Cyclists under the spotlight
Police were out before dawn in Spalding on a special operation showing it was business as usual for the local beat – in spite of the suspension of the temporary Chief Constable.
Within hours of Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire Alan Hardwick being made aware of potential conduct matters involving Neil Rhodes, officers were attending a 5am briefing led by Sgt Stuart Brotherton to help make the streets of the town safer.
PCSO Paul Coupland was first to give a hint of the special assignment by tweeting: “Up bright and early this morning, why, hmm I can’t tell you that, not yet anyway. ”
The operation targeting traffic offences was in response to concerns raised at local community policing panels.
Checks were conducted simultaneously in Pinchbeck Road, Halmer Gate and Winsover Road.
As a result, two drivers received fixed penalty notices for speeding, with a further 11 motorists receiving tickets for other offences including vehicle defects.
The planned operation also focused on bicycles at factory shift changeover times, with a total of 44 cyclists being stopped and spoken to, of which 16 were dealt with for having no lights.
Two hours later, officers were back in the office processing the paperwork.
Insp Jim Tyner said: “There are a number of priorities that regularly come up at our panel meetings and this operation is a response to those concerns.
“We have been focusing on cycle safety recently and the message has clearly been hitting home.
“On Winsover Road this morning, there were 10 cyclists with lights and only two without.
“Some people may consider this a trivial matter for us to be dealing with but there are serious road safety implications for people cycling in the dark without lights and a real risk of fatal consequences”.
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Weather for Spalding
Thursday 23 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Heavy rain
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 32 mph
Wind direction: North east
