These damn miniature motorbikes!

[alexkp]

I live up a very narrow, small, out of the way private road.

Over the past couple of weeks some local chavs have discovered it and have decided to use it as a race track for these mini-motorbikes. Needless to say they ride at high speed without crash helmets or any kind of legal entitlement to be on the roads - they have to ride the bikes on public highways to get to our lane.

This is annoying enough in itself, but the things are so damn noisy that I am really getting angry. Last week they rode them up and down at past midnight FFS.

I have called the police on numerous occasions, and they have driven up - the problem is often by the time they arrive the scrotes have disappeared.

I am amazed that these things are on sale - and apparently cost as little as £79.95!!!

Any ideas? Obviously I don't want to get my cars vandelised or put my family at risk.

Anyone else had this problem?

[Jaglover]

They are a growing menance by all accounts. Of course the police do little to stop them, either if they drive on the grass at local parks.

[Kentish]

Hi Alex,

My mum has the same problem except they keep tearing around her front lawn on the bloody stupid things. They have also been joined by other chav mates on near enough full size mopeds.

Why do these kids and their parents think they are exempt from the rules that apply to everyone else.

No riding on footpaths (or peoples gardens)
No riding without tax
No riding without insurance
No riding without MOT
No riding without lights
No riding under age

The police response is "we'll come and take a statement"

Bit too late the next day!

[Flat in Fifth]

Yes but in this case it was quad bikes.

And seeing as they were :ahem: travellers there was no action.

However, on a brighter note, another member of the :ahem: travelling community used to take his unlicensed uninsured untaxed motocross bike out along the public roads to get to the common for the purposes of .. errr ... practising to the detriment of public safety.

Without going into further detail he won't use that anymore. Involved a S59, which is a hideous piece of legislation , but in this case used for the intended purpose.

[dtmpower]

Anyone near Portsmouth/M27 - there is always motorcross bikes playing on the dirt land under themotorway near IBM North Habour... any ideas if this is approved or has anyone else seen them ?

[gforce]

Here's some news to cheer you up, just hope the police in the rest of the country join in to rid of us this minature menance..

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0125nwark

[hugoagogo]

something on north east telly the other night about the cops seizing and crushing these things

[tuscan_thunder]

my mate bought a few of these things and, to be honest, they are a good laugh. We asked the security guard at a local park and ride scheme if we could use the car park for an hour between 7 and 8 on a Sunday and he was happy enough. We kept out of everyone's way (the Park and Ride was closed) and we were well away from houses etc.

I suspect we were in the minority.

However, you seem to have encountered the more common (in more ways than one) element of these bikes.

Private land so you could go out and do some road testing in your car - perhaps driving up and down your road repeatedly? I did this when we were getting bother with folk walking on part of our land (they were walking through our garden to get to some fields, chewing up our grass, trampling flowers, annoying my dog, looking in the house windows etc)
So by simply driving up and down the track in a tractor (slowly, I might add) being a total nuisance to them, they soon gave up and walked elsewhere.

You could maybe (I don't know if you have neighbours) put up some kind of gate or barrier. If they cross this, there are different rules/laws which apply. If the gate is locked, then things get more serious if they cross the gate and, if you mention breaking and entering when phoning the Police, you may get a better response.

You could go out and try and reason with them? Explain that you're trying to sleep and if they don't clear off, you'll have to phone the Police?

[fido]

yep, had a father 'n' son team, taking turns to piss everyone off near my parent's house.
one of them had an accident which stopped the buzzing nuisiance for a few weeks.

turns out, nearly everyone in the road called the police about it, and the pikey pair have had a stern talking to; in addition to threats of eviction from the council for general anti-social behaviour.

[jacko lah]

I'm in two minds.

I've phoned the police 3 times in the summer holidays and they found caught and cautioned a 14 year old and put the fear of god into his grand mother (who was looking after him whilst his parents were in spain)

I've PICKED one up in the factory I work in and put it next to the skip. When the assembly operator that owns it protested I asked him to consider whether he'd like to have the conversation with me or the MD. I explained that a manufacturing site like ours is not going to let people bring motorbikes inside. He seems to be catching the bus to work.

As a 14 year old ME and 3 of my mates bought from a local Mod a H reg Lambretta 200 for £15 which we removed lights and mirrors and flogged to his mod mates for £25. We then forgot to actually register it in any of our names and proceeded to PUSH it on a weeklly basis to the Beach aT Formby (Area of outstanding natural beauty) and then take it in turns to rag it up and down.

I have no idea what happened to it, but I'm now a law abidding Chartered Engineer, One of the others is in Merseyside police drugs squad, one's in the Army and the last runs a Graphics design firm with some success. My wife is convinced I'm a hypocrit but I think theres a different to pushing a bike miles from the general public when the tides out and riding around a housing estate on the Pavement, when kids are out playing in the summer sun.