Newsletter for Summer 2001
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Editorial - On 24th May 1997, a car driven by a woman insured by Provident Insurance plc hit eight year old Darren Coombes, cycling to a friend’s house near Sandown in the Isle of Wight. Darren suffered severe brain damage, was in hospital for 3 months and was given a 25% chance of survival. Now he is 12 but has the mental age of an eight year old.
Darren’s parents sued the driver for damages. Provident lodged a counter claim for negligence claiming he was not adequately supervised and should have been wearing a helmet. This counter claim affected not only Darren’s parents but also Mrs Cole, a childminder who was looking after Darren on the day of the accident. If they lost the case the Coombes would have become bankrupt.
The case was due to come to court in Feb 2000. If pursued along those grounds by PI it would have made legal history. But the action by PI was so unusual that it brought media attention and offers of help from barristers, expert witnesses and the CTC.
On 24th January 2001 Kevin Mayne CEO of the CTC wrote an open letter to Mr Bell the Chief Executive of Provident plc. He asked a series of simple questions:
  • Does Provident Insurance believe the right of a driver to use the roads should be greater than that of a child?
  • If Darren is legally allowed to make a journey, how can an adult be negligent for allowing him to do so?
  • If your proposed action is successful, Darren’s parents will pay for their son’s right to receive damages. Is this justified?
  • Your website highlights your work with local communities and children. How do you reconcile this with a legal action that denies the right of children to travel and play freely?
  • What steps do Provident and your brokers Colonnade take to eliminate dangerous and negligent drivers from your own customer base? How many people do you decline to insure because of their driving record?

None of the CTC’s specific questions were answered. Meanwhile hundreds of concerned people and many cyclists wrote to Provident Insurance. Many cancelled their policies and in Bradford local cyclists considered an action outside the offices of PI to draw attention to the case. On 19th February PI withdrew their action against Mr and Mrs Coombs and Mrs Cole. They said:
"PI do not accept any negligence on behalf of the driver and continue to reject the insurance claim. However PI do not wish to involve Darren’s parents and childminder in any further unnecessary distress at this time."
However the CTC says: "If they (PI) had not wanted to cause distress they would not have taken this action in the first place."
Spokes has long supported, as does the CTC, a move in UK legal frameworks towards a situation closer to that in many European countries where the burden of proof in negligence cases involving walkers and cyclists falls more strongly on the motorist to prove they were not negligent than on the claimant to make a case. Darren’s sad plight is a good reason for this to become law.
More about the Cyclists' Defense Network

Campaign Corner - Campaigning for cycling facilities is seen by some simply as hardened cyclists trying to grab a share of limited resources, such as local authority funding and road space. If there is to be a reduction in congestion, mostly caused by the dominance of the private car in personal transport, then bicycle usage has to be a significant factor. Is it possible to attract people out of their cars? Is it possible that people will be forced out of their cars by the fact that travel by car, particularly for short journeys, will be such an unpleasant experience (a bumper to bumper crawl, followed by a lengthy search for a parking place) that they will look for an alternative? I believe that the principal objective of campaigning for cycling facilities is to ensure that, as the inevitable grind towards gridlock causes drivers to think twice about using the car, there is a viable alternative, there will be choice. With Canterbury’s road conditions being what they are, I very rarely use my car to go into town on a Saturday. This is possible because the facilities that have been provided mean that I can choose my mode of transport. For me, campaigning is about providing options.

Loose Chippings - A regular feature column by Malcolm Bulpitt appearing in all our newsletters. 
Do your bit for the Kyoto Agreement

 

By Andy McNally

 The British government has signed up to the Kyoto Agreement, which means that it has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions to 8% below 1990 levels by 2008. How can you help achieve this? Well, there are four principal ways.

