Hey Jude: Don't take it bad, butyou're a hazard

A THREE-year-old boy has been banned from learning to ride his bike in his local park by town hall bureaucrats who say the knee-high bicycle is a health and safety hazard.

Jude Liu was delighted with his progress – until a Whitby parks warden ticked him and his mother off for breaking a 60-year-old Scarborough Borough Council by-law, which does not even apply in Scarborough.

But yesterday the boy’s mother fired a broadside at Scarborough Council – accusing it of political correctness gone mad, and of picking on a child rather than tackling yobs roaming Pannett Park in Whitby.

But the council says it only offered advice to the family about the terms of the by-law and at no stage asked them to leave the park.

Jude had been pedalling along with stabilisers attached to the bike when he was approached by a park warden who warned him he was breaking a local by-law by being in the saddle of the machine rather than pushing it.

His mother Melanie Liu said yesterday she was flabbergasted. Jude had been learning to ride when the official – ignoring teenagers riding adult cycles in the play area of the park – made straight for him.

Mrs Liu, 36, of Hudson Street, West Cliff, Whitby, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, said she had previously seen youths drinking in the park and dog owners who had let pitbull dogs run loose.

She was told by the warden a by-law passed in 1950 prohibited all bikes from being ridden in the park. Mrs Liu, who runs a guesthouse in the town with husband Billy, said: “When I asked why they said my son was a health and safety hazard.

“I think they are taking political correctness to ridiculous levels - the bike is no higher than my knee and I’m 5ft 1in. I believe we were targeted because I’m so pregnant and Jude’s so small.

“There were other things going on in the park that were ignored – teens drinking beer, someone with a pit bull terrier – but we were an easy target.

“The real health and safety issue are the teenagers on bikes that go round the play area where the children are, not a pre-schooler on a bike with stabilisers. What damage is he going to cause?”

She accused park officials of doing nothing about large boulders in the play area, which children constantly fall over.

The little boy was unable to understand what he had done wrong and blamed his mother for forcing him off his bike during the incident last week.

Mrs Liu said: “I told Jude he had to get off his bike and he asked ‘why are you saying this Mummy? I was being a good boy, I was doing very well’.” She had taken Jude to the park because there was no- where else for him to practise riding his bike. They had stayed on a quiet area on the tarmac, well away from the play area and were some distance from other people in the park.

The mother continued: “I have no problem following rules but I’m going to fight to get the by-law changed. Cycling promotes fitness and is fun for children, it will also benefit their future wellbeing, but this is being jeopardised for a petty law passed in 1950.”

Scarborough Council’s parks and countryside manager, Roger Burnett, said: “The by-law in operation in the park states that cycles are permitted, but people have to walk with them and push them along rather than ride on them.

“Our park officer did approach the lady and her son to tell her about this by-law and confirm that cycles were not banned from the park, but at no time did he ask her to leave the park.

“He also advised her that if she felt strongly about the issue, she could write and complain to the council.

“On the issue of bikes, scooters, skateboards, dogs and underage drinking, we work closely with park rangers, the local police and the Friends of Pannett Park to ensure that not only are the by-laws adhered to, but more importantly the public understand them.”

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