A MAN was spotted riding a motorbike on Malvern Common on Saturday, March 3 despite it being illegal to drive vehicles on this area, breaking the local byelaws.

Parish Councillor Helen Burrage photographed the motorcyclist and said that there were dog walkers and children sledging on the common, making the riders actions dangerous.

She said it was also “extremely noisy”.

“I was horrified to see anyone doing such a thing, which is against the Conservators byelaws as well as very unsafe.”

She says the rider later crashed and couldn’t re start the bike, but was apparently unharmed. The pictures show the rider and another man after the crash.

Cllr Burrage said the men tried to re-start the bike but it fired up, then fizzled out, so they took it back to their black van which appeared to have been parked on the small carpark off Peachfield Road.

Burrage posted the pictures on the Malvern noticeboard, a public Facebook group, she said the post divided opinions with some responses even being rude.

“Some Facebook commentators felt it was an ok thing to do and couldn’t care less about safety and byelaws.

“They were also quite rude.”

Beck Baker from The Malvern Hills Trust said: “There is no driving of vehicles of any kind, cars or motorbikes allowed on land under our care, it is against our byelaws so that person shouldn’t have been there.

“We do not permit vehicles on this land because it causes disturbances to the land with tyre marks, but also it disturbs people and wildlife.”

She added “With the icy conditions on that day, and with people around, it sounds very dangerous, so that person really shouldn’t have been riding their motorbike there.”

“Now that this has been brought to our attention we will track this down and will take it to the police if this becomes a recurring thing, or if the person has done this before.”

Cllr Helen Burrage also said the rider left tyre marks visible in the snow which were still visible in the land when the snow had melted.

Ms Baker says the Malvern Hills Trust will be sending a warden out to inspect the site to see if these marks have affected the land and will take photographs.