A request came through the main Trans Pennine Trail Office, from one of the local Police's Safer Nieghbourhood Teams (SNT) to help with a anti-motorcycle operation that was being conducted in the Barnsley area, on part of the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT).
Two volunteer rangers met at the SNT's base, where they received a briefing along with other members of the SNT. They were split in to teams and shown the local hotspots and the area they were to cover. There were two police vehicles on the ground along with two officers on mountain bike. There were also five Police Officers on foot in uniform and in plain clothes. Mid morning they were joined by another volunteer ranger and his dog.
Members of the public were engaged bethe police and rangers to ascertain if they had seen any motorcycles in the area. One member of the public informed the police that a small fire had been started next to the TPT. The police officer and two rangers went to investigate and they found a smouldering fire, thankfully the slight rain shower they had just had, had helped dampen the fire, so all that was left to do was make the area safe. As they returned to the TPT a motorcyclist shot past carrying a passenger, unfortuneately the were too late to stop it, but a discription and direction of travel was passed over the radio to the other officers on the ground.
After a short lunch break, everyone was back on the ground. The afternoon was pretty quiet and just as the SNT decided to call it a day, the youths from earlier came round the corner and once they had spotted the police turned round and went in the other direction. Unfortuneately the police was unable to give chase as they were dealing with another incident.
Everyone met up at the base for a de-brief and even though it had been relatively quiet on the TPT, the police still issued a quad biker with a warning and £30 fine. Those officers staying on duty decided to go back out and try and stop the youths who thus far hadn't been stopped.
Other anti-motorcycle operations are being planned for the near future, but the police require the public to report any illeagal usage of the TPT, so that they can build up a clearer picture and plan operations accordingly.
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