Off-road reg won't work

An MP proposing new laws to clampdown on mini-motos by making all off-road bikes display number plates was told weeks ago by police it wouldn’t work.  

Graham Stringer’s off-road registration Bill is intended to help police catch illegal riders of mini-motos, quad bikes and scooters in public spaces but requires all track and race bikes to display number plates too.

MCN revealed last week that Stringer had said even Valentino Rossi would have to display a plate on his MotoGP bike. He rejected suggestions that illegal riders would simply ignore the requirement to display plates.    

Now MCN has learned Stringer was told as much three weeks ago by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

David Griffin, ACPO’s head of motorcycle safety, told Stringer: “Our overall opinion as ACPO is that we do not believe an off-road registration scheme will be viable in tackling this problem.” Griffin added: “The sorts of individuals who are going to ride them illegally, even with a registration scheme, would simply remove the identifying markings.”

Griffin, deputy chief constable for Humberside, made his comments at a meeting of the Transport Select Committee, a group of MPs appointed by the House of Commons to examine Government transport policy.

Stringer has invited riders to write to him and “put forward a reasoned case against” his Bill, which applies to bikes but not cars. He has said the Bill may be amended to include “exemptions” after its second reading in Parliament, due on Friday. He declined to speak to MCN today.

Read the Bill at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills/200607/off_road_vehicles_registration.htm
Stringer can be emailed at stringerg@parliament.uk