Police in nothing-better-to-do shocker

Start of journey:
Bunch of coppers ticketing folk crossing clapham common, going north from Clapham South Tube, across the bit that is not a cycle path, but joins it at Windmill Lane.

End of journey:
2 more coppers rousting the various homeless folk along the Canal by the zoo.

They were very helpful and friendly. (And not proper coppers.)

^^ erm how does that make them any money though?
Its like where I live in the well known Ghetto that is East Finchley. At least once a month the police mount this massive operation at the station in evening rush hour where they double check every ones travel card and generally hassle innocent people. There are usually upwards of about 10 of them carrying out this essential procedure. It really is unbelievable

I don't know how it works here specifically but back in Canukistani land, the police have a "quota" for tickets and when a count gets called they ususally have a week or so to ensure that they have issued the appropriate number of tickets. (true) my aunt is a cop.

Start of journey:
Bunch of coppers ticketing folk crossing clapham common, going north from Clapham South Tube, across the bit that is not a cycle path, but joins it at Windmill Lane.

End of journey:
2 more coppers rousting the various homeless folk along the Canal by the zoo.

Fuck off and stop some kid being stabbed!

Jesus Christ, how many kids were being stabbed at the time?

Jesus Christ, how many kids were being stabbed at the time?

The Daily Mail said 15-20 per hour in London's famous London. It's an epidemic.

Villa-ru, if cyclists didn't take the lane for pedestrians only the cops wouldn't be there in the first place and could spend time elsewhere.....

There is a cycle lane further along the Common. I take it every morning and night. There is no space on the cycle lane Clapham South entrance for cyclists and peds so I am not surprised if there were complaints. If I walk home, I take the path. A cyclist almost went into me on Friday evening, I can't say I liked it.

And to be fair the police was also reminding people that there is a speed limit (I saw a cyclist down in the middle of the common, probably avoided someone and went flying).

^^You tell them mom!

mom.....? Is there something you wanna tell us Jay?

Everybody likes Vee and not me : (

Ha ha hah.... we all love you too... however, Vee is much better looking than you! ;) So, no pitter patter of tiny feet then?

Back on topic, I got stopped on wandsworth common once and had a hooooge argument with the 'park police' about there being no obvious signs (i truly had never seen a sign in this particular bit), anyway, whilst I was there a nother chap turned up and was pulled over, he went mental and was eventually arrested, in all the confusion I pegged it :)

@ vee vee - obviously you're right, but it is ridiculous that there isn't a path all the way across the common, only through half of it.

I use the non-legal bit every day, both ways, and always treat it like a shared path & give priority to the peds or go round them on the grass. In fact I don't think I've ever seen any incidents between cyclists & peds along there, unlike most other bits - everyone seems to take it easy.

I'd prefer they stopped a few drivers using mobiles is all.

if it's illegal to ride on the pavement it should be illegal to walk in a cycle lane. so frustrating having to avoid peds because they dont know.

Thanks BoBoB ;)

It's the same on clapham common, there aren't many signs except at the entrance by clapham south, so to be fair there is a good argument there BUT if you commute that way everyday you can't pretend you don't know. I talked to a cyclist on Friday and told him where the cycling path was when I was walking on the path and his answer was "I don't care!" so if he was fined this morning I couldn't care less.

A lot of people are on the Common in the summer and a lot of parents walk their kids that way so a little bit of respect all round would be nice.

but it is ridiculous that there isn't a path all the way across the common, only through half of it.

That's may well be true but it's not the job of the police to determine what highway provisions are ridiculous and which aren't. Certainly it''s within their gift to be selective about which laws they enforce and which they don't, but only to a certain extent. An exercise like this is probably a response to a common public concern raised through local government. The police then effectively have no real choice but to respond as expected.

I presume that you've contacted the council about the inconsistency in provisions and asked that they make the appropriate improvements.

@ vee vee - obviously you're right, but it is ridiculous that there isn't a path all the way across the common, only through half of it.

I use the non-legal bit every day, both ways, and always treat it like a shared path & give priority to the peds or go round them on the grass. In fact I don't think I've ever seen any incidents between cyclists & peds along there, unlike most other bits - everyone seems to take it easy.

I'd prefer they stopped a few drivers using mobiles is all.

Yes as a cyclist we would prefer drivers to have full attention and pedestrians would prefer if cyclists didn't ride on the pavements etc..

