It’s one of the most popular and attractive parks in the capital with houses bordering Tooting Common changing hands for over £5 million.
But recently the peace of the dog walkers and yummy mummies with pushchairs has been shattered as more and more say they have been left in fear of their lives by inconsiderate cyclists tearing through the park at up to 30mph.
The 200 acres of parkland are bordered by Tooting, Streatham, Clapham and provide a time-saving cut through between each – making for a two minute ride instead of 15 minute drive.
But the advent of electric bikes and scooters – often used by delivery drivers – means hundreds more are now cutting through the park at much greater speed and with no aural warning that the silent vehicles are incoming, it’s said.
Some have even described the main pathways through the Common, which contains London‘s biggest outdoor swimming pool as well as a cafe, playground, cricket pitch and tennis courts, as beginning to resemble ‘a motorway’.
There is a designated cycle path through the park – which is intended to be shared courteously with pedestrians – but on most paths cyclists are theoretically banned, even though most ignore this, locals say.
There is also meant to be a 12mph speed limit but those agitating for enforcement say that bikes, particularly electric ones, regularly exceed this threefold.
So loud have the complaints been lately that the local council has now been spurred into action in recent weeks – sending officers out to pull over cyclists exceeding the speed limit.
Tim Natham, 45 said: ‘There’s no regulation around electric bikes. It’s really bad. Lots of cyclists go crazy. They go on paths, they go on the road, they go anywhere’
The 200 acres of parkland are bordered by Tooting, Streatham, Clapham and provide a time saving cut through between each – making for a two minute ride instead of 15 minute drive
Wandsworth Council dispatched staff armed with a handheld speed gun.
This week it was reported that one, named Ed Owen, was given a £50 fine for cycling too fast on the 12mph path but then successfully appealed his fixed-penalty notice.
He had the fine overturned after pointing out that cyclists do not normally have to follow speed limits which are generally only applicable to motorised vehicles.
While Mr Owen agreed that some cyclists drive dangerously he hoped he was one of the ‘considerate’ ones, adding that ‘very few cyclists have a speedometer so have no way of knowing precisely how fast they are going’.
One daily Common dog walker summed up the anger felt by dog walkers versus cyclists – and told us: ‘You can honestly think you’re going to be killed when cyclists come past you at high speed with no warning.
‘About 20 delivery drivers passed in the space of ten minutes earlier, they’re going really fast and not looking where they’re going.
‘They’ll ring their bells if you’re lucky – but it’s clear they expect you to get out of the way. It’s not a shared path, it’s more like a motorway. There’s nowhere that the cyclists won’t go and I try to avoid them because my dog is terrified of bikes.
‘They’ve even screamed at me things like ‘*** off you c***’. To me – an old lady! Its foul. Their rudeness is extraordinary. The whole situation is increasingly terrifying.’
Local Alistair Macintosh told the Daily Mail that the problem was more ‘delivery drivers on the e-bikes going really fast’ rather than regular cyclists
Another local, Alistair Macintosh, told the Daily Mail: ‘The problem doesn’t tend to be cyclists on normal push bikes, it’s more the delivery drivers on the e-bikes going really fast.
‘The big, fat, tiled things that look like mini motorbikes – they’re the ones that zoom along.
‘There’s also regular problems with kids on Lime bikes. But, you know, they’re young and fearless and they think they’re going to live forever…’
Instead of having more police presence, he wants the ‘signage to be better’ to deter cyclists from breaking the rules.
‘I hadn’t realised that there is actually a speed limit on this path for bikes until all the local residents got up in arms but there’s nothing you can see here in this spot that shows its 12mph,’ he said.
He added that he hadn’t seen any police presence ‘at all’ in recent months despite walking his dog through the park every day.
Even while we visited we witnessed a typical confrontation when one woman pedestrian rebuked a delivery driver, telling him he wasn’t allowed to ride his e-bike down the path he was using.
He responded with a dismissive hand gesture and a muttered profanity before continuing as before at around 20mph on a path where cyclists are supposedly banned.
Another walker, Sam, 58, who has lived by the park for 20 years, said she had seen toddlers knocked over by racing cyclists when the park was at its busiest in the summer.
Resident David Thomas (pictured) said ‘The commuters just seem to regard it as a cycle track rather than shared use space’
She told us: ‘Oh, God, it’s awful. They just get so close whizzing past you and they are such big vehicles swinging between people.
‘I think we’ve got to stop the bikes coming down here. As much as it’s a shame, maybe only kids should be allowed to use it, because the adults are using it as a cut through.’
‘There’s now a petition which aims to stop them going down here.’
Tim Natham, 45 said: ‘There’s no regulation around electric bikes. It’s really bad. Lots of cyclists go crazy. They go on paths, they go on the road, they go anywhere.’
As he talks, a Deliveroo driver swerves down a pedestrian-only path nearby.
Tim notices and says: ‘Watch this guy – let’s see where he goes… there you go. He’s ignored the sign [saying no cyclists]. Everyone does, they don’t respect it.
‘There’s so many pedestrians, there are parents and children, there’s people walking their dogs, cyclists should be going as slowly as they can. If you’re cycling properly fast, you’re gonna either injure a kid or a dog.’
