How much power are you happy for police to have?

[Enduro Numpty]

As the subject says.

As an active member of a North East of Scotland off road motorcycling club I thought I'd share our experiences of police behaviour this weekend.

Our club was hosting a British Championship Enduro round over the Easter Weekend. We hold this event every 2nd year and it attracts the best riders in the country and they travel from far and wide to attend. Below is a copy of a post I submitted to an off road forum.

While not an official spokesman for EEC, I am a member and have been involved with the running of the event. As has been stated the club has been in close communication with the Police, the Forestry Commission, local Council and all relevant agencies. This event has been well over a year in the planning and every box has been ticked with regard to officialdom. There were no grey areas! The road section was agreed with police, the police were aware that due to the nature of the event full size number plates were wholly impractical. As in the past it was understood that this minor shortcoming would be overlooked. The law in Scotland allows for this. Elgin has a long history of off road motorcycling with Woodside circuit and various other local venues for Scottish Enduro & H&H championship rounds as well as BEC rounds. Until now we have had a good working relationship with the local police who have supported the club as they saw how giving people a chance to ride legally reduced illegal riding.

What took place on Saturday was a complete breach of trust and is beneath contempt. Riders were basically ambushed as they left the forest to ride the agreed road section by what would appear to be Elgin traffic police. Several vehicles were used including an unmarked car. What promised to be a great event was very close to becoming a disaster. The second test at the end of the road section had to be cut out after weeks of preparation as it was clear that the police were going to harass riders to the extent that no semblance of a schedule could be maintained. This special test was a major part of the event and being forced into scrapping it through stupid, heavy handed policing is not acceptable. When the club secretary attempted to reason with the police he was threatened with arrest as were fully legal riders. This is Britain not North Korea!
The riders, as always, are the stars of these events and they made the most of the drastically modified schedule with good humour and resignation. Lossie forest which is the main venue has more than enough scope for putting riders through their paces and the day will probably go down as a qualified success. The club would like to extend our thanks to all riders and crews for their support. The clerk of the course worked frantically to extend the course within Lossie for day 2 which took place wholly within the forest. Day 2 ran smoothly but the loss of the 2nd test was a very bitter pill to swallow.

Many local businesses actively support the club and our British Championship Enduro as the event brings a lot of revenue to hotels, B&B's, restaurants, garages, skip hire, toilet hire etc.. People who come from all over the UK and beyond to race see what a beautiful place North East Scotland is and many come back not just to race. This irresponsible and over the top policing will have an impact on these businesses. The cost to riders and teams of travelling to and competing in our event is also very high.

The fact that what appear to be thugs in uniforms can disrupt a completely legal well organised British Championship Sporting event to the extent they did is not acceptable. The police had every opportunity to conduct themselves responsibly if they had concerns, but it would seem that their only objectives were to dish out £60 fines and try to ruin our event.

Elgin Endurance Club, its members and other Parties will be pursuing this matter.

[bladerunner]

Almost as bad as the welsh coppers dishing out speeding fines to the WRC lot on the test road from the pits to the start line!!! Shamefully executed letter of the law and ignorant to exception.
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Current bikes...cbr929, KDX200's, Rd125lc mk2, RGV250's

[alexknight200...]

The trouble there are now so many laws in statute it is very easy to break them every day of our lives and in doing so we line the coffers of the 'tax' collectors.

The police are there to serve the public and uphold the 'law'.

In this case they ticked one of the boxes and that is uphold the 'law'.

It seems serving the public is secondary nowadays!!
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Current stable: Yamaha XVS 650 1996 - Honda Super Magna VF750 1988.

[Nick__C]

Pretty disgraceful really if the organisers communicated with police and came to an arrangement :S
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'02 GS 500.