Volunteer-run BMX track being 'wrecked' by e-motorbikes

The club said it sometimes has to cancel sessions because the track is too dangerous

Volunteers who maintain a BMX track say it is being "wrecked" by people riding over it on electric motorbikes.

Bath BMX Club said it had spent £1,000 on stone and 1,300 volunteer hours maintaining and repairing the track in Odd Down, in Bath, in the past year.

The club's director, Duncan Cockburn, said the ruts caused by the e-motorbikes were dangerous.

The riders "wreck the track, with no responsibility or accountability for repairing the track", he added.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has recently awarded £140,000 to the club to upgrade the track with a new start trap.

Duncan Cockburn said the club was investing money in the track to "really raise the quality" for its members

The council's leader Kevin Guy said: "One of our key aims is to encourage outdoor activity and wellbeing, particularly for the youngsters in our society and this BMX facility is possibly one of the best in the south west.

"If you have an electric bike we have other areas in BANES that you can use them," Mr Guy added.

"Please don't use them here."

Councillor Ken Guy said the BMX track was "amazing"

The track, which was built in the 1980s, is open 24 hours a day for anyone to use for free.

The BMX club said it often has to cancel sessions after electric motorbikes have been used on it because it is unsafe.

Mr Cockburn explained the e-bikes can travel up to 50 and 60mph and that many of the riders do not wear safety equipment.

He said their injuries are "quite significant".

The BMX track is open for riders of all ages and abilities to use

He said there were many options for them to think about but they did not want to shut off access completely.

Mr Cockburn said the council's help so far had been "fantastic" but that finding a solution to keep away electric motorbikes, such as building a fence to "manage access", was a slower process.

"The whole ethos of the club is that everybody should be able to ride... and we want to continue that," he said.

"We definitely do not want to close the track."

'Tiny little bikes'

Young rider Amelie said she loved BMXing and the track "because it's quite close to everyone and there's a lot of people who come here".

Her dad Matt said BMXing was "brilliant", adding that the electric motorbikes cause "a lot of damage to the surface of the track".

He said: "Especially our really youngest members on tiny little bikes - they really struggle when the track's been damaged like that."

Mr Guy said the council was "more than happy" to work with the club to try to find a solution.