Bash the Barriers
bashthebarriers.bsky.social
Bash the Barriers
@bashthebarriers.bsky.social
Active travel, barriers thereto, trying to learn / spread nouse about dealing with them. Walking / wheeling / cycling share common needs, but there are also conflicts to work on.
Building an Army of Davids.
Personal account: @mattwardman.bsky.social
Pinned
OK. What is this?

I campaign against barriers to walking, wheeling & cycling - barriers of any sort, with a focus on physical barriers.

I have been concerned for ages, & made videos as far back as 2015.

I was then radicalised when I could not wheel mum to the GP.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-E...
Cycling in a Cage - Do A-Barriers work?
YouTube video by Matt Wardman
www.youtube.com
Good for accessible travel in Manchester ... eventually.
GM is growing fast.

We will expand @BeeNetwork over the next decade to meet the needs of our bigger economy.

BUT

There’s a limit to what we can do on a congested surface.

It’s why I am asking TfGM to start planning for an underground for GM around a remodelled Piccadilly.
July 11, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
A very interesting interview with Ryan Bradshaw, a partner at Leigh-Day solicitors, about his pro bono work to remove illegal anti-wheelchair (anti mobility scooter, anti-baby-buggy, anti-handcycle, anti-cycle etc ...) barriers from the pathways of Greater Manchester.

youtu.be/Dc-wH8nWLiw?...
The Best School Street in Greater Manchester + The Legal Fight to Remove Cycling Barriers
YouTube video by Walk Ride GM
youtu.be
April 29, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
My weird sign photo for the day.

A cycle route leading straight up an ancient flight of steps into the church yard of St Andrews Church, Skegby.

No. I have no idea what is happening.

AFAIK the Teversal Trail does not even go there. There is one 100m away, but it is the Skegby Trail.
April 29, 2025 at 8:06 AM
I've been a bit dormant here, but this is a question for Cyclists and Mobility Aid users in Sheffield.

These cross-pavement advertising boards in Sheffield (eg near the station on Sheaf Road) - how much trouble are they?

And are there a lot of them?

Streetview:
maps.app.goo.gl/X1BzcVDtv6jm...
Google Maps
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
maps.app.goo.gl
April 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Trump issues order banning "non-classical" architecture.
ie Hyacinth Bouquet discovers the Mussolini Playbook.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential...
Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture – The White House
January 20, 2025 MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE GENERAL SERVICES    ADMINISTRATION SUBJECT:
www.whitehouse.gov
January 26, 2025 at 5:19 AM
I've compiled the core of a "Bash the Barriers" Starter Pack, for:

People, or groups, who are involved in, or interested in, removing anti-wheelchair, anti-wheeling, or anti-cycling barriers from footpaths and public rights of way.

If this is you, PM me & I can add you in.

go.bsky.app/DhPmbJx
January 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Happy Christmas everyone.
Diagram Club newsletter (Christmas edition) open.substack.com/pub/diagramc...
December 21, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
Very pleased that @wheelsforwellbeing.bsky.social are now on here. Definitely worth a follow and a share if you have any interest in #ActiveTravel, transport, infra, #disability rights or cycling!
December 14, 2024 at 10:48 AM
On the Walking & Cycling APPG Parliamentary Enquiry on Active Travel and Mobility Justice.

They can take photos in evidence, in the statement, or as an appendix Link below.

e.g. a Green Flag park being barriered off, excluding wheelchair users.

https://buff.ly/3D2LofH
https://buff.ly/3BqRXIc
Active Travel and Social Justice inquiry - All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking
Press release
buff.ly
December 7, 2024 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
Insurance for cycling.
There are at least 3 options:
1 - Rely on your house contents insurance.
x.com/mattwardman/...
2 - Get insurance from eg membership of Cycling UK. £50 or so per annum give or take.
3 - Get a standalone policy. From ~£30. road.cc have a tool.
insurance.road.cc/bicycle-insu...
road.cc
Best Cycling Website, BikeBiz Awards 2018
road.cc
December 7, 2024 at 3:11 PM
I promised an EPIC barrier location at 8am. (I'm on mid-Atlantic time today).

Here you go. An anti-wheelchair chicane in Lansdowne Road, Urmston at What3words .. verifying.fencing.skills.

I couldn't design it better myself. 😁

buff.ly/3B20MIm

Does anybody else have any more?
November 28, 2024 at 10:27 AM
I've just found perhaps the most EPIC & appropriate What3Words location for an anti-wheelchair barrier in the entire world.

It's in Lancashire.

