taken from east anglian daily times

Bike fans uspet Essex villagers


June 18, 2003 05:34

HOARDES of high-speed bikers searching for somewhere to meet are tearing a quiet north Essex community apart.

Some residents in the village of Great Bentley, near Clacton, have become so fearful of the now traditional Wednesday night swarm of up to 1,000 motorbike enthusiasts that they have made plans to stay away from their homes.

But others claim the village benefits from the much-needed trade the bikers bring.

For years, the huge village green, which is reputed to be the largest in England, has acted as a weekly magnet for hundreds of bike lovers who meet up to catch up on each other's news and admire each other's machines.

Despite the existence of ancient bylaws which ban bikes from the green, horrified residents have watched and listened helplessly as their precious space is invaded.

Police have not acted within the bylaws because they believe it is safer to have the bikes off the surrounding roads where many riders have been killed in the past few years. Whenever possible the police try to attend and ensure bollards are put down to guide the bikers to safer areas.

The previous motor-biking landlord of The Plough Inn, which is just off the green, unwittingly began the invasion when he invited a few biker friends around each Wednesday in the summer.

Word spread through bike magazines and on the internet and as a result the numbers of bikers visiting the village soared.

Villagers are set to discover the results of a public referendum organised by Mary Maskell, editor of the local newsletter, to gauge village opinion on then issue late next week.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's our village, not theirs. Some of their behaviour is disgusting.

"They come into my drive to turn around and I've even caught them urinating up against my garage door. They get quite aggressive if you say anything.

"I've seen up to 1,000 bikes here sometimes and because of the size of it, you get people now coming along, setting up stalls and turning into a general fair – it's not what we need.

"I'm a biker myself and go on rallies, but some of this lot just give us a bad name. We're pleased when it rains on a Wednesday night – it shouldn't be like that, should it?"

Donald Walker, who lives near the green, called for the "responsible" bikers to form their own properly constituted club that could then apply to use the green once every month during the summer.

He said: "The village has been split on this and we need to act."

"One evening, we need to set up a speaker system on the green and appeal to them to act in a formal way like anybody else who wishes to use the green. At the moment, it's totally disorganised.

"For four hours they roar and rev their engines. It's too much, there are simply too many of them."

Lynda McWilliams, Great Bentley Parish Council chairman said: "As a council we have a duty to enforce the bye-laws, but that in itself is not simple.

"We would have to take down the number plates, send them to the DVLC to get their names and addresses and then issue fines individually.

"If they didn't pay, we would have problems collecting the money – we'd probably have to go through the courts and use bailiffs. It's a real problem."

However, bikers and some locals defended the weekly visits saying they caused no harm to the village.

Philip Sells, 32, a biker from Harwich, said: "I've been coming here year after year whenever I can manage it. It's a really friendly, no one's got a problem.

"Most people put their bikes on the green – there's nowhere else to put them."

Ian Webster, 47, from Colchester, admitted that there were some "idiots", but he said generally there was never any trouble.

He said: "I've got the world's fastest production motorbike here, but you won't see me do any wheelies – I just come for the chat.

"People who complain about us putting the bikes on the green, well they're just the idiots who play cricket on it. At least the bikes help to air the green."

Lesley Thompson, landlady at The Plough Inn, said: "It's just like a family outing for them. I have heard some complaints about mess, but on Thursday mornings, we're up at the crack of dawn, clearing up cigarette butts and the like.

"All the locals love it and they're the heart and soul of the village – they bring their kids to have a look."

Pc Paul Mead from Essex Police, who regularly patrols the Wednesday night gathering recently told villagers: "If the motorcycles are parked on the roads surrounding the green, there is an increased risk of an individual being injured by passing traffic.

"With the motorcycles parked off the roads this risk is obviously greatly reduced."

dont you just love all those postive words such as..

hoardes
high speed bikers
tearing
residents have become.. fearful ?
swarm
horrified
helplessly
invaded / invasion
unwittingly


"Despite the existence of ancient bylaws which ban bikes from the green"

well really? i can see it now back in 500ad.. and thou shalt not allow those 2 wheels machines called motorcycles to park on thy hallowed grass..


