ABOUT TIME!!!
Councils are currently "pushing hard" for the power to stop and issue on-the-spot fines for cyclists who ride on the pavement.
According to a report in the Standard, parking attendants could hand out £100 fines to cyclists who are caught riding on pavements.
There is already legislation in place which has lead to over 5,000 cyclist receiving on-the-spot fines however, critics claim that the £30 fine is not enough of a disincentive.
The London Local Authorities and Transport for London Bill, which will be presented to Parliament next month, states "It is considered that this [£30 fine] is not a serious enough deterrent or punishment in the more serious cases, particularly where the footway is heavily used by pedestrians."
A new law is now being considered which would allow each London authority to set their amount for the fine and to allow parking attendants to be the enforcers. The Bill states "It is proposed that powers be given to traffic authorities to set fixed penalties for the offence of cycling on the footway in areas where local authority employees have powers under a community safety accreditation scheme to hand out fixed penalty notices. Different levels could be set for different areas to reflect the seriousness of the offence."
Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:29 pm