Southwark Council gives moped thieves a helping hand

A new scheme implemented by Southwark Council to get more people cycling and walking has inadvertently helped moped criminal to escape.

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The scheme, aimed at getting more people walking and cycling to work in the area, has blocked access to road vehicles but allows moped criminals to escape.

Southwark News reports that there have been several occasions where police cars have been blocked by the new planters, leaving those that they may be chasing free to slip through the road blockade.

The measures, designed to create a greener and less polluted borough, were greeted with enthusiasm by cyclists, walkers and commuters, although they are loved and loathed in equal measure and their rapid implementation has certainly been rocky.

It isn’t just the police that are having difficulty with the new blockade, an ambulance, and other emergency services vehicles are also reported to have come to grief, with even a council-run refuse truck – apparently, even they weren’t told of the change – having the same problem.

The paper also reports that it has seen a letter MP Neil Coyle to Southwark Council’s transport cabinet member, Richard Livingstone. In it the MP described the issues faced by the emergency and council services as “wholly obvious”, going on to say he is “amazed” that the council could not foresee the issue.

Livingstone responded to claim that police were kept informed of the changes to the local road network, something the Superintendent of Walworth station backed up, although he did confirm the new blockade had “lead to frustrations when stopping mopeds”.

Picture from Southwark news