[Closed] A message to cyclists from Paul Nero, managing director of Exeter FM.

Twit..

Pass the biscuits Harry...

And I add fumes. Slow-moving traffic wastes fuel and adds to carbon emissions. Idiots who ignore cycle paths should appreciate that future generations of children will drown as global warming wipes out Lympstone. And it's their fault.

😐

third comment, juansamwell, is one of those rare, balanced opinions you hardly ever see on the news sites. Surprised it wasn't moderated off actually....

“It does my head in that such ignorance and impatience is so prevalent, both from the writer of this column, and the people replying. We're all just trying to get to work! chill the flip out. Do you love your office job at world famous exeter FM and long to get there so much that you are prepared to run down another person with your car just to get there a few seconds faster? Is that the kind of person you want to be? really? its not a fight every morning, none of us would be up at seven am with a load of other people if we didnt HAVE TO DO IT! We're just getting where we need to be! Are you saving anyones life by not being twenty seconds late?
.....

man in car complaining about cyclist causing global warming, oh teh...

<Edit> that comment by juansamwell is probably the most well put thoought out comment I've ever seen in response to an anticyling rant.

Oh look!, the article has a report button 😀

[b]What is the primary reason you are reporting this message as abusive?[/b]

Impersonation

[b]Additional Comments?[/b]

I fear someone of limited intellect has hijacked Paul Nero's account. Could you confirm?

C*ckweasel, just trying to do a (poor) Clarksonesque rant. Somehow, I can tell from the tone of the "article" that he just doesn't actually believe a word of it himself.

🙄

Hmm.. seems to be taking a leaf out of their sister publication, This Is Derbyshire, who [url= http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/story-13185481-detail/story.html ]posted similar nonsense last year[/url] and suddenly got loads of hits.

He does get a good kicking in the comments section - mentioned on here before as well

tbh whats the issue ?

what he said makes perfect sense - if and only if the goverment put someone who understands what a cyclepath needs to be to design them and they are cleaned

in holland its against the law to use a carridgeway if an adjacant cycle path is provided ....

this is a law that could not be implemented here because the infrastructure is crap and when it exists its poorly executed and designed to impeed cyclists travel

Oooh look he's on facebook. Feel free to send him a message
[url=

I'd not spotted the report option, thanks.

Reason for reporting: "The author of this article seems to believe he is Jeremy Clarkson. But lacks the originality and wit."

Can't comment on the quality of CLs in the Exeter area. But the ones near me are tits. My "favourite" being the one that goes from the road to the pavement and has a traffic light and two road sign support posts smack bang in middle of it!

The moss covered block paved one over junction 19 of the M60 is a beauty too.

Just posted this on the Bike Forum - I agree its all attention seeking 🙂

Some nobody trying to raise his profile by deliberately courting controversy. He'll still be a nobody tomorrow.

MD - "Site traffic is low and our ad revenues are suffering, what can we do?"
Editor - "According to many of our sister papers of similar provincial distribution, writing an article that paints cyclists in a bad light seems to increase traffic."
MD - "BRB, trolling."

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/anyone-feel-sorry-for-him ]I posted this last week[/url]

[url= http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Cyclists-ride-paths-provided/story-11823209-detail/story.html ]This also turned up in a related rag[/url]

We have been duped 😉

Living in Exeter i can confidently say that Exeter FM is as good as the cycle paths, total S****.

in holland its against the law to use a carridgeway if an adjacant cycle path is provided ...

That's a crap law. It used to be the case in Germany and it would have been crap if it had not been effectively repealed.

why is it a crap law ?

cycle facilities in holland are above adaquate that i never once thought - man i wish i was able to use that road.

spend 6 months out there last year riding on a fold up bike all over the north from den helder down to alkmaar and across to leuwaarden.

only thing i did wish for was some corners to break the monotony and get me out the headwind for a bit 😀

Twit? thanks mods for editing my post but i dont think i have ever used the wort 'twit'

**** sounds about right tho

In case anyone wanted to lob a bit of abuse at them on Twitter, they are now @Radio_Exe 🙂

Same tripe posted on This is Bristol from time to time. I'm gather the This is... network is pretty much the gutter when it comes to online 'journalism'

Saw the article yesterday. It's a long time since I've read such ignorance.

The man is a massive idiot.

Probably thought he was being clever/amusing, in the same way Jeremy Clarkson thinks he's being clever/amusing.

