Cycle path

[Wyn Davies]

I got a puncture on the St Asaph cycle path needed new tube plus slime and my wife coming to get me home a farmer had cut the hedge and left the cuttings covering the path council say that they are not responsible what can I do please.

 

[Spiderweb]

Nothing.
Hedges are cut all the time and they can be a nightmare for cyclists. On wider roads you have a chance and can try and avoid the cuttings, unfortunately cycle paths are narrow and cuttings are sometimes unavoidable. If I’d have been in your situation I’d have gotten of the bike and pushed the bike past all the debris.

 

[EltonFrog]

What you could have done is to have a puncture kit or a spare tube with you and you could have repaired the puncture or replaced the tube and gone on your merry way.

 

[Gunk]

I got a puncture on the St Asaph cycle path needed new tube plus slime and my wife coming to get me home a farmer had cut the hedge and left the cuttings covering the path council say that they are not responsible what can I do please.

I don’t quite understand this, are you seriously suggesting that you need to compensated for the puncture?

 

[Drago]

Any claim is against the farmer, and the small claims track of the county court will laugh in your face if you took the farmer there for the cost of a tube.

So all you can do is fit a new tube and suck it up, and learn the lesson about reading the surface ahead.

 

[annedonnelly]

Is he not saying that council should be requiring the farmer to clear up?

Around here they now seem to be very good about clearing the cuttings. I've even seen the sweeper only a few yards behind the cutter.

 

[Drago]

The council aren't legally responsible for clearing it up. They've no statutory duty to do so. I'm sure if their own contractors were working they'd insist they cleared up after themselves, but that's as far as it goes.

 

[steveindenmark]

This is silly on a for a few reasons 😁

 

[Baldy]

Buy Kevlar tyres.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I always thought farmers were supposed to clean up after hedge cutting but they never do, they just leave the cuttings to be swept away by the cars, If I spot that they've been hedge cutting I'll change my route if I can.

 

[johnblack]

Farmers don't clear up and I've never seen a farmer on a bike.

 

[oldwheels]

Farmers don't clear up and I've never seen a farmer on a bike.

Charlie Allan a farmer from Aberdeenshire used to race with his local club. He had a weekly column in the Glasgow Herald which was obviously mostly farming topics but he often wrote about cycling as part of his life. Long retired as he was in Glasgow University the same time as myself. One swallow etc.

 

[Drago]

They deposit deadly mud on the highway, a criminal offence, and don't clear it up so you've no hope that the'd every sweep up inconsequential stuff like hedge trimmings, leaf litter, caltrops, land mines, etc.

 

[snorri]

The Council is not responsible for the cuttings being on the road, unless it was a Council employee or contractor who cut the hedge.
Cuttings not removed from the road come under Health and Safety Executive(HSE) legislation according to CyclingUK
https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/def...ated/info/vegetation-hedge-trimmings2gbrf.pdf
Presumably HSE would require to successfully prosecute the clippings spreader before any cyclist could successfully claim compensation from the body responsible for not clearing up the clippings.
It's tough luck on any cyclist, but it will be less stressful to fix the puncture rather than try claiming compensation.
Then move to a part of the country which does not have prickly hedges.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Get a brush and dust pan and clean it up?