POLICE officers who seized bikes being illegally used at an old quarry have dismissed complaints that riders have nowhere else to go.

The police also say riders trespassing on the Flappit quarry site, near Cullingworth, cannot claim to be unaware of the fact that the land is now off-limits.

Officers from the Bradford district Antisocial Behaviour bike team targeted the Flappit on Sunday afternoon in a random check. They saw a mixture of motorcycles and quad bikes being used by separate groups of riders.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "As is often the case, everyone claimed they'd no knowledge the site was not allowed to be used by bikes or that they thought that they had permission to use it.

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"This was despite the signs saying so, and the presence of blocks of stone to preventing easy access.

"It's been well publicised on a number of occasions that this area is not open to the public and the use of vehicles here is illegal."

He noted that the site was undergoing development work by an aggregates company, so was therefore even more dangerous to users who choose to trespass.

He said anyone choosing not to heed police warnings would risk the seizure of their vehicles and possible prosecution.

During their visit to the Flappit last Sunday, the officers dealt with 13 people and 10 vehicles. They issued section 59 warnings and confiscated some of the bikes.

The Flappit was used unofficially by bikers and off-road riders for many years, but following the death of dad Mark Clifford in a quad bike accident at the site in 2007, Bradford Council had it closed. The land is now privately owned.

The police spokesman added: “It's unfortunate that we're still having to take action against people for using their vehicles there.

"The off-road biking community is a close knit group. Anyone with an interest in the hobby living in the Yorkshire area is well aware by now that this site is off-limits.

"It's dangerous, causes nuisance to the public, and the bikers themselves run the risk of being targeted for the theft of their vehicles.

"If people keep choosing to come here and put themselves and other at risk of injury we'll keep up with our random checks.

"A regular complaint from people our team deals with is 'There’s nowhere for us to go'.

"This is a poor excuse, as there are plenty of legal sites for enthusiasts to visit and use their vehicles at."

The officer went on to list a number of off-road bike riding locations, including: Bumpy’s at Birstall, Parkwood Off Road Centre at Tong, Bradford, FatCat Motoparc at Armthorpe, Doncaster, Uncle Eddie’s Motorcross Track at Carcroft, Doncaster, Catteralls Farm at Ribchester, Lancashire, Preston Docks MX Track at Preston, Lancashire and Grange Moor Motorcross Track at Flockton, Wakefield.