Massive idiot.

It's all about the quality and effectiveness of the cycleways. No cyclist in their right mind would choose to mix it with cars if there was a great cycleway (I like to call the good ones my private exclusive highways!)that went where they wanted to go and was designed so that reasonable progress was possible without constant stops and starts. When they are good, everyone is a winner. Sadly many are an afterthought. I've no idea what the ones in Exeter are like so can't really comment on this guy's gripe.

when I'm riding the stretch that matey on the radio is referring to you're damn right that I use the [b]well surfaced traffic free Sustrans route[/b]..

That stretch of road is treacherous and the millions spent providing the alternative route for cyclists is a godsend and will save lives..

Plus you get a very picturesque ride along the estuary rather than along the shoddily maintained and heavily trafficked parallel A-road

that radio bloke is a wally but he has a valid point..

all the mildly crazed knee-jerk reactionary twaddle being spouted here is just going to make cyclists look silly.. again

🙄

reported the article as spam, it crops up everywhere nowadays

why is it a crap law ?

cycle facilities in holland are above adaquate that i never once thought - man i wish i was able to use that road

The cycleways in Germany are fantastic as cycleways go, and really great for pootling about town. However if you want to get somewhere in a hurry, train, or get a long ride in, they are a pain in the balls. And studies have shown in the Netherlands that they are less safe, because you are riding much closer to the walls, fences and hedges that people's driveways are emerging from. The roads are really well sighted, the cycleways are not. Plus they are full of pootlers, kids, walkers next to them and so on.

In busy city I used them, but out in the countryside where they still were I didn't like using them in most cases (although I did in some). I didn't want to be forced into the cyclist ghetto either, I wanted it to be my choice based on my needs and assessment of the safety of the situation.

Oooh look exeter fm have a [url=

page[/url] they delete comments quite quickly if you ask them questions about their Paul Nero

Prince John. They don't delete them, you just need to select view "everyone" on top right of page.

what a c&%T 😡

@ vinneyh and DONK, thanks for the props regarding my comment on this is devon/exeter.

I dont condone any right to an opinion, but I do condone inciting acts of violence against other people, ignorance, and a lack of respect for others.

Cheers. Juan. thingswotilike.tumblr.com/ Tweet; @juansamwell

Yunki, phew thought it was just me! Ok crass writing and weak attempt to be deliberately inflammatory (he should post here more often!) but there is a valid point in there.

Videos, Internet, Twitter we live in the bizarre world of virtual vigilantes.

Haven't people got better things to do than get morally outraged by this kind of thing.. Blimey there is someone starting a silly diatribe on STW about lawyers today. Surely the best thing is to ignore.

the irony is that the Energy Saving Trust is one of the clients of his company;

[url= http://www.plain-text.co.uk/ ]http://www.plain-text.co.uk/[/url]

and they've got this on the plain-text site;

[i]So a recent email from the Energy Saving Trust’s transport division was just the ticket: promote and prove the benefits of ’smart driving’ to local authorities in 100 words. We were proud to have the final email – which packs costs, savings, benefits, proof points, a headline, two subheads and a call to action into precisely 106 words[/i]

I do wonder what this client would think abotu him blaming cyclists for global warming?

@teamhurtmore, fair point, well made.

i think I may be guilty of getting caught up in a bit of righteous outrage, (easily done in these anonymous web based times) I have as a result edited my previous comment, tho stand by my disapproval of violence towards anyone. That is the main reason for my dislike of his article in the first place, and indeed my dislike for many of the violent retaliations on the this is site.

thingswotilike.tumblr.com/tweet@juansamwell

I do wonder what this client would think abotu him blaming cyclists for global warming?

Point it out to them then.

Writing comments on his rant is just providing him with the oxygen of publicity he craves, however pointing out to his clients that he has views against their defining objectives seems like justice in action.

Juan I was struggling to find the incitement to violence section?!? I guess that was the opening salvo which seemed to be written more for effect than anything else. Not very well made.. Last paras are more measured.

juan samwell - Member

I dont condone any right to an opinion, but I do condone inciting acts of violence against other people, ignorance, and a lack of respect for others.

You mnay want to review that - "condone" means "agree with" or "support"

Or maybe that *is* what you meant?

