CTC Beats Southern Trains Bike Ban

A cyclist at Victoria railway station in London was yesterday given permission by Southern Trains to take his full-size, non-folding bicycle on one of its peak time trains.

Despite a recent decision to rigidly enforce a ban on the carriage of this type of bike on its peak-time services, an exception was made because the bike was made from cardboard.

An employee of national cyclists' organisation, CTC asked for permission to board the peak-time service with the full-size model bike to draw attention to the fact that the ban is ill-conceived; not only do many peak-time services have enough space to accommodate bikes, but other bulky items - such as full-size cardboard models of bikes - are allowed to travel.

CTC Senior Transport Campaigner, Adam Coffman, said: "Cyclists shouldn't have to use cardboard bikes to get on peak-time trains; quite apart from anything else they don't perform well in the wet.

The challenge of accommodating cycles on over-crowded trains is best tackled by sensible management rather than rigid policing."