Just wait until 8am tomorrow morning.
November 27, 2024 at 9:18 PM
I'll be watching this UK cycling compared to Continental cycling documentary with my lunch today.
This a great watch if you have an hour or so.
Very interesting to see the difference between UK and continental attitudes.
and sad to see that in Darlington, not a lot has changed in terms of safe cycling space in a decade and a half
youtu.be/O-gU-CiRCU8?...
Beauty and the Bike HD
YouTube video by Beauty and the Bike
youtu.be
November 27, 2024 at 11:59 AM
This is a good process for dealing with attitudinal barriers to accessibility by Amy Kavanagh.

Polite. Persistent. Assertive. Uncompromising.

There's much to learn from that.

To borrow a phrase from 19C Usonia: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Like Sean I experience regular access refusals with my Guide Dog Ava.

Every time I visit a new shop, restaurant or business my heart races with the fear of confrontation. The law granting access rights for guide dogs has existed for nearly 30 years.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
'Refused service again with my guide dog, I'm done speaking out'
Sean Dilley is inundated with abuse on social media whenever he posts about discrimination issues.
www.bbc.com
November 26, 2024 at 1:27 PM
This is an important one.
A wider, more strategic legal action to aim to get all of these unlawful barriers removed.
We're on a journey, and we start from here * .

(* HERE being somewhat further forward than it used to be.)
After becoming disabled, I got an e-cargo trike to keep cycling safely & comfortably.

It's brilliant. Except for barriers like these.

Delighted that GMCDP, with legal advice from Leigh Day, are pushing @andyburnham.bsky.social to commit ££ to removal.

www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/20...
November 25, 2024 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
The number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills.

Norway - 0
UK - 0
France - 0
Spain - 0
Portugal - 0
Denmark - 0
Australia - 0
Iceland - 0
Italy - 0
Finland - 0
Ireland - 0
Germany - 0
Netherlands - 0
Sweden - 0
Japan - 0
Canada - 0
United States - 643,000
November 23, 2024 at 11:59 AM
IMO one of the positive features of this activist space over the last couple of years has been a convergence of walking / wheeling / cycling.
We have challenges eg conflicting needs for different groups that need to be balanced.
There's a lot to keep talking about. 🤔
November 24, 2024 at 10:31 AM
"Barriers of any sort".
This good BBC story by Sean Dilley has many barriers for blind people:
1 - Restaurant / Tesco attitudes: "no Guide Dogs Allowed" (illegal since 1995 iirc).
2 - Selfish attitudes: 'you are disrupting our lunch.'
3 - Difficulty of enforcement.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
1/2
'Refused service again with my guide dog, I'm done speaking out'
Sean Dilley is inundated with abuse on social media whenever he posts about discrimination issues.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2024 at 10:16 AM
Following this up, Martyn.
One clear way to present it is the anti-wheelchair barrier means an able-bodied person has to walk 50m down the path, but a wheelchair user has to wheel 0.7 miles round the roads (afaics) - 12x as far.
That is a straight violation of EA 2010 20(3)(4), & 21.
HTH
1/2
November 23, 2024 at 11:33 AM
Let me add a couple of ideas here.

Great photo. Great ALT text.
Online, location can help - town or Council, as anyone who is close can get in touch if they can help.
Precise location of barrier can be What3Words in the Alt text.
It can be useful to tag in a local councillor or MP if known.
1/2
This is a barrier near me that the County Council seems to think is fine. I can't independently get through it, even with the power assist as I need to control speed and direction with my arms.
I've just started researching how to take action to get it removed.
November 22, 2024 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Bash the Barriers
This is a barrier near me that the County Council seems to think is fine. I can't independently get through it, even with the power assist as I need to control speed and direction with my arms.
I've just started researching how to take action to get it removed.
November 22, 2024 at 8:00 AM
I'm running this in tandem with a partly political account on my Bluesky.

I have a terrible apprehension that I will - at some point - post something horribly inappropriate by mistake.

(That will be by story, and no one will be able to disprove it.)
November 21, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Early on this feed, let me acknowledge the importance of the work done by Richard Bennett, aka the Heavy Metal Handcyclist.

I liked his technique of intimidating a Council with so much FOI paperwork, that it would be easier just to remove the barrier 👍.

I believe he coined "Bash the Barriers".
November 21, 2024 at 5:50 PM
A more recent video.

This is the only way to cross the M1 without a motor vehicle near Macarthur Glen at J28 (Mansfield). 30k people are on the other side, living close.

This banana bridge was built in the 1960s.

It has had these barriers on it since about 1982.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzvQ...
Chicane Barriers on the Banana Bridge at M1 J28
YouTube video by Matt Wardman
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2024 at 3:18 PM
OK. What is this?

I campaign against barriers to walking, wheeling & cycling - barriers of any sort, with a focus on physical barriers.

I have been concerned for ages, & made videos as far back as 2015.

I was then radicalised when I could not wheel mum to the GP.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-E...
Cycling in a Cage - Do A-Barriers work?
YouTube video by Matt Wardman
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2024 at 3:14 PM