Who remembers this guy.

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
You need to remove this post.

"They should have just run him over"..... What, for riding an uninsured and untaxed motorcycle? Do you think this is a rational response?

If you'd have said "Illegal immigrants should be run over", you'd rightfully be facing a contravention of the UK Public Order Act & Communications Act, namely 'encouraging violence'.

Your statement is covered by the same laws and contravenes them in the exact same way. Encouraging violence has no place in civil discourse.
Well, I deleted it following your advice and since it obviously offends you so much.

But my original post was WAY WAY different to the remark you suggested was the same.

I was recommending what the police actually did do in London last year when the burden on the population of seemingly untouchable criminal riff raff got too much for the authorities to bear. You can see several examples on the BBC of EXACTLY what I think should have happened to the rider featured above. Remember THIS IS POLICE DASH CAM FOOTAGE released to the public.


How long can we tolerate impotent lack of action against people who endanger the whole population and refuse to submit to police authority?

You seem to think recommending robust policing of failure to stop when riding dangerously is the same as inciting violence and racial hatred! It is NOTHING of the kind. You can not in a civilised society have an element of criminals just ignoring the police and getting away with it. THIS is what we have probably in all of our cities with two wheeled criminals bringing all riders into public contempt.

I've seen these two wheeled bandits stealing motorbikes, intimidating the public and endangering all road users at the same time primary schools are sending children home.

You seem a lot more upset about my complaining and suggesting the police actually push them off the bikes than that they are engaging in such outrageous riding and ignoring of lawful demands to stop.

Maybe that's the way modern policing is going - Maybe you are a policeman. Much better to lock up people who complain that such criminality is allowed to continue. After all, so much easier to look up an ip address of a person on the internet than to lock up a proper criminal.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: flecc and Brik

danielrlee

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 27, 2012
1,400
726
Westbury, Wiltshire
torquetech.co.uk
Well, I deleted it following your advice.

But my original post was WAY WAY different to the remark you suggested was the same.
A wise move, IMO. I have removed the reference to your original post.

I am not a member of the Police. My post was not an attack on you. It was simply advice to a fellow forum member in order to prevent a potential issue for you in the future.

I feel my comparison was fair - it compared two individuals, both having been involved in illegal activity, neither having caused direct harm to the population. Either way, it conveyed my point successfully, leading you to make the correct decision.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brik

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
A wise move, IMO. I have removed the reference to your original post.

I am not a member of the Police. My post was not an attack on you. It was simply advice to a fellow forum member in order to prevent a potential issue for you in the future.

I feel my comparison was fair - it compared two individuals, both having been involved in illegal activity, neither having caused direct harm to the population. Either way, it conveyed my point successfully, leading you to make the correct decision.
For the first part, I thank you.

For the second part, I don't think reference to comparisons with incitement to violence against migrants at the time of the riots was fair or apt.

I accept that my words - 'they should have run him over', was NOT well expressed or actually covered what I meant. If you watch the BBC video of Met Police dash cam footage above - THAT is what I actually intended to recommend. I still recommend that.

There is nothing more likely to encourage serious offending of the type posted above, in which an individual glories in and publicises his offending, than allowing them to defy the police in the way we see in the original video. Once it is known that you can get away with that, there is no stopping it. It encourages others to do exactly the same.

And I absolutely deny that my original remark was a criminal one - though it was hot headed. It can hardly be criminal to recommend that the police use force to stop crime and apprehend criminals.

I respect your motive and your right to disagree.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: danielrlee

Stanebike

Pedelecer
Jan 5, 2020
85
52
In response to Saneagle original question, I don’t remember the guy. Don’t believe I’ve ever seen any of his escapades before. But I do think such antics are getting legal e-bikes a bad name with the general public. I know we can tell the difference between an E.A.P.C and their intended use and an illegal e-bike, but the bad press generated by such disrespect of the law could well impact on the cycling freedoms we enjoy and that would be a great shame.
 

