4 x 4's on bridleways!

silvershadow81

silvershadow81

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 February 2008
Messages
1,785
Location
Derbyshire
Visit site
Just went for a little walk around the block and the track (bridleway)has been totally ripped up.

There are huge dips where 4 x 4's have been down it, and now we can only walk (very slowly and carefully) down the track that we used to get a nice safe canter down...

anyway, i went round a corner and there was a disco at a 45 degree angle totally stuck in the mud, with two guys trying to push it free. It took up most of the track, but luckily my horse will go past most things at a squeeze. Any other horse would probably have had an issue squeezing past, and it wouldnt have been nice if someone had decided to canter it and came across them!

I REALLY wanted to say something, but thinking that it was two (maybe more) blokes there and just me (withough my mobile phone) I thought best to hold my tounge!

It really does annoy me though! We dont have that many tracks that nearby to us, and the ones we do seem to have are being mashed up by people that shouldnt be on them....... i know its wrong, but i think if they are coming on our tracks, we can go on footpaths!!! (because in my eyes, that is also wrong, yet they seem to always get away with it!)
 
Did you get the number plate? Then you could report them as they are DEFINATELY not allowed on the bridlepath! Thank goodness you were only walking, and how beeping annoying the path has now been wrecked.
 
I didnt, I know it was an N reg and a van type one, i have a terrible short term memory and without a phone to type it into id never remember it!

I think they knew they were in the wrong though, they kept their heads facing the oppositte way to me... I just hope it may stop them from going down there again!
 
If it is a bridleway then they are breaking the law, if it is a byway aka boat then they can use it but not to play getting stuck and going back and too over and over again !! and they can be prosicuted for damageing the surface, most 4x4 clubs promote sensible and sustanble use of unsuraced rights of way and frown on this sort of thing, so if they have club names on the vehicles you could report them to the club who would sort things out,
if it is a footpath or bridleway then report it to the police...
 
It is definatly a bridleway.

I may make a sign to go on the bridleway sign saying NO 4x4's or something? If i had my phone i could have called someone to catch then while they were stuck... as i think they would have been there a while, they were in really deep mud!

Thanks for pointing out the club thing... i have met these guys before on Byways, and although they churn up the tracks, they always are considerate to the horses... id not thought of looking out for club stickers on the car.... will keep my eyes open next time though!

So it is a police thing then, not a council thing? xx
 
We had an issue where sats navs kept pointing people down a bridleway near my old yard, often they weren't even in 4 x 4's and ogten got stuck. It was a bridleway, signposted and I checked on the ordnance survey but for some reason sats navs thought otherwise and people just followed without using any common sense. There is another where this happens near where I am now but it has a locked gate.

If that was the case then a big sign might help.
 
These guys had been down a few of these judging by the state of their car..... unless they have useless satnav's, id say they are in it for fun, not ignorance!!

There is a clear 'bridleway' sign at each end of the track, so absolutly no excuse. I suppose if i dis one on white paper and red writing they may notice it a little more. Would also flag the issue to others in the area, so if they saw people coming off it they couls also take action? xx
 
A notice won't stop them!The Police will if they do this often the police might recogise them with a brief description of them or the vehicle,coarse the vehicles probably stolen
 
Might be worth cointacting your local council as well, if this is a regular occurance and the council are responsible for the surface, they might think it worth putting up the horse stile things, which the horses have no proble mwith but they stop cars :)
 
If you had the registration you could have reported it to both the police and the council.

However, a phonecall to the council about the problem they will investigate and may even put barriers both ends of the bridleway to stop that happening, if it is a bridleway crossing private land, maybe try and find the landowner and have a chat with them, as they will not want their land churned up (either a public right of way or not) by vehicles that should not use it.
 
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I will get on the case to protect this bridleway. Its so fustrating, as the only one i can really get too when i am limited on time... all the others are just that bit further away! xx
 
The whole question of Byways is very complex. Local byways in Northants have winter TRO to prevent vehicles but not motorbikes which are a big problem with horses. The land of the byway may be privately owned and they can use it at any time. The question is should byways be for quite access to the countryside and vehicles can only use it to get to property. Quite clearly most Councils are never going to give the Rights of Way Department any where near suffucient funds to maintain the network and more people should make Section 51 complaints in the Magistrates Courts under the Highways Act.
 
If you do report it, make sure you keep in very close contact with the council / landowner, as otherwise you may wake up one morning and find you have your barriers but because of cost/crossed wires they have installed ones that are very horse proof as well as vehicle proof, and trying to get that rectified once done can be a nightmare. Even tho we worked hand in hand with ROW offficer, local access forums etc we still only just managed to stop that happening next to our old place. Sometimes the solution can be worse than the problem, I would try to identify and tackle via police/landowner/council the actual culprits before resorting to barriers, also some horses dont cope well with them and determined trespassers either destroy them or just cut down trees and drive round them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top