A new zero-tolerance clampdown could further strain relations between bikers and police, a Colchester motorcycle shop owner warned today.

The Essex force has declared war on reckless motorcyclists in response to the recent alarming surge in bike-related accidents.

It plans to punish bikers for slight infringements - like using undersized number-plates - and is sending out special undercover patrols to catch them speeding.

Jon Stevens, of Colchester Motorcycles in King Edward Quay, The Hythe, said he agreed that speeding riders needed to be dealt with.

But he claimed the police were making a mistake by singling out two-wheeled road-users for the campaign.

Mr Stevens, a keen biking enthusiast who organises regular group ride-outs in the county, said: "This deliberate targeting of motorcyclists by the police can only lead to motorcyclists feeling unduly persecuted and further antagonising relations between the two groups."

Chief Supt Ian Brown, of Essex Police, acknowledged bikers were not to blame for all road deaths involving motorcycles.

But he said: "There continues to be a small minority of reckless motorcyclists in Essex who are creating misery for other road-users.

"This heightened period of enforcement is targeting a section of the motorcycling community who choose not to heed our advice."

Published Wednesday June 30, 2004

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