I have been riding in North Wales for the last 10+ years with no issues. I was stopped by Police (for a chat...) on way home last week (Tuesday pm) after an un marked bike had followed me for about 7 miles + then on Saturday I saw a few police cars no worries, was just following a car minding my own business. Next thing blue flashing lights... I moved over to let him pass but he didn't, he pulled me over ! Said my number plate was ridiculously small??? it IS a little under standard size to fit in with my tail tidy but by no means taking the piss. In fact the copper who stopped me last Tuesday didn't even mention it ! I have had the same size plate for 15 years without issue. Anyway... the copper on Saturday commented that there weren't many bikes out . I asked about the policing and large number of police about. He said that on Saturdays and Sundays they are TARGETING bikes and fast cars as they are speeding around north Wales then riding back at the same speeds and crashing .... I genuinely think he was pissed off at not spotting any illegal riding so started on any kind on minor detail. Maybe they have a quota to meet each day ? So be aware of this if you ride in Wales at weekend - I think I will stick to summer evenings and afternoons off in the best weather .
It’s not just North Wales, it’s the same here in Lancashire. As soon as the better weather arrives they’re out in droves to target bikes, especially on the weekends. Of course it’s all in the name of safety and nothing to do with revenue generation
I try to keep away from North Wales at the weekends but if I do go there I ride as many ‘B’ roads as possible. My riding buddy and I were in North Wales last Wednesday and it was a most enjoyable day covering 207 miles
It’s all over the welsh news. The coppers are sick of shovelling carcasses off the roads and taking them home to mam in a bag. I sympathise. I wouldn’t like to do it. It’s always the same. The few wreck it for the rest of us.
Right Reggie keep these roads to yourself, we don’t wan’t all and sundry spoiling it for us but it depends what type of road you want, quick and twisty or scenic and twisty Try the B4391 end to end it’s not a long road but you’ll what to turn round and ride it both ways or branch off onto the B4407. Turn left after Corwen (A5) onto the B4401 to the end then left onto the A494 to Bala. If in Oswestry try the B4580 then left onto the B4391 into Bala. Just take care some B roads have high hedges therefore restricting your view approaching bends. Whoever’s leading when I’m out with my riding buddy decides which B roads to ride along, we may not know where we’ll end up as we don’t take a Satnav, we just turn down any B road. A few times we’ve ended up in a farm yard or on a dirt track It’s all part of the day
Agree with you Taff, one of the reasons we try and stay away from A roads where possible is the idiots. There’s some lovely scenery to be seen whilst riding along the B roads of Wales as you know.
What you must remember is this is Wales. You’ve got to be able to stop if any of the locals are using their road.
THIS IS NOT AIMED AT ANYONE HERE....the road up to the Ponderosa known as the Nant y Garth pass, will catch any wannabe Rossi who can barely ride. I have had a bike coming towards me - on a right hand bend (to me) left for him - actually head directly at me. The idiot actually passed me on my left hand side. I agree that measuring plates and margins is excessive. But policing wan###s who have no regard for themselves or others - totally for. You even see them with full ATGATT but their pillion is in shorts and flip flops. Sorry rant over.........
I got a ticket for undersized plate which, if I get checked by MOT station with correct plate then no fine. Otherwise I was offered the option of 100 quid fine .. been riding nearly 40 years.. always carried out subtle improvements and never had any bother..
This is why I always have a proper sized plate these days, it’s often the first thing they look for as an excuse to pull you. A few years ago me and the ex missus had stopped for a brew at a local bike meeting place. We came back to the bikes after getting the brews in and found a copper measuring the plate on the missus’s bike. “What do you think you’re doing” says the missus “This number plate looks under sized to me” says the copper. ““I haven’t given you permission to inspect my vehicle, now please leave it alone!” she said to him. Off he went with his tail between his legs with everyone laughing at him!
There’s an article in the Mail on line, sorry can’t copy the link, secrets of a traffic cop by a retired traffic officer.
It's nothing new though, is it? My dad was in traffic, 27 years as a bogey. So I knew a lot of them. Riding to Chester one day, on a Kawa GT550, I saw a jam butty coming the other way, so I looked to see if I knew the driver... No. Minute or two later, blue lights and siren behind me so I pull in to let it pass. No, I'm getting stopped. He gets out, says "off the machine sonny". So, I do... Remove the keys and put them in my pocket. Helmet off. I'm older than he is. "Your headlight is incorrectly adjusted" so I know it's right, "okay, let's go down the test centre and I'll prove it isnt" No, never mind that... He leans over and switches the indicator switch. "Aha! Your indicator doesn't work!" Keys out of pocket, jingle jingle.. In ignition, all lights work. Walks round.. "You have rusty forks..." quick wipe, it's just dirt. Wasn't even on the chrome. "You don't have a chain guard fitted to this machine!" "You show me the chain and I'll fit one for ya.. Its a shaft drive" (no, I actually couldn't believe that either, but its as true as I'm sat here typing) "Do you have an Mot certificate for the machine sonny?" I had to admit right there and then that I didn't have a valid mot certificate. He was overjoyed and started writing in his wee notebook... Wasn't as impressed when I pointed out it was only 2 years old. Didn't need one... I ended up, nearly an hour late, with a 'produce your documents' ticket. Needless to say I put in a complaint, which will no doubt have been filed. Another one used to stop me at 4 in the morning, going home from work. Regular as clockwork. "Where have you been, where are you going?" So... "Heading home from a 10 hr night shift..." In my bright blue BOC overalls no less... Produce your documents. It got to the point after being stopped some half dozen times by the same cop, I would go to the bacon station at 4 the next morning, and stand with my finger on the buzzer.. Here to produce documents." What are you here this time of day for??!" "This is the time you're stopping me". After a couple of times doing that he didn't do it again, but I used to see him watching as I headed home. Little fat fecher. And they wonder why mebbe we don't respect them?
To be fair the bike copper (on unmarked bike) who pulled me over last Tuesday could not have been nicer (apart from not giving me a ticked of course, but could have been worse) so the odd nice one in the barrel of C*NTS.
You would have liked my Dad. Ex Seaforth Highlanders, joined the police after coming out of the army. Famous for stopping a chief Constable for drink driving, and giving him a speeding ticket to boot. Needless to say, that vanished in the morning mist too, and Dad got a sideways posting to the penal battalion, known as Stalybridge. Ended up being amalgamated into Gtr Manchester, which he hated. For a good laugh now... When he retired we moved to Ayrshire. After a couple years driving hgvs, he became an undertaker. One day he gets a police call, dude has dropped dead in the garden, can he come with the hearse and the tin box, and remove the body. So in the hearse, heads down the street... Gets pulled by foot plod with a handheld vascar unit. Plod informs him that he was doing 34 in a 30 zone, its registered on the vascar unit. So, dad says, "yes, I tested those for Cheshire traffic. I registered an oak tree moving at 5mph.." Plod unimpressed. "Your getting a ticket any way... Name, (dad tells him) occupation.....?" Now, dad's in a hearse, wearing the pin stripes, top hat on side seat.... "I'm a f***ING taxi driver. What's it f***ing look like?" Maybe that's why he got a couple of points too. He said it was a bit like a raffle.. Get 6 more, he'd win a pushbike!