"it is safer to have the bikes off the surrounding roads where many riders have been killed in the past few years"
to my knowledge not one biker has been killed on the roads surrounding the village green.

"It's our village, not theirs. Some of their behaviour is disgusting. They come into my drive to turn around and I've even caught them urinating up against my garage door. They get quite aggressive if you say anything."
   yeah right!  that is the complete opposite is which the bikers behave. everyone is friendly and if someone asks people to move there bikes they do without argument.
and as for it being  there village!.. sorry i forgot this was supposed to be a democracy! and i must have missed the signs saying private village please keep out!

"you get people now coming along, setting up stalls and turning into a general fair"
really? when was that then?  i must have missed the autojumble damn it! .. sorry that's complete bollox!

"appeal to them to act in a formal way like anybody else who wishes to use the green."  we do act formally! no one ever turfs up there precious green and ive never seen anyone littering.

"send them to the DVLC "
errmm.. isnt that the DVLA?  

ok rant over.. zombie wanna carry on from where i left off?

I wish it was in my area,what else can you do on a wednesday night.
Pay the road tax go where ever the hell you like.
Think i will post a cruise notice on the max power site and see how roudy we are compared to a village full of boy racers.

I wondered about that one myself EB. How ancient can a by-law be that mentions motorcycles.  :Oo: Although there could be a law, which may mention motor vehicles, so they'd need to ban all the cars as well.

Anyway a crowd meets, there will always be a couple of idiots but the idiots have got to be somewhere. Sounds as if the vast majority of the crowd is well behaved, if they weren't, people would soon know about it. There's no reason to ban any one, when folks behave themselves.

I bet ya, the crowd of bikers keeps the neds out.  :nod:

"airing the green" - nice one ian , that really helped!

We are expecting some bother this week.  Talk has been of truning bikes away as they approach the village - there is no power to do this so far as i know.

Part of me is hoping for a clampdown by the old bill so we can amuse ourselves organising a thousand bike ride in from all four in-roads for next week!

Im not to sure regarding turning bikes away from certain functions but they did some time back to a meet we have, then it was seen as bad publicity so they(police) started to spot check bikes at each end of the village and give out variouse tickets for defects like small no plates.

But it has to be said that a certain amount of idiots go and spoil it for others and then we are again all tared with the same brush.

Seems a shame to me that people (counciler whats her face)can't mind their own fecking business.
What harm can there be in a bunch of folks getting together for a bit of crack.(that's the irish term for a good time not drugs)
Sounds like you're actually creating revenue for this village which can't be a bad thing in this day and age.

you're always going to get the odd walter at these things that can't be helped and is unavoidable.

The list of gripes seems rather petty to me perhaps you could write an article for the paper yourselves and air you points of view.

Just a thought.....

Ok so does that mean we're passing the hat round for bail money??  

Give em hell!!!

going back a few years ago ( about 10 i think ) there used to be a rally ( magna carta ) held in the equestrian centre in upminister, The rally was held there for years.

this particular year  I was doing stage sercurity when one of the orgainisers  got up on the stage & called for peoples attention.

He first apoligised for the police helicopter which had been buzzing around the rally most weekend.
Then He said i have here a fax that has been sent to scotland yard from a lady that lives across the road from here.

The fax reads ( roughly it was a while ago )

Dear sirs  my name is ..................  & i live at .............   ................   Upminister Essex.

For years now the Motorcycle action Group has held a bike rally in our village which meant that every year the village has been invaded by 2000+ bikers.
The local shopkeepers look forward to this as they take more money over this weekend than they do all summer.

The local villains go into hiding
the local nutters who normally terrorise us with thier cars go into hiding.

The bikers are polite & helpful & if any of them was a son or daughter of mine I would be proud of them.

The reason for this Fax
Is to complain about the police harrasment by car & helicopter to these people that only want to party.




this is true i was there & laughed my head off when this was read out.

The lady in queastion  recieved flowers & presents for over a week after this from some of the bikers that was at that rally