Does your town/city have a problem with teens in bicycles?

[legofansmum]

I live in a small city, would be a town if we didn't have a cathedral (size wise)

Over the past year or so there has been a lot of trouble with boys aged 11 ish-16 ish causing havoc on bikes. They mainly go around in large groups. They like to do wheelies, pull up in front of in coming traffic, circulate cars and buses. Swear and abuse the general public.

Today a group of them cycled up to a lady and for no reason at all knocked her phone out of her hand - smashing it in the process. They continued to be a nuisance, shouting and swearing abuse.

Last month a huge group of them had to be escorted by the police as they all rode their bikes dangerously down a dual carriageway. There were at least 60 of them!

They also like to ride their bikes and perform wheelies in the city centre in pedestrian only areas- really dangerous , especially for anyone infirm around them. They also cause havoc for local shopkeepers.

Is this a nationwide thing or a local phenomenon? Baffles me why they put their own and others lives at risk . I was on a bus earlier in year where they kept riding in front of it. The driver had to slam brakes due to it. Could've caused a nasty accident.

Worries me greatly as my son grows up, what society is becoming.

Although I will admit I've not seen anything myself, as I rarely go in to either city centre. I live in a suburb between the two and shop online mostly.

South east here and they're fucking twats tbh.

Legofansmum - I think you might be from the same place as me. Are you Welsh?

Yep seen it in both an inner London and outer London borough. I noticed it about 2 years ago.

The last phenomena was kids randomly stopping to cross the road making vehicles do an emergency stop but the entire group doing it very very very very slowly. If, as a driver, you spoke to them they would walk even slower. It took a few kids to be run over by vehicles not good at doing emergency stops e.g. double decker buses,large vans before they stopped doing it.

Honeysucklejasmine I live in a Suburb beginning with Ab, they were circulating a bus I was on a few months back, smirking and pulling out doing wheelies. Poor driver had to stop quickly a couple of times. Worries me that someone vulnerable could be hurt or worse due to their actions.
I don't understand why their parents don't ground them or confiscate the bikes at least.
Oh gosh, the muggings sound awful, hope that stops.
I'm not from Wales but the South West of England

Sounds like bikestormz
www.huckmag.com/outdoor/bikes/bikestormz-movement-cycling-bikelife-survival-london/

I'm in Newport and it's a big pain in the arse problem here

There was a big crackdown and a blanket ban on bikes in town for a while, but it's crept back up again & is now as bad as ever

@Phumfell - it's good to see that being an insufferable chav has a new trendy nickname. Wonder how long til Owen Jones writes a book defending them.

I definitely think that there needs to be a bike ban in the centre itself, fair enough to walk along pushing a bike sensibly , but these feral kids are whizzing along where ever be its only going to end badly.
When they are riding dangerously in roads, they really need their bikes confiscate le and only returned after some sort of restorative justice or community service.

Gosh thanks for that newspaper article, astonishes me.

We had the same problem earlier this year and I'm in a small Home Counties village. A group of teenage or younger boys riding dangerously and being rude and antisocial etc.
It went on a while but finally the police clamped down hard on them, did house visits to parents, issued dispersal notices where they often grouped together and issued a few asbos. It hasn't gone away completely but it's been much less of a problem this summer.

Oh forgot to add .

London Suburb (Greater London it says) , begins with a B .

Sounds a lot like bored teenagers making their own entertainment. The bikes are fairly irrelevant; take those away and it would be graffiti or something.

Maybe if people hadn't voted Tory, the youth centres would still be open and there would be somewhere for them to go and something for them to do.

We live in the same area I'm the other side of the city Q/H and K, but honestly I know its been happening but I've seen nothing.

Problem is the main protagonists wouldn't use the youth centres when provided as they aren't cool.

When I was growing up, there were youth centres and things to do - but you wouldn't be seen dead in them.

Yes! They are a menace. However, I remember complaining that ' kids don't get out on their bikes anymore" a few years ago.

I live in a very similar 'city' and yes, it's a problem here too. We have two of those tescos with the underground parking and they seem to congregate in the downstairs entrance and do sometimes go up into the shops and run riot - including racially and physically abusing staff/security/customers.

yep, where I live too, they're a complete menace and even when one of them had an accident and bounced off a car, they haven't stopped.

I'm in S.Yorks and it's not an issue in my town. However we have a massive spice problem so it's not safe for anyone kids to go into town.

Yes. West Wales here and I've complained to police about it.

Yes, but only in the summer holidays.

In the winter, the same kids challenged me and my partner to a snowball fight (we agreed ), so I think ours are more of the bored variety than having a genuine antisocial intention.

I live near you too (in B with the big Tesco). We also had an issue recently with big groups of teens coming from other areas to the youth centre in the village and then causing havoc afterwards (throwing stones at cars, intimidating people, they burned a girl's hair etc). Luckily the police put an order on them so they can't come near here anymore. We've seen the group on the bikes a few times the last few weeks, they are idiots- doing wheelies into oncoming traffic, shouting and swearing at people and trying to intimidate. I'm hoping it'll tail off as the winter comes.

Yes this happens in my small city (would be town if not for cathedral also

The latest craze is, just outside one of our parks its a busy main road with a pedestrian crossing (with lights)
They take it in turns to press the button, wait for the lights to go red and then wheelie across the crossing and back again

Some of the kids further up don't bother with the crossing and just wheelie across the road, in the middle of the road, they are literally all over the sodding place and you have to have eyes everywhere to not run one over!

They also like to do it all over the public pavements also and don't care if they knock some unfortunate elderly person or child over in the process.

Yep we get them in our part of Nottingham - bombing out in front of cars to make them break sharply and pulling wheelies, cycling right up to people and yelling at them to get out of "their park" and generally thinking they're some kind of uber hard motorbike gang when they're like 13, covered in acne and on a Halfords pushbike being pains in the arse all over the place.

Sounds like bikestormz

From the article:
Yet in the eyes of the media, police and much of the public, these guys are portrayed as a menace: marauding gangs of ‘feral youth’ on bikes. Ride with them, however, and you’ll find a different story.

[ ]

Most of the time, they can narrow the margin for error and get away with it. But as Jake wheelies at high speed into Hyde Park Corner – one of the biggest and most dreaded junctions for cyclists in the city – his foot gets caught, sending him into a somersault. Jake’s handlebars break in two as he crashes to the ground… just as three lanes of traffic start hurtling towards him.

This time, he’s fine.

What a complete arsehole Jake is.

Go do death defying stunts off the roads where other people aren't affected. It is like playing chicken on the railway lines. Not cool.

Yep. Home Counties beginning with B here - little wannabe road men scallies