Cops put bikes through roadside MoTs

Motorcyclists are being subjected to 15-minute roadside MoT-style inspections because of a police training course.

Riders are stopped in large numbers and directed into makeshift inspections bays where their bikes are examined by two officers.

The operations are training days on a City & Guilds motorcycle inspection course for police.

In the latest, in Birmingham last Wednesday during rush-hour, 76 motorcyclists were stopped, many on their way to work, and made to wait while their bikes were looked over in inspection bays set up in a car park.

West Midlands Police said there was “no selection criteria” and all motorcyclists on all kinds of machines on a busy commuter route were targeted.

One of the riders stopped in the operation, on the A38 Aston Expressway, said: “A police motorcyclist instructed me to follow him and we pulled into the nearby car park where there were parking bays marked out with two officers in each bay waiting to check over the bike.

“The check lasted around 15 minutes and at the end I was told my chain was a bit slack.

“While they were checking my bike at least six more motorcyclists were pulled in.”

The MCN reader, who took a picture of the operation on his mobile phone, added: “The police certainly know how to make friends. There will be a lot of unhappy motorcyclists over this.”

The force said the operation was for safety and education.

Read more in MCN, on sale September 14.