So a recent email from the Energy Saving Trust’s transport division was just the ticket: promote and prove the benefits of ’smart driving’ to local authorities in 100 words. We were proud to have the final email – which packs costs, savings, benefits, proof points, a headline, two subheads and a call to action into precisely 106 words

They were asked to deliver the message in 100 words and delivered [i]precisely[/i] 106? FAIL.

What an idiot this bloke is.

I have just read this on twitter, complete lack of any understanding

And Exeter FM have never had such a large amount of [s]good[/s] publicity.....

Hook, line and sinker.

he's just had a direct message from me... cock....

What an idiot this bloke is.

I have just read this on twitter, complete lack of any understanding

I don't think some of the reactionary cyclists on this thread are operating on all four cylinders to be honest..

the bloke may not have any understanding of cyclists.. and may not know how to address a bunch of bitter wallies on a cycling forum..
he may even be a complete wally himself..
but if you would look into what he's on about..[url= http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/connect2/schemes/south-west/topsham-exe-estuary-trail ]the trail in question[/url].. you will see that as a non-cycling taxpayer living in the area he must be more than a bit confused regarding the seemingly unexplainable actions of the cyclists that he's upset about..

I'm not really trying to defend him but a load of poorly informed forum vigilantes getting their knickers in a twist and writing daft comments and complaints about the article will only give local cyclists a bad name..

some of you are clearly not very well

nevermind all that.
phonic fm FTW.
106.4 kids. 😀

you effin knows it...! 😀

I don't think some of the reactionary cyclists on this thread are operating on all four cylinders to be honest..

Isn't that a pre-requisite for posting? 😉

I think he makes a fair and reasoned point, just because you've set off half an hour early for work to parade around town in your budgie smugglers doesn't mean that you have a god given right to hold up normal people trying to get to work using a normal mode of transport in a normal way. After all, car drivers pay road tax.

😉

After all, car drivers pay road tax.

That's true, I hadn't thought of it that way. Fair enough then.

After all, car drivers pay road tax.

If cyclists could afford road tax then they'd drive cars like normal people.

if you would look into what he's on about..the trail in question.. you will see that as a non-cycling taxpayer living in the area he must be more than a bit confused regarding the seemingly unexplainable actions of the cyclists that he's upset about..

"I don't understand them therefore they're all ignorant, selfish, stupid, mushy-minded, road-hogging lycra-clad idiots"

He'd fit in well on many of the STW threads - 'your opinion is different to mine therefore you're wrong' 🙂

hmm.. cycling's militant fundamentalists have been mobilised.. the outraged and indignant are calling in the pedantry division for back-up.. this can only end in tears..

Therefore I am out.. 8)

If cyclists could afford road tax then they'd drive cars like normal people.

Are people trolling here or genuinely thick?

After all, car drivers pay road tax.

No they don't. But you knew that, yes?

Are people trolling here or genuinely thick?

I beleive it was sarcasm

No they don't.

Saved by the edit 😉

No they don't. But you knew that, yes?

It was quite clearly sarcasm, anyone not realising that needs to stand in the corner and think about the shame they have brought upon themselves and their families.

juan samwell - Member
I dont condone any right to an opinion, but I do condone inciting acts of violence against other people, ignorance, and a lack of respect for others.

You mnay want to review that - "condone" means "agree with" or "support"

Or maybe that *is* what you meant

yea not sure what my brain was doing then.. must be a lack of tea =)

Insert 'object to' for all 'condone' stupid brain!

 

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Never ceases to amaze me how many get reeled in, having said that I've often wondered what the benefit of reeling in 'saddoh complain for attention types' is to a business unless it's a webvertising medium which an FM station isn't really.

but if you would look into what he's on about..the trail in question.. you will see that as a non-cycling taxpayer living in the area he must be more than a bit confused regarding the seemingly unexplainable actions of the cyclists that he's upset about..

As a non-driving tax payer, I can't understand why drivers continue to drive inside the town when we built them a bypass.

aw shucks guys, opinions & actions

weve all had to bear the brunt of 'said' red eyed car driver that thinks cyclists are there to wind him up

we are talking about a published article here so before we all look at the deeper meaning of this lets just deal with what we have shall we...

Interesting article tbh. It does beg the question, why if there is a dedicated cycle path from a -> b are cyclists still using the road? I suspect that either said cyclists are actually travelling from a -> some other location, or the cycle path is unsuitable, irrelevant, or maybe more of a pain to use than being stuck in rush hour traffic (which would be quite an achievement in itself).