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
8,583
3,884
Telford
In response to Saneagle original question, I don’t remember the guy. Don’t believe I’ve ever seen any of his escapades before. But I do think such antics are getting legal e-bikes a bad name with the general public. I know we can tell the difference between an E.A.P.C and their intended use and an illegal e-bike, but the bad press generated by such disrespect of the law could well impact on the cycling freedoms we enjoy and that would be a great shame.
The guy rode his bike over a bump, and the wheel fell off. He was then clearly upset by the bike and the guy, who built it for him, so he threw a bit of a tantrum. The bike had been very pooly put together and it was just a matter of time before something was going to happen. Since then, he has made many videos of himself living on the edge of legality and having frequent run-ins with the police, from which he has started to get a bit of a following.

I often think about him and people like him. He was born into a set of circumstances along with his inherited characteristics that dictated the direction his life has gone. The interesting thing about his videos is that you see his life from his point of view, not from ours. I think about whether I would behave any differently if I would have been born in his place.
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
8,583
3,884
Telford
I think he just crashed. I was watching his livestream that ended very abruptly just as a car turned accross his path from the front. Go straight to the end. That's the most frightening sort of thing I see when I'm riding:
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
12,000
3,365
You should have kept those bloody bright headlights. With 6000 Lumens (1800LM flashing, 4200LM constant) pointed forward, that sort of thing doesn't happen to me anymore. I reckon drivers assume I'd riding a motorbike, beacuse they either wait ages for me to pass at intersections, or dart across ahead allowing more than enough time and space. I don't do stealth. Better looked over than overlooked.
 
Last edited:

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
I often think about him and people like him. He was born into a set of circumstances along with his inherited characteristics that dictated the direction his life has gone. The interesting thing about his videos is that you see his life from his point of view, not from ours. I think about whether I would behave any differently if I would have been born in his place.
This defence could be made by any criminal.

'It wasn't really me. It was the circumstances of my birth and bad upbringing.'

'I have bad genes. I didn't really do this. I'm not responsible.'

Where does this thinking leave us?

Those of a philosophical bent can explore the issue of 'free will and determinism'.

I could say of my early morning rant, 'It wasn't me who said they should be run over. It was the two large scoops of Colombian coffee into my coffee maker and made a small cup of psychoactive poison. It doesn't agree with me, and I get very irascible.'

What about the guy who does horrible things when he is drunk. Was it him, or his unfortunate addiction?

In the end we either hold people responsible for what they do, or we abandon our society to anarchy. I think we are part way down that track, not because we made a democratic decision to do it, but because the public services responsible for ensuring adherence to the laws made by a democracy, have abandoned their jobs.

We have police who select which laws will be enforced, prisons which are in chaos. Multiple female prison guards having sex with offenders while exercising a public office, a primary care system which doesn't do its job and won't see patients.

What next?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Cadence

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
Did you see what happened at the end of the video. Did he crash or not?
We could ask him if you like.

The mug made a video leaving from his home address. It took me all of eight minutes to track him down to a street address using Google maps and Street View. All it takes is a view of one street name or business sign and the rest is easy.

People who commit crime (failing to stop) show their faces on video and also make vlogs starting at their home address seem to be pretty short on brains.

Lees, Oldham. I could be much more exact than that, but will refrain.

He shows absolutely everything about where he lives in this video.


The cops could have looked at his videos and found him in ten minutes.
 
Last edited:

Stanebike

Pedelecer
Jan 5, 2020
85
52
The guy rode his bike over a bump, and the wheel fell off. He was then clearly upset by the bike and the guy, who built it for him, so he threw a bit of a tantrum. The bike had been very pooly put together and it was just a matter of time before something was going to happen. Since then, he has made many videos of himself living on the edge of legality and having frequent run-ins with the police, from which he has started to get a bit of a following.

I often think about him and people like him. He was born into a set of circumstances along with his inherited characteristics that dictated the direction his life has gone. The interesting thing about his videos is that you see his life from his point of view, not from ours. I think about whether I would behave any differently if I would have been born in his place.
You make a very good point. I think the way we are perceived and treated has a big influence on our attitudes and behaviour. The tendency to do whatever we can get away with is common. With cuts in social spending and policing it is inevitable some will push the boundaries such that illegal e-bikes and scooters are common. Unfortunately that can lead to the sad consequences we’ve seen and commented on here in the past.
 

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
Stanebike mentions cuts in social spending leading to bad attitudes and behaviour.

I suggest we have never had more money being spent on social security.

From the government website:

" In 2025 to 2026 the government is forecast to spend £316.1 billion on the social security system in Great Britain. Total GB welfare spending is forecast to be 10.6% of GDP and 23.5% of the total amount the government spends in 2025 to 2026."

