‘This simply cannot go on!’ Nuisance bikers must be brought to book for their excessive speed and noise

Noisy speeding motorcycles have become the bane of many people’s lives.

Yesterday Hastings Police said that over the weekend they had been ‘made aware’ of excess noise and speeding by motorcycles in the Battle Road and Sedlescombe Road areas of the town.

“This antisocial and illegal behaviour can cause distress for locals, along with the obvious dangers that speeding can cause. Currently, nearly a quarter of all individuals killed and seriously injured in road traffic collisions are riding a motorcycle – a massive over-representation when you consider that motorcycles only account for around five per cent of vehicles on the road,” a police spokesman said.

Now Hastings and Rye’s MP Sally-Ann Hart, has said it’s time to do something about the nuisance and she says she has first hand experience of just how annoying it can be.

“Living in Udimore, I have had first-hand experience of the increase in speeding and noise along our country lanes. I am clearly not alone. Constituents from across Hastings, Rye and surrounding villages have been writing in, complaining about the noticeable increase, since the Covid-19 lockdown began, in noise and speeding especially from motorbikes.”

Mrs Hart says she is ‘calling time’ on this nuisance practice and will be meeting with Sussex Police to work through a plan of action to bring it to an end.

“The streets and winding lanes in East Sussex may seem enticing to use as a racetrack, but this simply cannot go on. These activities show no respect to local residents or the surrounding environment. It has to stop,” she says.

Working with Sussex Police and the local community Mrs hart says she wants to find ways in which the excessive noise levels can be tackled and that speeding motorcyclists are caught and face the full force of the law. She has also written to the Minister responsible to ask that the penalties currently in place for altering exhausts or baffles – to increase noise levels – are reviewed and tightened up, so that they act as more of a deterrent.

“I am encouraged by trials that are taking place across the country, such as acoustic cameras that measure noise levels and might be able to identify vehicles making excessive noise. There is work to be done here to find innovative ways to catch the motorcyclists who are taking part in these disrespectful activities,” Mrs Hart told Hastings In Focus.

Hastings and Rother Police say you can report antisocial motorcycle riding here: http://orlo.uk/q9b81 or if dangerous riding is causing an immediate threat to life or safety, always call 999.

Are noisy, speeding motorcyclist as problem where you live? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

26 thoughts on “‘This simply cannot go on!’ Nuisance bikers must be brought to book for their excessive speed and noise

  1. Every evening we have horrendously noisy motorbikes going up and down Telford Road, St leonards-on-sea, to and from Castleham industrial estate where they seem to gather.

  2. I live in Battle Road just near the junction of Menzies Road. The noise of motorbikes has increased a lot lately. Also they use Menzies Road as a speed track revving their engines and speeding up and down there as fast as they can.

  3. Horrendous noise along Sedlescombe Road North – 3:53am is a favourite time of one extremely loud and fast bike, I have a recording through double glazed windows that is shocking!! How that motorcyclist hasn’t killed himself let alone an innocent road user is more by luck that’s judgement’! Also groups of 125cc bikes charging around from 11am until early hours of morning, it’s so disturbing!!

  4. I believe motorbikes should be left alone to be honest with you its mopeds that should be delt with also people in cars with loud exhaust systems and loud music should be delt with such as boy racers and ones who are on the phone constantly. My opinion bikers do help people just the older generation dosnt see that
    It also increases congestion in towns and other areas cars take up a whole lane where bikes and motorbikes only take a small space and the traffic keeps moving where cars stop start all the time

    1. Bikers are fine. The problem is certain individuals who ride in excess of 60 mph in a 30 mph limited area (which is dangerous both to themselves and others) and often very loud which is unsociable. Young children trying to go to sleep can find this very disturbing. This gives the biking fraternity a bad name because cars tend (not always) to be quieter.

    2. This isn’t an attack on motorcyclists, this is about a minority of bikers who do not believe that the speed limits apply to them and who have obviously modified their bike’s to make them louder. The baffles are in the silencer for a reason.

      1. Wether it’s a car, moped or motorbike, it’s the same type of idiot who fits illegal exhausts and drives like they’re on a race track. Sound cameras are the only way of catching them and have to become mainstream.

  5. It is by far the worst , most annoying thing about living in this lovely town the police should be made to make this a priority or it will just increase, give them targets that’s the only way they ever do anything about anything

  6. What is the point of having a noisy bike? Unnecessary look at me syndrome I say police would pull any car sounding the same

  7. I accept living in Hastings town centre is going to be noisy. However the plague of modified exhausts is increasing and the noise levels at times are unbearable. This is an every day occurrence. There are so many drivers and bike riders that have quiet vehicles. The minority who virtually break the sound barrier, grandstanding and showing off, need to be stopped. They are ruining people’s lives.

  8. I live in Pett & drive both a car & and a motorcycle & have been doing so safely for over 50 years now.
    Yes, I totally agree, there are a minority of anti social bikers who make unacceptable noise & speed. They unfortunately give the rest of bikers a bad name.
    However, there are also a relatively large group of motorists out there, who do exactly the same. commit numerous traffic offences & blast out unacceptable levels of noise from their sound systems & exhausts.
    A large number of people who drive cars & vans seem to pay very little attention to the safety of other road users, are frequently on their mobiles whilst driving & cause death & injury to motorcyclists & other road users on a daily basis.
    So please don’t start picking on the overwhelmingly considerate group of motorcyclists who ride perfectly responsibly & also see first hand, the dreadful driving habits of a large number of drivers of four wheel vehicles on a daily basis.

