Cycling UK Forum

I saw a thread either here or on another forum about someone who locked their bike up in the street then came back to find someone else had put their own lock round it, obviously hoping the owner would leave it so they could nick it in their own time.

I would have turned 3 in November 1973. I would have been living in a house in Meteor Row, RAF Leuchars, with my parents and my brother who would have been a year old in October 73.

I think this would have been 1973

Mick F wrote:Do the 9 million bicycles in Bejing all have serial numbers on them?
Somehow, I doubt it.

Is that the B-side?

Employers don't have to provide bike parking or car parking - and employees don't have to give lifts to colleagues!

Ru88ell wrote:What would happen to me if my shopping trolley full of paving slabs was to accidentally crash into a car that was parked on the pavement?

Depends who sees you do it and if it really looked accidental!

I've just cycled round to the supermarket and back. Part of the route is East Crosscauseway, which is one-way to motor vehicles but two-way to bikes, with a marked cycle lane forming the east bound part of the road.

Some inconsiderate mince-for-brains from either BMAS or BMAJ window fitters and joiners has parked his big red transit van on the wrong side of the road (an offence after dark I think), on double yellows completely blocking the cycle lane. It's the worst parking I've seen this week, and believe me, I've seen a lot.

So after I got home I walked the 100 yards to the police station to speak to them about it. I wasn't expecting them to deal with it as parking in Edinburgh is dealt with by APCO, but I thought they could give me a number of who to ring. The woman on the desk was as helpful as she could be, but couldn't be very helpful really as police only deal with parking offences in Greenways or if a parked vehicle is causing a complete obstruction. She tried their 24 hour number but it was just ringing out, but she said she'll keep trying.

I came home and phoned the council, spoke to Charlie who I know, and he gave me the 24 hour number they use. So I phoned them, reported that and they said they'd get somebody out as soon as possible. The bloke I spoke to said he gets the bus up here every day and regularly sees that van parked there - I don't know how I haven't seen it before - so I told him that every time I see it, I'm going to phone and report it. I think he was a bit scared by that. But sod it, it's parked so badly it's committing 3 offences at once. If I can be bothered I might nip out later and make a note of the name, address and phone number of the business and I'll bombard them with letters of complaint.

2Tubs, I think your Merc driver has a brother who drives a white van in Edinburgh. Except the Edinburgh version didn't even notice me yelling and gesturing. He was too busy looking out of the window at the view. (The view was Gorgie Road. It's not that interesting).

Well, given that the same pay section who arrange the monthly deductions pay the mileage claims, I'm not too worried.

ianr1950 wrote:If the bike used for business trips is purchased under the cycle scheme you cannot claim mileage as it belongs to the company until the end of the salary sacrifice term.

My bike is purchased under the Bike to Work scheme and I am allowed to claim mileage.

You can claim mileage though.

My employer pays 25p per mile for bike mileage and 18p per mile for cars. The car users hate that!

My employer has about 20,000 employees and we have the scheme. It's up to individuals to keep the bikes in good condition though.

Or from being in a road accident in an employer's car?

Using a bike to work scheme is voluntary. If someone has to travel as part of their job, then that travel is part of their job, it's compulsory. How they choose to travel - in a car provided by the employer, or in their own car claiming mileage, or on a bike to work bike, is, with conditions, up to them. Before I got my bike, I did my client visits by bus. My employer (which is a council) never worried that they would be held liable for any accident occurring on the bus (bus services here being wholly owned by the council). They don't worry that they'll be held liable for any accident occurring in a lease car, pool car, crown car or private car used for business purposes.

Computer screens, desk positions etc are part of the job and they're compulsory and employers have a duty to ensure they're safe, just as employees have a duty to report any problems. I would argue that if someone chooses to use a bike for business purposes through a bike to work scheme, it's their responsibility to make sure the bike is right for them, set up correctly and well maintained (I'm certain our scheme specifies that anyway) and that they are fit to use it and safe to ride in traffic, and to let their employer know if there is a problem, and to get any problems resolved.

I suspect that your employer is just clutching at the nearest straw and really there's another reason they don't want to implement it.

I'd be saying it's no more of a risk than if an employee had an accident in a car provided by the employer.

Maybe you should just try "your mother" and cycle off.

reohn2 wrote:Diana
You don't really think that the criminals haven't thought that if they leave their card at home they can nip out and steal whatever they like do you?

The brighter ones might even decide to nick someone else's card and take that with them when they go on the rob.