Trespassing bikers in Bridgnorth putting lives at risk

Two crashes have already happened on the Chartwell Business Park in Bridgnorth in recent months.

Both casualties needed medical treatment but ambulances were not able to get onto the site off A458 Stourbridge Road, which made it difficult for medical staff to treat the injured riders.

Trespassers had cut holes in a fence just big enough to get a motorbike through but not for larger vehicles.

Constable Stuart Lippitt, of Bridgnorth Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: "The ambulance has not been able to get to the injured persons as the site was originally securely and fenced off.

"Criminal damage has been carried out because people have cut holes into the fences leaving enough room for motorbike access only.

"When officers have attended they have been told they have permission to be on site by the landowner.

"We can confirm this is not true and anybody on the Chartwell site is trespassing."

TG Builders Merchants has finalised plans to set up a branch on the business park and hopes to be up and running by next spring, creating 20 jobs in the process.

But the land, which was also been occupied by travellers on three occasions in the last year, currently remains fenced off and derelict.

Constable Lippitt said it was important to explain why those using the site as a motocross track were breaking the law.

He said: "Motorcycles can only be ridden off road in an area where the landowner has given the rider permission to do so.

"The police can issue a Section 59 warning notice to anybody caught riding a motorcycle off road on land where they have not been given permission to ride.

"A second incident can lead to the motorcycle being seized and, potentially, crushed.

"Unregistered motorcycles do not have a number plate and cannot be legally ridden on public roads.

"Normally these vehicles are specifically made to be used on purpose-built tracks and are not safe to be ridden on normal roads.

"Because they are not registered with DVLA, they are not insured, no road tax has been paid and they don't have an MOT.

"Police can seize any unregistered motorcycle ridden on the road in the same way that they can seize any vehicle that does not have the necessary MOT, tax and insurance, or if it is being driven or ridden by an unlicensed driver or rider."

Constable Lippitt said Section 59 warning notices could also be issued for vehicles driven on public roads in an anti-social manner, which was likely to cause alarm and harassment.