Fancy a number plate for your mini moto?

If our MP’s get their own way (and they usually do) you’ll soon need to register your off road bike! Yes that’s the latest bright idea in the ongoing effort to cut down on illegal and nuisance mini bike riders. The hilarious ‘Off Road Vehicles registration Bill’ introduced by Manchester MP, Graham Stringer went to the House of Commons on March 2nd.

The Bill needs the support of 100 MP’s to be made law and (if it gets through) every type of bike, quad, mini moto, crosser, field bike, even race bikes (including the Yamaha ridden by Rossi & co) will need to be registered and have an attractive looking number plate fitted. The Bill also adds a new section to the Police reform Act which will allow Police to “seize and remove” unlicensed off road vehicles.

Not wishing to patronise Mr Stringer, but why does he expect illegal riders to take any notice of a number plate? Many illegally used bikes are stolen anyway and the riders who cause offence are often on the wrong side of the law, so they’re not likely to lose any sleep over the new Bill.

Labour MP for Swindon, Anne Snelgrove said “I want to make sure this Bill helps police crack down on mini motos and has the best chance of going on to become law.” She gave a speech supporting the tough new powers but also said there was a way forward for legitimate riders “When I first came across mini motos I thought they were ridiculous things, and causing so much trouble in my constituency for elderly people. I thought: Ban them. I have changed my mind through discussions with Honda in Swindon and the British Motorcyclist Federation. There is a legitimate racing industry and I accept this is a legitimate sport. We need not to ban young people from having fun. If we do regulate, and we ensure that the vehicles they are riding are safe and provide them with off-road areas where they are not churning up local parks and spaces that other people would enjoy – there is a way ahead for those young people.” The interesting part for us is in the final paragraph, where she hints that safe riding areas will be provided, maybe nationwide Government backed tracks are too much to hope for but at least some MP’s are looking at positive solutions.

The idea of having number plates is a waste of time though, there’s nothing to stop the kind of illegal rider who this Bill is aimed at from simply ripping the plate off a stolen bike or ‘cloning’ it with another number plate to avoid detection. As is often the case, a small minority spoils things for the rest of us, and we’ll be forced to ruin the look of our machines with an ugly bit of Perspex bolted to the back. Maybe off road bikes will even need an MOT and insurance before too long, we’ll have to wait and see. The Guru will keep you posted…...in the meantime, here is a petition that you can sign and support the guys who are trying to stop this ridiculous idea:-

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/mini-motos/sign