63378

Note the graphic above shows spending in real terms taking account of inflation.

It is demonstrably false that failure to spend on social security is the cause of bad behaviour. Even a cursory glance at crime statistics over time will show that in the early to mid twentieth century, when in every way people were poorer and had much less social spending, crime and anti-social behaviour was at MUCH lower levels than now.

I REMEMBER those days and so do some others. We knew very well that delinquent behaviour would never be tolerated either by our families or society at large. Further more, we knew that the punishments meted out to those who did transgress as young people were very severe.

Stanegate is absolutely right in his suggestion that the way people are treated affects their social conscience. Good example from adults and a developing sense of responsibility in the young, go together. I am not certain that this is exactly what he meant by his remark above.

It is a fact that many adults completely neglect the moral development of their children and set a bad example. This was much less common in the past. What is more, when I was a kid, the general public would intervene and discourage bad behaviour. People would not tolerate antisocial conduct and would intervene. Not any more.

The left always suggest that the answer to bad behaviour is to hand put more money. I would suggest that the answer to bad behaviour is a shared set of values in society and an insistence that the young and the old adhere to them.


EDIT:

As an indication of the decline in decent behaviour over time, these figures show what has happened. This is taken from a Home Office data set.


In 1900, there were 1908 acts of violence against the person. In 2001, there were 650,330 acts of violence reported.

In 1900, there were 1,723 sexual offences reported. In 2001, the number was 49,581.

This data set covers the twentieth century and we are now a quarter of the way through the twenty-first. However, a glance at the numbers of people in prisons gives a clue to more recent trends.


This graph shows prison population change relative to that of 1900. At teh present time, we have a prison population four times that of the beginning of the twentieth century. This is NOT because people are poorer now. It is because we have a large number of people at large in society who care nothing for the rules and conventions of society. Bad families, bad upbringing and lack of accountability is my hypothesis.


63379
 
Last edited:

Peter.Bridge

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 19, 2023
1,650
743
Huge reduction in crime rates in England and Wales over the last 20-30 years in nearly all categories (I reckon it coincides with unleaded petrol) :

63380

Screenshot 2025-06-04 10.08.39.png
Screenshot 2025-06-04 10.09.15.png

Screenshot 2025-06-04 10.10.02.pngFigure 4_ Police recorded firearms offences decreased 20%, compared with the year ending Decem...pngFigure 5_ Prevalence of Crime Survey for England and Wales violence with or without injury per...pngFigure 6_ The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows long-term reductions in incidents of th...png
 

Ghost1951

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 2, 2024
2,259
1,017
I agree with Peter about the impact of leaded petrol on crime, especially crime of an impulsive nature. That trend was observed across the world and interestingly, because different societies removed tetra-ethyl lead from road fuel at different times, the decline in impulsive criminality can be seen declining a few years after it was removed, in different jurisdictions. Dumping thousands of tonnes of lead based compound on the streets was a pretty dumb idea, resulting in brain damage, and impulsive misbehaviour in the young.

It should be said of the Crime Survey data, that it does not catch all crime. It focuses on crimes against the person. Drug offences, theft from business, such as the now rife shoplifting are not part of its collection methodology. See this article:


The other thing to say though Peter is that some of those graphs shown above are of a VERY short timescale and could just be statistical noise. There are always year to year fluctuations. Even the graph from the 1980s does not impact my point about increasing lawlessness since the early and mid twentieth century. I don't think that that trend can be argued with. Certainly, the 1990s saw a large amount of property crime, such as thefts of, and from cars. That has declined, but also crime has changed with massive rises in theft by bank fraud and push payment scamming - another crime the police mostly do nothing about. You are referred to an organisation called, 'Action Fraud', which in my opinion should be renamed, 'Inaction Fraud'. They don't act in the vast majority of cases.

I heard on the BBC news this morning that police chiefs were making it known that they will have to choose NOT to investigate more crimes. I don't think we can tolerate this 'picking and choosing' what part of their job description they will attend to and which not, by public servants. When the police abandon some part of their responsibility, crime in that area increases. That should be pretty obvious to anyone.

If you don't make clear rules and enforce them. They will be ignored.
 
Last edited: