hi folks
Im from Spain and next September ill move to Wolverhampton to stay there a few months. I need some info about riding my bike there, i have a ´94 Kawa GPZ 500.
Im planning to do lots of trips around the country, hope i can make it as far north as the Scottish northern coast, that must be very isolated...
-Are there tolls in British Motorways/Highways? or are they all free?
- How about the speeding tickets, are the cops strict with speeding limits? whats typically the fastest drivers go on motorways? not an easy question, im just trying to figure out how fast people drive in the UK. People get speeding tickets for travelling just at 95-100 mph??
In Spain for example, going at 100 MPH is not rare; and if theres not much traffic u can see some at 120 mph but its not common though.
When you get a speeding ticket do you have to pay it right there? or they send you home the ticket?

By the way, do you guys call the police the "plod"??

thanx

Welcome running wild, hope you'll enjoy your stay in the uk.
where to start?
yes we do call the police the plod but never to their faces (LOL).
motorways are free to use, so no tolls.
Speeding tickets.... at the end of the day it usually comes down to the officers discretion to a point if you rip up the streets though expect to get a good bollocking and prolly a hefty fine, we use a system of points on the licence, but i don't know how that would affect you. TC would prolly be best to offer advice here.
Riding around at speeds above 100mph would normally get you banned for 12 months as a rule.
having said all that we have some superb rounds in the uk and i'm sure you'll enjoy yourself immensley.

not any more there are now tolls on a section of the M6 which has been built to bypass a section of the old M6 round Birmingham. Expect a toll near you soon.

Buy the biggest chain and padlock you can get

The biggest worry is speed cameras, but if you're riding on a Spanish number plate you should be laughing as they won't know where to send the summons

thanks all for the info.
It really sucks that about the only toll in the country is near me.
But i liked the fact that the plod uses just speeding cameras. cant get me with a spanish number plate, so i can put a sticker on my back, like this one:
fastfitter, u really scared me. You mean there´re lots of bike thefts in the Birmingham area?? is it that bad?? i know its the 2nd largest city of the country behind mighty London, that may be it...
Are there many bikers in the UK?? do you often see groups of bikers on weekends on the back roads at "illegal" speeds?? in the north of spain you dont see many, but on the south and east motorbikes are a big thing.

Hi Runningwild and welcome.

It sounds like you will find the Uk quite different to the roads you are used to. Bikes are big in the UK (Not just in size but in popularity). There are many bike clubs all round the uk, there are quite a few UKbike members in the north of the country so it should not be hard for you to hook up with some of them.

Bike theft is a big problem in the UK, not just in Birmingham, it is rife in most areas. So as FastFitter says, get your self a good quality lock.

As for the number plate, i think you have to register the bike with a uk number plate if you intend to stay for a certain length of time, but i think you'll be ok for just a few months.

All that said and done, there are some realy nice places to ride too, loads of bikers in the country, and almost all are friendly and aproachable.

It is quite normal to see bike after bike on a nice day, and there are many regular venues for bikers to meet all around the country.

Good luck.

Ace.

As FF mentioned, speed cameras are probably your biggest worry. Down south seems to get a far harder deal with speed cameras and mobile camera vans. I'd never seen a mobile camera van until my two trips down south last year.

In Ecosse, the cameras become less of a pest as you head into the highlands. Speeds also become less of an issue but there is still a chance of being caught. There seems to be loads of cameras around the Edinburgh area. They seem to have a council with a strong anti-motoring policy.

When you're over this way, you probably get a good chance to meet some members. We're spread all over the place.

Welcome Runningwild - can't imagine why you'd want to come and live here; it rains all the time!

- that's not quite true actually, they use cars as well, with video cameras in them - and bikes.

And no-one actually told you, the speed limit on the motorways is 70mph! I'm not saying thats the speed that bikes actually do, but thats the legal limit.

In Wolverhampton, it'll be easy to get to Wales as well, and there are some great roads there but they do crack down on speeding, possibly cos quite a lot of riders choose Wales to have big accidents!

By the way - if you're Spanish, your English is a lot better than my Spanish!

Then, when you are caught by the cops and they´re using the car camera (mobile camera vans), do they stop you there and give you the speeding ticket?? or they also send it home?

by the way, when you refer to the south of the country, is Birmingham also included?

If you get caught by a real life cop then he will issue you with a ticket called a NIP - Notice of Intended Prosecution. If you are not carrying your licence and insurance documents - you don't have to in the UK - you will also get a 'producer' that means you have a week to produce them at a local police station of your choice. Don't try and be funny and say one hundreds of miles away. If you do and he puts that on the form then you must go there. If it's a camera it's sent to the address that matches the number plate.

You will hear talk of 'On the spot fines' - this is a misnomer as you do not have to hand over money there and then. No-one in the UK is legally allowed to take money off you at the roadside, it has to go through the system.

In your case I would talk quickly in Spanish, regularly adding 'No english' and he'll get fed up, give you a good talking to and send you on your way as the paperwork would be too much hassle for him


Birmingham is right in the middle of England so it's an ideal base to see all of the country, nowhere is more than a few hours away...........



The Lake district, Peak District and Snowdonia are all close by, with marvelous scenery and great biking roads.

hey! why've you put Bath on the map and not Bristol!!!