Use alternative energy sources. Solar panels, wind turbines and hydro-electric turbines all harness natural energy and don’t produce CO2 emissions in use. The only one of these that is normally applicable to the individual is the solar panel. Improve insulation. Energy generation emissions are reduced if we make more efficient use of energy, but will we see the difference that we make? Improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines. In the last 30 years, engine efficiency has improved by something like 80%. Of course, all of that improvement has been lost in increased usage. There is still much potential for improvement, but we can’t wait another 30 years. Reduce the use of the internal combustion engine. At last, here is something where we can all make a difference. If, one day a week, you leave your car at home and ride your bike to work, you will be making a 20% cut in your commuting CO2 emissions; here and now, not in 30 years time, not dependant on manufacturers, energy suppliers or anyone else. I ride my bike to work one day a week for the duration of British Summer Time. Why not five days a week or in the Winter I hear you say. Well, there are three reasons.

First, living in Sturry and working in Dover, my trip to work and back is around 40 hilly miles. Second, I’m the wrong side of 50 and parts of me don’t always work as well as they once did. Third, I don’t like cycling in the rain. What? A fair weather cyclist as well! Why not? Cycling should be a pleasure, not something that is endured. I am lucky that my employer has provided shower facilities, so I don’t sit at my desk in sweaty clothes and smelling like a polecat. However, if your commute is around the average (five miles or less), it is possible to pootle along and avoid the need for special clothing or a hosing-down on arrival.

So, choose your day carefully (even the average British Summer doesn’t normally produce five consecutive days of rain) and start cutting those emissions, right now. You won’t be on your own.


George Dubya about to tear up the Kyoto Agreement

 Throwing caution to the wind
Just before George Dubya Bush announced that he considered the US economy more important than the threat of climate change to the rest of the world, Sir Chrispin Tickell told the Associate Group on Architecture and Planning meeting at the House of Commons that the world needed "some useful catastrophe to jerk us out of our inertia: big, but not too big." To back his arguments he quoted the following figures:
  • The demand for fresh water has doubled in the past 20 years
  • Carbon emissions have increased by a factor of 17 over the past century
  • The human population is now four times the size it was in 1900
  • Sea levels are predicted to rise by half a metre by the middle of the next century

None of these figures appear to have made the slightest dent in Dubbya’s enthusiasms. He has thrown caution to the wind as America increases its CO2 emission levels without a care in the world.
What has this to do with us in east Kent you may ask? Well we have just witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 300 years, not just here, not just in the UK but also all over Europe. One of the Kentish Nailbournes flowing through Barham, Bishopsbourne, Bridge and Patrixbourne has caused untold damage. The other Nailbourne flowing down the valley formed by Chartham Downs has put the mainline railway out of action and required the pumping of over 1 million gallons of water being pumped every day out of a field by the tracks to prevent the railway being flooded. This was nearly 3 metres under water. On some days even this was not enough. What other warnings will we need?

Sam Webb
The Forgotten Cyclists - Outside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is what would be a remarkable sight in England, Half Pipes for BMX bikers and Skateboarders. The Rijksmuseum houses some of the world’s greatest paintings by Frans Hals, Vermeer and Rembrandt including the wonderful Night Watch. But something that also draws the crowds of tourists is the amazing gymnastics that take place on the Half Pipes, both from the BMX riders and Skateboarders and roller blades. Canterbury has nowhere for our homegrown experts to practice. In consequence they are always being chased away wherever they go. They could be quite a tourist draw. The City could get Interreg money for a site which could be a public art project. We get 3 million visitors a year which is on par with Amsterdam. If the Dutch can do it why not us? So come on Canterbury how about it? How about something for the forgotten ones?

