The UK is becoming less and less skate friendly with parks trying to ban skating and police stopping skaters in the street. In a response to the number of injuries, some cities have passed byelaws preventing young skaters from skating on the roads. Although skaters are occasionaly to blame, most feel they are being persecuted by a skate-phobic society. However in some cases the letter of the law is not followed by those wishing ban skating. In a recent court case it was shown that the Royal Parks were not acting fully within the law when banning skating in their parks. In effect the anti-skating signs they put up are not enforcable by the police. So what about more public places? The law states that public carriageways and footpaths are for use of the whole public, including skaters (so long as they pose no danger to other persons lawfully using the footway) and that their use is a matter of common sense. You can see a press-release of a court case which outlines the proceedings of the case and the conclusions drawn from it. Thanks to Martin Brass for passing on the information to SkateUK and for taking on the Royal Parks!