My mistake TC, I was just trying to point out that an on the spot fine as it's called doesn't actiually mean you have to hand the money over like in some countries. Being a good lad I'm not totally familiar with the whys and wherefores of traffic tickets

S'not my map, I just pinched it off t'internet It's got a blob over Derby but doesn't mention it.

I wonder what it's about, the places named seem a bit random.

http://www.christopherholt.com/subjects/britain_05.htm

ok, now i know how the tickets issues work in the UK. Dont think im planning on having total blasts through the back roads and highways , but its good to know all this stuff.
T.C. when u said "there is very little possibility of you absconding back to Spain, they will arrest you", what does it mean??

by the way, how is the English territory divided?? do you have counties, provinces, states?? for example, Staforshire, Avon... what are those?

It's counties so don't worry about different laws in different places as in the US as it is basically all the same. There are some (sometimes vry subtle) differences between the Law in England and that of Scotland but as far as motoring goes you won't notice any difference other than who you are hauled up in front of having a different name. The fines and other penalties are just the same as are speed limits. We also don't have quite so many speed camera's in Scotland and there is a lot less traffic up here once you get north of Edinburgh and Glasgow so don't spend all your time darn sarf.

People in the extreme north of England, or in Scotland, refer to Birmingham as south, although it's really in the area known for obvious reasons as 'the Midlands'. I live on the south coast and tend to think of Birmingham as 'the north'


This information should leave you totally confused, but somehow I don't think it will!

How about the toll in London? is it just for cars, vans? or also bikes?? do the cops ever stop you in London to check if you have paid the toll? or does it all work with cameras??

Toll in London is not on bikes, and is only in the very centre bit. Its all done by cameras and has to be paid on the day you go in, or you get fined increasingly silly amounts of money.

Just sat here and read all the posts and its frightening when you look at all the cans and cannot do's.

And they say its a free country (only when they let you ) an outsider comming into britain must tremble in his boots wondering what law he can break and not know he has done it, it does come across as a nightmare for the motorist entering britain.

Just to prove a point ..CAN I SAY BRITAIN these days?? or is it UK or England..

I live here and as Im getting older it IS harder to absorb all these law changes and new idea's that keep comming out vertualy over night.

I once remember T.C. quoteing a law and saying that not knowing was not a defence, but surely if your not lawyer material or like T.C. and deal day to day with it then surely we should have some sort of defence, T.C. is very good at what he does and Im good at what I do ( or did) so he knows little of mechanical engineering as I know nothing of the law so to speak we cannot all be brilliant at everthing although I try hard..

The highway code must be getting like encyclopedia Britanica revised over again and braking distances on cable brakes that went out with the ark.

WELCOME to Britain RUNNINGWILD :

ive been doing some research on the net to see whats the average rainfall in the UK, and i found they divide the country in:
Anglian, Midlands, North West, North East, Southern, South West, Thames, Welsh
Where would Birminghan be?

Birmingham is in the Midlands.

just don't go to bloody scotland it rains all the fecking time there, in fact wherever bd goes he takes rain wiv him.
saltburn pished it down, scarborough fecking pished it down.
if he ever goes to spain stay away

ima, whats bd??
i didnt understand this either : saltburn pished it down, scarborough fecking pished it down.
if he ever goes to spain stay away
Ill be in the UK from september to january so if i finally go to scotland it´ll in sep-oct it shouldnt be that cold then.

"passes runningwild an Ima-English dictionary"

bd is BikerDave!

Who just so happens to be a rain GOD - wherever he goes it rains (aparently )

Pished it down means rained very hard

and I think Ima is imliying that bd (bikerdave) could make it rain very hard in Spain too!


HTH

That wont help the poor guy - its taken me 12 years of living with him to understand him!

If you meet a nice English girl when you're hear, don't use it's pishing down to impress her family..

I am not the rain god. It's only when I go meet Ima that it starts raining. Then it pishes down.

The rain in spain stays mainly on bd's bonce.

ima u are nuts
i get it now, the point is saltburn and scarborough are names of places, that makes sense. thats what confused me.

When theres a big traffic jam, are bikers allowed to pass through the sides to avoid the traffic jam?? i know in some countries they´re not allowed to do that. we can in spain . And in the cities can bikers shun the cars that are waiting at a stop light in order to be the first in the stop light?? i really dont wanna get unexpected tickets...

one last question, when a biker is riding (but not in the city) and another bike passes in the opposite direction, is it usual to salute each other. and when u pass him? Thats pretty common in Spain, also france, prolly italy.... How about the UK?
If u do that, then a problem arises, cause u´d have to salute with the right hand (note: rest of world ´d use left hand), which happens to be the gas hand.

passing big jams is called filtering and yeah it's ok, just take it steady is all.
dunno bout saluteing, try nodding your head, whether you'll get a nod back depends on the rider, but on the whole you'll prolly get a nod back.

Plug, you will like this.....
After we charge someone, we complete an 'antecedent form' One of the questions is nationality. W are told to put British for the UK...not English!!!!!!!!!!!!
However you ask a Scotsman where he comes from, Britain or Scotland. Political correctness gone mad?