I can understand his point, although it's not presented well, probably on account of him being a bit of a numpty. So why if an awful lot of taxpayers money has been spent on a path is it not being used? It would seems that something has failed.

From personal observation, the cycle paths I've seen and works done to improve byways have been a little misguided at best, or maybe they're just not factoring in the full scope of cyclists requirements. I know of one cycle specific path that has so many anti-motorbike/horse gates that it's a right old pain to use, hence I'm often inclined to use the road instead.

As a non-driving tax payer, I can't understand why drivers continue to drive inside the town when we built them a bypass.

oh FFS.. 🙄

everything has to be us and them with some of you guys doesn't it..

evolve

yunki - Member

oh FFS..

Please elaborate.

He's not as funny as Clarkson is he?

if there's a cycle path cyclists should be forced to use it rather than destroy the motorists spiritual uplift, a bad drive to work can ruin someone's day. Or better still cyclists should be forced to stop damaging the country rights of way network and just use the vast network of dedicated trail centres should they wish to play on their superseded form of transportation.

I have to say most of the cycle paths in my area are covered in moss and grime making them dangerous & are full of fallen branches and hedge cuttings making them a puncture ripe zone.

If you are travelling at any speed the cycle paths just dont work for the purpose of commuting im afraid but for general cycling are great

why bother engaging with the guy and giving him and his website the attention he's trying to get?

Cook pass babtridge

why bother engaging with the guy and giving him and his website the attention he's trying to get?

^^ this.
You can almost see the meeting at Exeter FM:
"guys, our website only get 34 hits a day, we need to do something to up the traffic and please our advertisers"
"I know, why don't I write an anti-cycling piece, it's worked for all the local provinical newspaper websites"
"excellent, troll away"

Please elaborate.

did you read the link I provided..?
I lived in Exmouth and Exeter for 37 years.. the road in question is not one that I would ever ride along..

It is fast and it can barely carry the rate of motorised vehicles that it is expected to at rush hour and is too narrow and undulating along much of it to allow safe overtaking.. we're not talking congested city centre here.. this is a semi-rural suburban link road

The new Sustrans route is good.. well thought out and long overdue.. it effectively now enables many normal cyclists to commute that would otherwise not have been able to..
And after much campaigning it was paid for out of the taxes of East Devon and Exeter residents.. very few of whom are regular cyclists..

so it must seem like a bit of a snub when some unnecessarily stubborn and foolhardy cyclists still choose to use the hazardous old crossing..

what has this got to do with by-passes..?

the ranting radio bloke is a nob with a bad turn of phrase but he has a very valid point..
it upsets me that so many folk on here have such a narrow focus that they will automatically back the cyclists without actually considering the whole picture..

it's a type of insanity and not something that I feel proud to be associated with..

believe it or not, sometimes people that use a different mode of transport to us can be correct too..

I'm just grateful I don't live anywhere with 'cycle infrastructure' that I'm supposed to feel obliged to use ...

Maybe if he'd explained the problem a bit more carefully rather than bash out an ill-informed rant himself, there wouldn't be a problem. Or maybe that was the point? It just has all the hallmarks of, well, complete b0ll0cks. What has 20mph speed limit or wearing lycra got to do with cyclist not using the path for instance.

Yunki the cycle path in question maybe a spiritual journey with a constant tail wind, views to die for and flunkis at either end to give you a rub down and clean and shine your bike. That's not the point, the tool in question is making a clarkson-esque rant having a pop at cyclists and putting all the neanderthal drivers in the frame of mind so whenever they see a scrap of badly thought out, broken surfaced completely unmaintained cycle lane at the side of [i]their[/i] road they will think cyclists should jump out of their way too. The article is a example of journalistic ****wittery* any valid point has been lost.

* and/or shrewd marketing ploy

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FTFY 🙂

I'm just grateful I don't live anywhere with 'cycle infrastructure' that I'm supposed to feel obliged to use ...

me too.. 😀

Maybe if he'd explained the problem a bit more carefully rather than bash out an ill-informed rant himself, there wouldn't be a problem.

ok.. possibly..

The article is a example of journalistic ****wittery* any valid point has been lost.

true..

I shall untwist my knickers and have a cup of tea.. (it is a very beautiful cycle route though.. 8) )