There is a further cycle lane. If you come from Cedars Road, take the cycle path on the Common, at the road turn left and the path is on your right. It takes you to the main road, there is also a light for cyclists (a bit slow).

I am sure you take care and most cyclists do on that path but some cyclists don't and people can feel very intimidated specially as most of them do not have any cycling experience.

In the winter I saw a cyclist down (not far from the Cedars Road entrance), 2 police cars and an ambulance in the middle of the common. The guy was lying on the grass on his back and looked out of it, it was at a path junction. That shook me a bit.

Where do you travel to? We might have seen. I travel Tooting Bec-St James Park (with Jaygee my husband, not my son ;)

if it's illegal to ride on the pavement it should be illegal to walk in a cycle lane. so frustrating having to avoid peds because they dont know.

Some cycle lanes are shared with peds if that's the case they have priority.

Last night i cam across a huge group of cops busting people getting off a bus in camden,
there was about 25+ with all but 5 of them just standing around.
They were harrasing some poor mum with her kid and lots of groceries
who probably just had her hands to full to swipe the damn card.

^^ erm how does that make them any money though?
Its like where I live in the well known Ghetto that is East Finchley. At least once a month the police mount this massive operation at the station in evening rush hour where they double check every ones travel card and generally hassle innocent people. There are usually upwards of about 10 of them carrying out this essential procedure. It really is unbelievable

A lot of people are on the Common in the summer and a lot of parents walk their kids that way so a little bit of respect all round would be nice.

v true.

I presume that you've contacted the council about the inconsistency in provisions and asked that they make the appropriate improvements.

fair point - & yes I have.

vee vee - I go Balham to Primrose Hill. I've seen a few forumengers on the way. (I saw jaygee on his way to south drinks the other week.) Will get along to souths again in the next couple of weeks and say hi.

cool, will be nice to meet you but I must have done before?
Anyway the Evening Standard is running a story on drivers using mobile phones whilst driving, couldn't read much had to give paper to boss. There was the obvious cyclist pic holding a mobile with comment "rule does not apply to cyclists"..

when you see a large group of police at certain bus related places it's due to Boris' crack down on anti-social behaviour on public transport that there has been public request for (people getting robbed/assaulted on the buses etc). Not defending, just explaining.

"Fuck off and stop some kid being stabbed!" - there are major task forces that have been rolled out in response to the recent increase in knife crime and there are a lot more officers solely dealing with this problem than ever before. However, although it is a serious issue, it is not the only law being broken in London and to think that every police officer there is should be dealing with it is a little silly. Granted, they're all expected to do their bit (stops and searches, specific operational taskings, extra vigilance and so on) but if the other laws were left to be broken it could decend into chaos. Other crimes, even small ones you may think don't matter, do have to be kept in check. I reckon most police, if not all of them, would rather be tackling knife crime/assaults on vulnerable people etc etc etc in a more proactive manner but the very nature of the job means they end up doing other things from time time.

All this being said, everyone has a right to their own opinion especially about something such as this. I just think it's unnecessary to rant about it here, better going to council meetings or police stations to make a formal complaint, or something.

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Villa-ru, if cyclists didn't take the lane for pedestrians only the cops wouldn't be there in the first place and could spend time elsewhere.....

There is a cycle lane further along the Common. I take it every morning and night. There is no space on the cycle lane Clapham South entrance for cyclists and peds so I am not surprised if there were complaints. If I walk home, I take the path. A cyclist almost went into me on Friday evening, I can't say I liked it.

And to be fair the police was also reminding people that there is a speed limit (I saw a cyclist down in the middle of the common, probably avoided someone and went flying).

If only there were some really wise and official person invested with great powers to control all of the complex intertwined webs of London's transport systems, and make it all clear to us all, surely this sort of thing would no longer be a problem. If only...(sighs)

Just get a TfL cycling map, it's all on there :)

Can I get a miniature one in the form of a spoke card?

and enormous glasses to read it.

HIPSTER!!

almost everyone has a view on what the police should and shouldn't be doing. they get it in the neck from all sides.

not defending specific irrelevant policing behaviour but noting that in a democracy we have the equal right to whinge and moan and occasionally be listened to, but this usually only happens when the stars are in the right alignment.

re clapham common, it's likely that they've had complaints from vociferous and well-spoken types, and have been prodded into 'doing something'. given how many lights I've jumped in front of police cars (oops!), I don't get the impression that they are generally persecuting cyclists. (Though some of the stories I read here have made me sometimes think otherwise!)