TRF Forums

This is what I was getting at. The police have no power to stop you riding on private land. If he stopped you and used the term "off road" and them tried to book you for an offence, lets say no tax, or MOT.....maybe even speeding, he would not have a leg to stand on, after all he has acknowledged that you were riding "off the road".

People use OFF ROAD as a term for riding unsurfaced roads. If I was stopped and asked if I had been riding OFF ROAD then my reply would be " Yes I have been riding the byways"

Its just some peoples terminology of how they understand it...

Doesn't make you a criminal if you say you have been off roading....

You worry to much...

At the weekend I saw two officers on motor bikes, they had yellow jackets on with "Off Road Enforcment" written on. Made it look like they where there to enforce you to go off road.

I was stopped by a police 'sting' operation on a UCR.

The policeman asked me if I knew the status of the lane.

I replied "It's a road"

He agreed with me, and said the sting was aimed at those who thought it was some kind of public recreational area for off-roading.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS SAY 'IT'S A ROAD!" IF YOU ARE RIDING ON A UCR.

If its a Byway then say it's "A byway open to all traffic"

Never say anything else. Anything else could be taken as an admission of wrongdoing, or as an excuse to use it as an MX track or kiddies quad play area.

Thankyou Richard,perhaps others will now see the light ?

Franc, read up on S3 and S34 of the Road traffic act and then read sec 59 of the Police reform act 2002 - riding 'off road, common land, chav's in tesco's car park (more to the point)) was written for. You 'legal friend' is right as long as you have permission to be on the private land, and it is not used as a 'public place' such as tesco's car park or a 1 mile drive way to which the public have access. If you ride across open common land not on a right of way, you'll have a s59 come winging your way. If Farmer Jones says you can blast round his field then thats fine, unless he says you can do it more than 14 times a year - then he needs planning permission for use of the land, also, if you made a lot of damage or left deep ruts and / or were noisy then the environment agency could be on the case if they were complained to - welcome to democratic Britain!!!!

Bottom line - the Police can stop you wherever you are, they may suspect you are riding a stolen motorcycle.

Well said
You've got to laugh. I mean it's no wonder the TRF gets a bad name amongst (god forbid) the people they are trying to get to join.
What next, don't dare mention some of us have Enduro bikes
Perhaps we should all wear Derri boots and sports jackets when were out riding to and ban anyone that rides in MX gear cause they are bound to be trouble makers
Sorry for the sarcasm but i cant help thinking it's all getting a bit anal to say the least and we have enough restrictions imposed on us without making more up.

WHAT!!!! You'll be tellin us you don't wear Derri boots and sports jackets next.

Im more of a Hunters Welly type to be honest. I find the green looks more country like hence less offensive.