Nuisance motorbikers warned: 'We will seize your vehicles'

Nuisance motorbikers are being given a stiff warning – if you cause anti-social behaviour in city communities your vehicles will be seized.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has joined with Staffordshire Police to launch a dedicated campaign called Operation Transom to catch culprits, stop them churning up public green spaces and support communities.

Council leader Abi Brown said: “We’re combining resources in a preventative operation to tackle offenders who persistently affect our communities, before they have chance to reoffend.

“Earlier this month, police colleagues used air support in the form of a fixed wing plane to identify nuisance bikers to officers on the ground, and in doing so were able to successfully seize a number of bikes and take enforcement action.

“The operation builds on this good work. We take the issue of nuisance bikes very seriously and will not tolerate people whose anti-social behaviour impacts on other people and our many beautiful green spaces in the city.”

As part of the campaign, a dedicated hotline and email address have been set up by the council. This is to encourage people affected by nuisance bikes to report who is involved in riding the bikes and where they are being stored. The phone number and email address, which is to be used for longer-term intelligence gathering, are: OperationTransom@stoke.gov.uk, 01782 233400. Live incidents, should residents witness nuisance motorbiking, should be reported to Staffordshire Police via calling 101 or www.staffordshire.police.uk/ro/report.

Sergeant Chris Moss from Staffordshire Police said: “We take reports of anti-social behaviour very seriously and nuisance bikers are a source of concern for our communities – with many causing significant damage to public green spaces. These riders are committing traffic offences as a result of the way they ride and often put others at risk in doing so.

“As a force, we work incredibly hard to tackle this issue on behalf of our local communities and an operation, carried out in March 2021, saw several vehicles seized and a number of arrests made. We will continue to work closely with our local partners and will do all we can to support Stoke-on-Trent City Council with Operation Transom, which is looking for new ways to protect our communities from these nuisance bikers.”