The 2001 Tour de France
The 2001 Tour de France, the first of the millenium, will set off from the Côte d'Opale (North Sea and Channel coastline of the Nord Pas-de-Calais). Various cities have decided to co-host, over four days, the launching of the 88th Tour de France.
On Saturday July 7th 2001 the Prologue will be held, in Dunkirk : an 8 km course through the streets of the city, with a finale along the seashore up to the finishing line on Place du Centenaire. Next day, Sunday July 8th, the 200 km first stage will take riders from Saint-Omer to Boulogne-sur-Mer, via a loop through the regions of Audomarois, Montreuillois and Boulonnais. Finally, on Monday July 9th, the second stage will set off from Calais.
Dunkirk is one of the Tour's traditional stopovers. It first held a stage back in 1911, during the 9th Tour de France. This Channel harbour has since hosted a stage on sixteen occasions, the last time in 1995 (stage victory for the sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens). But never before has it held the Prologue.
Boulogne-sur-Mer has previously held two stage finishes: Callens won there in 1949, as did the sprinter Van Poppel in 1994. Calais was once before the starting point for a stage, in 1994. As for Saint-Omer, it will be its first encounter with the Tour bandwagon.
The Mechanic’s Dilemma - by Chris Harrington
Have you ever pondered over seemingly impossible to solve cycling problems? In this issue Spokes brings you a new column by an experienced mechanic.

Have you ever had a hub gear that won’t change ratios? It’s a daunting experience to dismantle a Sturmey Archer the first time and a relief to find the malfunction caused by a live slug in the internal mechanism!

Have you ever had an alloy seat pin stuck in the steel frame? Usually a chemical reaction takes place between the frame and the pin unless the pin has been well greased before insertion.. Once the obvious methods of removal have been exhausted you will probably be left with a mutilated exposed stump. A method successfully used is to take out all the bottom bracket axle. Assuming the seat tube is open sufficiently you can put a threaded rod down the centre of the seat post and fit a suitable washer and nut onto it from within the bottom bracket. Then slip an old tube spanner or similar over the threaded rod from the top and another washer and nut to retain the spanner. This can then used as a slide hammer to strike out the old seat post. It helps if you lubricate inside the seat post before you do this.

I often wonder if seized seat posts are the reason so many ride with the saddle too low! It is a liberating experience to get it right. While sitting on the bike, with the ball of the foot on the axle of the pedal, the leg should be "just before" full lockout on extension, i.e. almost straight. But experiment with this as we are not all the same shape! (Another tip for this is to stand astride the frame with both feet on the ground and the point of the saddle touching the bottom tip of the coccyx. Ed.)

Camp sites where things go bump in the night - As my wife will testify, I really do not like spending money. Why waste money on a hotel bed when all you do is fall asleep on it? The same very unconscious condition can be achieved in a sleeping bag in a tent at a fraction of the cost. Logically therefore, a focus for any long distance cycle ride becomes, "where are the camp sites?" But my Scrooge-like character pays dividends, not only in terms of economy, but more importantly in the people we meet and the memories they provide.

Who could forget the campsite owner halfway across the C-2-C who wanted to charge an additional £2 for opening the door to the toilets, and who went on to give us a guided tour of his 6ft by 4ft garden shed which he had proudly converted by putting in a table and four chairs as the "lounge" for campers.

Who would forget pitching a little tent right amongst the apple trees on a farm next door to the Danube? There was nobody else in the orchard at all. What a quiet setting - at least that’s how it seemed. But NOT in early September. Have you ever listened to the sound of an orchard heavy with ripe apples while you were trying to get to sleep? Ripe apples tend to fall! Each apple goes: Shfffffff.. (as an apple breaks free, and the branch now lighter risessss upwards shaking its leaves), …….ShShSh…(as it falls through the leaves underneath it)………THUMP!!!(hits the ground!) But all totally unpredictable….minutes can pass without a sound, and then suddenly 2 or 3 in quick succession and in random directions around the tent. When was the next one going to go…..? Which direction will it be in?…..Yawn….Perhaps I can drift off before the next one……Shfffffff…..ShShSh….THUMP!!!

Stuart Milligan

Coastal Trail set for June opening

Thanet's circular cycle route, the Viking Coastal Trail, is nearing completion and will be formally opened on 10th June during a ceremony at the Viking ship Hugin at Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate followed by the chance to ride all or some of the 28 mile route.

 

Click the picture for enlargement (400K).

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