Our rideout for April was to participate in the Motorcycle Theft Awareness Ride in Hull. The Hull event was the north's equivalent of the London theft awareness event. The ride out has been planned by Karl Freebury on the back of Operation Yellowfin (#Opyellowfin) in Hull, and was supported by all Yorkshire MAG Groups, and the wider rider community.
Ten members on Eight bikes met at Redbeck Cafe, Doncaster Road, Crofton from 07:30 onwards, leaving at 08:00 for the learner friendly route (we had 2 learners with us) from Wakefield, heading through Pontefract, Knottingley, Snaith, Goole, Howden, South Cave & the Priory Park - Park & Ride in 'Ull. Here we met hundreds of others who were amassed waiting for the off at 10:00.
Due to the sheer numbers, we didn't actually set of until 10:30, then literally were queueing for a further 20 minutes as we negotiated Central Hull, all under Police escort, and aided and abetted by marshals from EY MAG who did a cracking job of marking the junctions after the Police had intially blocked them off for us. 648 bikes, trikes, scooters & mopeds took part in the ride, and it took a full 8 minutes for the procession to pass.
We certainly made a big impact in Hull, following a route which took us through the areas which are the biggest theft black spots in Hull.
Despite the numbers, the ride was very well controlled and the Police were very complimentary of the conduct of all participants, together with the cracking job performed by EY MAG's marshals.
Let's hope it proved the point and at the very least, the police have a very clear message that this level of crime is not being accepted within the biking community (although from the pep talk given to us by the Police, they are very much with us on this one, hence, Operation Yellowfin).
Check out the coverage in the Hull Daily Mail: www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/hulls-roads-been-full-motorbikes-1459461 (also includes video coverage). We also made the Calendar TV News that evening: Calendar TV News Article