A PENSIONER who visits Penrith twice a week with her 89-year-old husband said she will not come to the town again after anti-social youths 'rode their bikes at them'.

Anita Reed, in her 70s, of Brough, and her husband visited Penrith on Thursday, June 2, and were walking in the town centre, stopping for a break outside B&M on Bridge Lane, when 12-year-old children arrived doing wheelies on the pavement and gathering around her.

Anita said: “I was intimidated.

“One of them came at me with his bike, after he saw I wasn’t going to move, he had to stop.

“I said to him, 'I’m not going to be intimidated'.

“Someone came to help but they were now circling me with bikes, so I called the police.

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“The police came, and the policeman asked me what I wanted to do, I asked why those children were allowed to be on the pavement and they said as they were under the age of 18 they couldn’t do anything.”

The current law states riding a bicycle on a pedestrian pavement is against the law and can result in a £50 fine; the age of criminality is 10 – Anita said these children were 12 and up and one of them was known by police.

Anita said one ‘mouthy’ 12-year-old boy shouted at her in front of police officers, saying he will: "get six of our year 11s to sort you out".

She said: “Are we allowed to be harassed like that?

“They seem to think they’re invisible.

“When I was a kid, I was frightened of the police.

“We were always terrified of them, but kids don’t seem to have any respect for the police.

“I don’t want children to be smacked, but there is no discipline and there needs to be.”

A spokesperson from Cumbria Police said: “Police were contacted at around 1pm on June 2 to the report of public order in the area of Bridge Lane, Penrith.

“Officers attended and spoke to those involved.”

The spokesperson added that it is at the police officer’s discretion to issue fines related to cycling offences, and an investigation into the public order offence is ongoing.

No arrests were made or fines issued.

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