  9. It not bikers that are the problem, it’s a small selection of people mostly in my experience L Plate learners with illegal exhausts and small if any L Plates. L Plates give other road users the opportunity to give you more space on the road.
    Small bike Loud pipes. Small groups of people hanging around together following each other around the town with nothing better to do.
    Focus on the right problem not the wrong one.
    Bikers are not bad, loud pipes are not bad. Anti Social behaviour is exactly that bike or not.

    1. I would agree with this comment. The majority of bikers are great unfortunately, as with everything, it is the ‘mindless’ few who spoil it for everyone.

    2. That my friend is bullshit. Every day large bikes with no L plates drive past Hastings Pier and deliberately accelerate at speeds getting up to 90 mph.They are dangerous idiots risking life to all and should be banned immediately for this type of offence .

  10. Old London road has become a favourite of the unchallenged noisy vehicle trend.
    It’s not so much proper motorbikes that have a naturally throaty, loud-ish tone but the modified smaller bikes that are just so annoying, up and down the road going nowhere in particular and just causing a nuisance.
    The situation is worsened by the muppets who give their small hatchback cars the illegal exhaust treatment too. Along with the habit of making the exhaust pop and bang in residential areas it’s becoming impossible to relax in one’s home.
    I do hope something will be done to stop it.

  11. I have cctv footage of a motorcyclist riding up Augustus way on a scrambling bike with no number plate or helmet. He then proceeds to ride up the public footpath leading from Carinus Gardens up along the back of the industrial units in Castleham Road. Given that this is a very busy path way we are very concerned not only with the disturbance but also that some innocent member of the public will get seriously injured, or worst, because of this senseless act

  12. I live in Ore Village and there is a similar problem here. Bikes with the baffles drilled out; riders speeding round the estates and the noise from the idiotic “organ donors” opening up on the Rye Road.

  13. I live in St Leonard’s, both day and night, you have these motorcycles speeding up West Hill Road, as fast and as loud as they can be, it horrible and very dangerous , I have two young children and it’s a very narrow road. This is a real problem that should be addressed.

  14. I’m sick and fed up with screeching bikes and mopeds with altered exhausts going up and down at all hours of the night along the Bourne Old town and old London Road in the Middle of the night ..,it echoes like a gully with building either side and that stretch of road has a tunnel effect … it’s deafening

  15. Speeding bikes with noisy exhausts everyday in Blackman Avenue and Wishing Tree Road area. Constantly bikes running idle for 15 mins without going anywhere, comparing who has the noisiest bike. Riding around at stupid speeds no protective gear on apart from helmet. Can be as early as 2 am. Warming the engine for 15 minutes before leaving the house. Fumes in blowing in windows of other houses and some days on and off all day. Can hear them from miles away and time how long they take to get back. I own a bike and I never have mine running idle for any amount of time. I have ridden bikes for over 10 years and even the noise and carelessness of others is making me cross. The large majority of us bike owns don’t ride like this but it’s a handful of others that ruin it for the rest.

  16. I live near Ore just off The Ridge. We get lots of excessive noise coming from vehicles being driven fast around here, frequently anti-socially, though have to say the culprits I see in the main doing it are those on mopeds and those with Souped up cars with altered exhausts, driving at speed, with excessive revving at lights and junctions, and there seems to be plenty of them! You can hear it loudly as well from inside my home.

  17. Hastings is already a mecca for bikers and car cruises. That’s great for the local economy. What’s not fair is the sheer amount of modified, noise bikes AND cars that go around deliberately showing off their modified vehicles, with the police and local council doing nothing, and it’s been going on for ages. Enough is enough. I used to be on the car cruise scene, I too had a performance exhaust, but it was nothing like the ones going around. Plus I was always aware of the noise level that I we were causing others, so we used to go to empty retail parks and industrial estates or motorway services. So, maybe make a place they can go to, an entry fee to cover the cost of whatever is used, so everyone wins ?

  18. I live in Eastbourne and am getting tired of the noisy bikes and cars as they drive around Devonshire Place. They park their cars with their lights on and sit in each others cars, no social distancing. The motorbikes have noisy exhausts and take off every five to ten minutes tearing down the road. Very disturbing. I understand they are delivery drivers but we are being harassed! Why can’t they park outside the establishments which employ them?

  19. Some people are deliberately targeted by gangs using cars and bikes; I have seen dozens that pass the house accelerating as they do so! Revving engines/backfiring with little regard, it’s a 30 MPH zone, police do nothing!

  20. I have recently moved to Hailsham from Crowborough and the noise of excessively loud and illegal exhausts on local cars and motorbikes in the area is unbearable. Who the hell do these people think they are? Is it a generation of bikers/road-users who are born without a conscience, have no care or forethought for anybody else’s feelings, no respect for anybody at all, and clearly just want the whole world to know just how much they don’t give a ***. I’m so sick of hearing the same idiots racing up and down outside of my house every day and night without ever seeing one sign of a policeman. I think the only thing I can do to try and stop them, outside of waiting out on the road for the prats to drive past so I can take a picture of their number-plate, is to contact Wealden Council to do something about it. I’m not holding my breath. Clearly the powers that be don’t live anywhere near any of this fury-inducing racket so they couldn’t care less. All of these overly-loud pig drivers should be served with ASBO’s, as they are clearly the same sort of useless individuals who are generally branded with one. When are these stupidly loud exhausts going to be made so illegal that riders wouldn’t dare fit one? And how the hell do the police not hear and see what’s going on and start handing out some heavy fines? I know motorbikes are faster and more nimble on the roads, but it’s not like the police can’t hear them coming. Put these numbnuts out of everyone else’s misery.

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