Cheeky shortcut down 'footpath'

[KneesUp]

On my commute I take a shortcut down a 'snicket' - I only ever see one or two people on it (usually none) and I go slowly. Actually it's slightly downhill and near work, so I generally don't even pedal and just roll down with brakes lightly on while I cool down. The snicket is marked on the map as a footpath and is quite narrow - two people can pass each other walking, but it's too narrow really to get a bike past someone.

When I do see pedestrians I stop well before I get to them and lean on the fence watching the stream for a bit so I don't get in the way. This has always been fine, until today the person I'd waited for objected to my cycling down there, although I'd be stationary from before she'd even seen me and remained so until she went past.

The shortcut means I get a nice quiet roll past a stream instead of having to turn right across a main road into the city (2 lanes of normal traffic and two bus lanes) and also saves me perhaps two or three minutes - albeit I sometimes spend the saved time leaning against a fence watching ducks.

Out of interest, would you continue to cycle down the path, push the bike down the path, or go via the road?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The CTC has an article on this.

We need to be clear from the start of the important difference between a footway and a footpath.
Footways are paths alongside roads set aside for pedestrians and it is an offence to cycle along them.
Footpaths, on the other hand, are stand-alone paths which include around 80% of public paths in the countryside as well as many urban paths supplementing the road network. In general it is not an offence to cycle on these, except where individual paths are subject to local bye-laws or traffic regulation orders. There do not appear to be any decided cases to suggest that cycling along a footpath is a public nuisance and hence a criminal offence.​

There's quite a bit more to the article, including the possibility of trespass. Best read the whole thing.

GC

 

[Arjimlad]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong,

However if it is a footway, might it be appropriate for you to get off and roll down with one foot on a pedal... What I mean is - get off with the bike on your right, and put your right foot on the left pedal and just roll down holding onto the handlebars ?

 

[Saluki]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong,

However if it is a footway, might it be appropriate for you to get off and roll down with one foot on a pedal... What I mean is - get off with the bike on your right, and put your right foot on the left pedal and just roll down holding onto the handlebars ?

I have scooted down many a path, just as you describe. Best of both worlds.

 

[summerdays]

I use a similar one. The one I use is short enough to see from end to end (though there is a bend just beyond that means you can't see anyone approaching), so I will sometimes wait at the end to let someone by. I tend to just roll down it at walking pace when nobody is there. It is a busy route at school start and end times as there is a primary school just beyond the end. If there are people I often get off and push the bike, although that is actually wider than me on the bike. There is nothing to ban you walking with the bike down there so you could always get off if you do see someone. Certainly if the other person has a double buggy then it would be difficult to pass in mine but that would also be true if they met someone with a double buggy going the same way.

I'd carry on using it, mine is useful as I know people living at either end of the little path and it avoids having to turn right onto and off a main arterial road with a longer route.

 

[winjim]

It sounds like you're being pretty considerate, so I'd carry on.

 

[welsh dragon]

I'd carry on using it. Some people are angry, just because they are. Nothing will make them happy, so bugger them and carry on.

 

[mjr]

What GC said, plus be polite when informing objectors that you're committing no offence (assuming no no-cycling signs or byelaws) and are avoiding a junction that is hostile to cycling.

 

[Turbo Rider]

I'd carry on using it. Some people are angry, just because they are. Nothing will make them happy, so bugger them and carry on.

Really?!?!?!?! Seems a bit extreme!

Same as the others said. You weren't even riding your bike when she saw you, so she's probably just got a bee in her something or other....

 

[KneesUp]

That article is very interesting @glasgowcyclist, ta. It's defintely a footpath not a footway. There are no signs saying No Cycling, so I presume there is no by-law preventing it.

Thanks for your replies - I always feel a little bit guilty riding down there (throwback of doing cyclcing proficiency with a policeman instructor in the 80s!) which is partly why I'm so careful. I just wanted to check I wasn't totally out of step with what anyone else would do

 

[welsh dragon]

Really?!?!?!?! Seems a bit extreme!

Same as the others said. You weren't even riding your bike when she saw you, so she's probably just got a bee in her something or other....

Not literally of course. Thats a whole different can of worms, and we shouldn't go there

 

[fossyant]

Bet you get more complaints about cycling on the road.

 

[dodgy]

Do you think that somewhere on the Internet, a car enthusiasts forum has a thread like this? A driver concerned about his impact on other human beings?

Nah, me neither.

 

[Turbo Rider]

Not literally of course. Thats a whole different can of worms, and we shouldn't go there

Mmm, else there could be a genuine cause for complaint...unless of course you happen to be carrying a consent form - need one for every occasion in this day & age

 

[welsh dragon]

Mmm, else there could be a genuine cause for complaint...unless of course you happen to be carrying a consent form - need one for every occasion in this day & age

I'll have a rummage in my handbag to see what I can find. Will a receipt from Morrisons do?