearly if the landowner says it's OK then that's the end of the matter.

HOWEVER, there is plenty of conflict with landowners over rights of way. Some block paths etc. While MTBs get a lot of the blame for damage done by illegal motorbikes (I had a lively discussion about this on a bridlepath, when I pointed out that MTB's don't have 4" wide tyres) it does the whole issue of MTB access campaigning no good at all to have people haring all over the place on footpaths.

Personally I don't ride on footpaths and it annoys me when people do. The best approach is one of quiet persuasion for access rights. You can have no justification to criticise illegal 4x4 and motorbike use on bridleways if you treat footpaths in exactly the same way.

 

[Pickle]

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_ ... #Footpaths

FOOTPATHS
Right of ways and open access across land typically only extend to walking. So you don't have a right to cycle or ride a horse on a public footpath. However, it is not a criminal offence to do so, unless there is a traffic order or bylaw in place specifically. A land owner may pursue you for damages under trespass Law or obtain a court order Injunction banning you from riding on their land, if you persisted.

BRIDLEWAYS
A public bridleway is a way over which the public have the following, but no other rights:

to travel on foot and
to travel on horseback or leading a horse, with or without a right to drive animals of any description along the way.
Note that although Section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 permits the riding of bicycles on public bridleways, the act says that it "shall not create any obligation to facilitate the use of the bridleway by cyclists".

BYWAYS
A byway open to all traffic, or BOAT, is a highway over which the public have a right to travel for vehicular and all other kinds of traffic but which is used by the public mainly for the purpose for which footpaths and bridleways are used. (United Kingdom Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, section 15(9)(c), as amended by Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Act 1991, Schedule 1).

RESTICTED BYWAYS
On 2 May 2006 the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 reclassified all remaining Roads Used as Public Paths as restricted byways. The public's rights along a restricted byway are to travel:

on foot
on horseback or leading a horse
by any vehicle (e.g. bicycles, horse-drawn carriages) other than mechanically propelled vehicles (e.g. motorbikes or cars)

PERMISSIVE PATH
A permissive path, or permitted path, is a path (which could be for walkers, riders, cyclists, or any combination) whose use by the public is allowed by the landowner, but over which there is no right of access.

A permissive path is often closed on a specified calendar day each year, and is usually clearly signed as a permissive path. These are precautions to prevent any possible future claim of continuous public access along the path, which could result in it becoming designated as a statutory right of way.

 

[Peyote]

Personally I don't ride on footpaths and it annoys me when people do. The best approach is one of quiet persuasion for access rights. You can have no justification to criticise illegal 4x4 and motorbike use on bridleways if you treat footpaths in exactly the same way.

Similar arguments were used (I believe) by the ramblers, they got bored of the 'quiet persuasion' way and went down the trespass route on Kinder Scout. Seemed to be a bit more effective...

I think it's probably more sensible to compare MTBs with walkers due to the similar amounts of trail erosion caused (if used appropriately), motorised vehicles being compared to human power is a bit of red-herring in my book.

 

[hamster]

Don't get me wrong, I agree on the erosion point, and in fact I agree on applying access pressure.

However, simply playing 'pick and choose' with the law is neither concerted pressure nor a carefully constructed campaign, which would require a buildup and extensive publicity - like Kinder Scout.

I get really peed off with illegal motorbikes tearing up some footpaths and bridleways near me. It can hardly be called campaigning on behalf of the rights of owners of unlicensed and uninsured motorbikes.

 

[Peyote]

Don't get me wrong, I agree on the erosion point, and in fact I agree on applying access pressure.

However, simply playing 'pick and choose' with the law is neither concerted pressure nor a carefully constructed campaign, which would require a buildup and extensive publicity - like Kinder Scout.

Yes, I see your point, but equally I can't really get het up about MTBers on footpaths when the only reason they shouldn't be there is outdated laws. Of course if they're behaving irresponsibly then that's a different matter.

I think you're correct about the need for a concerted campaign. I'm led to believe that the CTC are aware of the issue and the IMBA have plenty of experience from their battles across the Atlantic. If MTBing continues to increase in popularity it's only a matter of time.

I get really peed off with illegal motorbikes tearing up some footpaths and bridleways near me. It can hardly be called campaigning on behalf of the rights of owners of unlicensed and uninsured motorbikes.

Yeah, there's a few of these around me too. They tend to fall into the "irresponsible" riders category unfortunately. However, there must* be areas where motorbike riders could potentially use their vehicles responsibly, where currently they aren't allowed to, so I can envisage a similar situation occuring for them. Probably not on the same scale as for MTBs though.

*I don't really know any bikers so I'm making a bit of an assumption here!

 

[lewis1641]

Personally I don't ride on footpaths and it annoys me when people do. The best approach is one of quiet persuasion for access rights. You can have no justification to criticise illegal 4x4 and motorbike use on bridleways if you treat footpaths in exactly the same way.

just to point out the area i live has lots of open countryside and not a lot of people. it isnt a tourist spot particularly either. i can ride for 2 hours and not see a single walker sometimes.

if i lived in the peaks or new forest i'd probably have a different outlook