Please pay attention cyclists – this is the council speaking

It’s all kicking off in Grimsby. Well, not so much kicking as pedalling.

The furore centres around a Public Spaces Protection Order which prohibits cycling in an area of the town centre. Council enforcement officers nab those who transgress.

Recipients’ reactions to fines have varied considerably and include a colourful ‘stick it up your arse’.

However, a couple of months ago came a somewhat Orwellian development. The council planned to broadcast a repeated message about its no cycling ban - every 15 minutes on loudspeakers in the town.

And previously, a councillor declared that a cyclist being ordered to pay £500 was ‘a great result for our enforcement team’.

What is also troubling is the example of a cyclist who, when prosecuted, paid a higher fine and victim services surcharge than a speeding motorist.

Observers at large have commented enforcement officers seem to prefer picking on those cyclists who are a little older and slower. If that’s true, it’s a good job my cycling days are over – I’d be a dead duck in the water. I might not even hear the outdoor announcements!

Hmmm… it all sounds worrying, for so many reasons. I mean, rein it in a little; they’re cyclists not terrorists.

Not that I’m a fan of cyclists, especially those who use footpaths and pedestrian areas as their preferred highways. The best place for them is on the road and I’ve received abuse for standing my ground and not moving aside in pedestrian areas.

But neither am I a fan of overzealous local authorities. They are frightening.

I witnessed (not in Grimsby but much nearer home) an enforcement officer rushed into a shop and approached a couple, asking them to step outside. His reason? He was going to issue a ticket because one of them dropped a cigarette butt somewhere along their route to the shop.

Now remember, they are being approached inside, not outside. They have no proof he even saw them, but to their credit, they went with him. They reluctantly accepted the ticket.

If it had been me?

The colourful response in Grimsby comes to mind.