Nuxx:4e269735$0$2490$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk

Path: num2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!num1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!number.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!goblin1!goblin.stu.neva.ru!dedekind.zen.co.uk!zen.net.uk!hamilton.zen.co.uk!prichard.zen.co.uk.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <4e269735$0$2490$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk> From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Re: Pavement cyclist fined. Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:52:05 +0100 References:  Lines: 48 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; en-US; rv:1.9.2.18) Gecko/20110616 Thunderbird/3.1.11 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To:  Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Organization: Zen Internet NNTP-Posting-Host: 8f919306.news.zen.co.uk X-Trace: DXC=Q10MEM4J2lE=DAdhZ02;[M0g@SS;SF6nGR9OH0:RnENDdZ3;U=0<;=C`:ITG5aA:cG@FW\WDli9AG X-Complaints-To: abuse@zen.co.uk Bytes: 3589 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:847789

On 20/07/2011 08:47, Simon Mason wrote: > She has to pay a total of 275 quid, whereas the first driver was only > stung for 215 quid for drinking and driving and the second one just > 200 pounds. > > So much for cyclists getting away lightly when they break the law. > > http://www.swldxer.co.uk/fines.jpg

Now perhaps you could post up all the previous "In the courts" columns which you've looked through and found derisory penalties for cyclists in (or no penalties at all)?

While we're at it...£200 for possession of cannabis, including a "victims' surcharge"...what f**king victims? I'll sure sleep easier at night knowing that that menace to society has been dealt with. You can just imagine the harm he was causing to everyone around him by having a bit of plant material in his pocket.

And a 12-month conditional discharge for stealing four legs of lamb from Tesco...what did Tesco get for stealing them from the poor little lamb...? (Or are they still on the lam for that? I'll get me coat....)

All the "crimes" listed are notable for being easy to clear up. It seems that it's true what they say ("they" often being retired cops): the police never bother investigating crimes anymore. If the evidence isn't handed to them on a plate, thereby making the crime easy to solve, they don't want to know...they don't want you bothering them...can't you see that they're busy? Can't you sort it out yourself? Anyone would think you paid their wages or something.

It's all about reaching their target figures as quickly and easily as possible, and what the public wants doesn't come into it. If some scumbag stabs you and then legs it, and there's nothing in the way of CCTV or fingerprints, then you can't expect the police to make the slightest effort to catch them, let alone succeed. The real criminals must be wetting themselves with laughter at how easy their "trade" has become...just another way in which this country has become a laughing stock.

The solution: get rid of the targets (or at least make them a lot more "intelligent" so that they reflect what the public actually want the police to do), cut down the ridiculous amount of form-filling and get police staff to do the remaining admin so that the officers can do what they're trained for (like investigating and getting out on the beat), and make police chiefs elected (so that we never get anyone like the mad car-hating Richard Brunstrom again). Not rocket science, and "they" have been talking about it for years, so why the hell haven't they sorted it out yet?