Derbyshire’s rural police slam cyclists who ignored rules to ride on protected Peak District site before abusing landowner

Derbyshire’s Rural Crime Team has criticised cyclists who rode on historic and environmentally protected land – and then abused the owner.

Officers found that a pair of cyclists had ignored notices not to ride on the land – which is legally protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

In a Facebook post, the rural team said: “We're now at the height of summer and the countryside is a busy place. Visitors need to be respectful and courteous and residents need to exercise a degree of tolerance and vice versa. It's a tricky balancing act and conflict often arises.

“The above applies to users of all public places whether on foot, wheels or hooves. People do need to appreciate that landowners on whatever scale are the custodians of the land and, in most cases, do a splendid job maintaining the beauty of the area and the access which goes with it.

“People like the ones in the picture ought to take a good look at themselves. Not only did they disregard some very polite and clear signage but they then felt the need to be abusive to the landowner who, in this instance, was completely polite to them.”