Another dog walker, who is disabled, told the Mail: ‘There have been one or two times where it was sheer luck that I wasn’t knocked over by the electric bikes – they’re going so fast’. It was just charging along.
‘It’s often the Deliveroo drivers and they’re going really, really fast. They’re using this as a cut through and there’s nothing to stop them.’
David Thomas said ‘The commuters just seem to regard it as a cycle track rather than shared use space.
‘They get really close to you and it can be scary, you hear about collisions. I knew someone who broke something after being hit by an e-bike.’
However, he believed having police patrols would be ‘really effective’ because ‘the signage is rubbish’.
‘I’m a cyclist too and it’s a tricky one, because I think cyclists should be able to use them through routes, because it’s a green space, and it’s lovely to cycle through but then, it’s a shared path, people shouldn’t feel unsafe,’ he said.
Even one e-bike delivery told us he recognised the problem – and said he himself is wary of other users particularly after the many phone snatches they have been linked to.
He said: ‘They have batteries that mean some can go faster than 40mph and they can come at you really fast, by surprise.
‘People have reached tried to grab my phone in this way. So they must be intimidating.’
Cyclist Bernard also acknowledged that many bikes were going ‘too fast’ and said electric bikes should be forced to stick to the road.
‘Some of them go faster than a motorbike. Here, they go well above 25mph,’ he told us.
While Vanessa Cowie said the e-bikes leave her terrified.
She said: ‘I do feel unsafe, but I worry most about the kids and the dogs. The cyclists just bomb it down here and along places they’re not meant to go.’
‘Children should be able to wander free but it worries me that they will walk straight into a bike.
‘I work in a hospital and I’ve seen the outcome of ‘bike versus human’, and it’s not good because they can basically ride as fast as a motorbike.
‘A regular push bike is fast enough, but now there’s the ones with the batteries that worry me more – and they’re often people who’ve got music on headphones and so are not paying proper attention.
‘But they can become aggressive if you askl them to slow down:
‘I had one woman who had to break suddenly because my dog ran across her path and she gave me a tirade of abuse.
‘She said my dog should be on a lead – but I can’t run her anywhere else, whereas you can ride your bike on the road.
‘In the summer, I will try to go on the grass rather than the paths to avoid them, but it’s not practical in the winter as it’s so muddy.’
Margaret Wardle, who walks with a zimmer frame, said bikes have swerved past her ‘really fast’ and she now feels unsafe walking through the park.
She told us: ‘I saw the police car here for the first time on Monday and I think it’s good if they’re doing something about it.’
Her friend Ann called some of the alleged culprits ‘lycra louts’ who ‘don’t know right from left’.
She added: ‘Staggered barriers would be a very good idea because the prams can go under it and the rest of us can just zigzag down the path.’
Fred Rob, 23, said he has to be really wary of where his dog is when they walk down the path.
‘If I can I’ll restrict him to going on the grass’ so he doesn’t get caught by a speeding scooter.
‘It’s bad now but it’s even worse in the summer, it gets so busy and dense on the path.’
Patrick McDonnell said: ‘The problem is, if you’re walking, you don’t hear it until it’s up against you.
‘If you make a move either side, you can get hurt and they will do some considerable damage.
‘I think they need to add rumble strips which makes a noise when they are nearby, so you notice them.
He added that when you tell them to be more careful or slow down you are told to ‘f*** off’. They get really aggressive.’
One local said: ‘The delivery drivers go mad. They drive like lunatics.
‘They get paid per job so the quicker they can get it done, the more money, which is driving this danger.
The advent of electric bikes and scooters – often used by delivery drivers – means hundreds more are now cutting through the park at much greater speed and with no aural warning that the silent vehicles are incoming
‘There’s dogs and children here crossing the path and if it goes into one of those an adult with a heavy e-bike, it will kill the dog or kill a child, especially when it’s going 30 miles an hour.
He believed that the 12mph sign had only recently been added and hadn’t spotted it before.
Dogwalker Sarah Pyper said: ‘The thing that bothers me is that this is meant to be the only path that cyclists are allowed on but they go everywhere.
‘Either police the fact that you get fast cyclists on all the other paths or just allow cyclops to go on all of them and get them to look out for pedestrians.
‘The thing is bikes don’t have speedometers so how are they going to know.’
Patricia Fernandez said: ‘The electric bikes, that’s what they should be penalising people, riding on the pavement, not on the road. Not on the road.
‘There’s lots of no cycling signs around and things. They don’t give a jam.
‘They’re also not stopping at the lights. Even though it’s green for the pedestrian, you have to dodge out of the way. That is what they should be penalising.
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said: ‘We want everyone to enjoy our award-winning green spaces, safely and confidently.
‘Too many park users have told us they feel unsafe around speeding delivery riders, illegally modified e-bikes and dangerous or inconsiderate cyclists.
‘Our Parks Police are taking action to protect many people, including considerate cyclists, who use our parks responsibly. Officers follow an educational-first approach, offering information and advice about the importance of slowing down and using designated cycling routes, and only as a last resort will they issue Fixed Penalty Notices for dangerous speeding and unauthorised cycling.
‘This is about responding to residents’ concerns and keeping our parks, commons and open spaces safe for everyone.’
