RESIDENTS battling against speeding motorbikes zooming through their village have won a victory over an offensive advertisement.

Selside man Robin Goodman spotted the advert for the Yamaha Fazer motorbike in the BBC's Top Gear Magazine, and he wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority in disgust.

Now, the authority has upheld the complaint, and ordered Yamaha to withdraw the advert and never again use a similar approach in promoting its motorcycles.

The double page plug, in the May issue of the magazine, called the motorbike "an urban terrorist" and a "new breed of streetfighter", and said the machine could "suddenly appear from nowhere striking fear into the hearts of ordinary citizens".

Yamaha bikers, according to the promotion, "are taking no prisoners" and urged other road users to "be vigilant at all times, you have been warned".

Selside and Horton-in-Ribblesdale villagers have been complaining for some time about bikers using their roads as race tracks, particularly on weekends.

Mr Goodman also contacted Chief Insp David Short, of North Yorkshire Police, who was equally horrified, and condemned the advert to the Advertising Standards Authority. He also brought it to the attention of the the Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Chief Insp Short wrote: "The advertisement does absolutely nothing for road safety and reinforces an unhealthy anti-social attitude which some motorcyclists may wish to live up to."

A number of other Selside residents, including Coun Wilf Fenten, also approached the authority, whose final report reads: "The advertisers said that the advert appeared in specialist magazines and used language that motorcyclists would understand. They said the headline and body copy included words and phrases that played on the word "streetfighter", a recognised motorcycle category.

"The Authority considered that the combination of the headline, body copy and images placed undue emphasis on speed and confrontational behaviour. It concluded that the advertisement over-emphasised speed and was likely to encourage anti-social behaviour."

Mr Goodman this week welcomed the ruling, but felt that the damage had already been done by Yamaha.

"The majority of motorcyclists are OK; it is a substantial minority which break the law and make life intolerable for everybody," he said.

"Yamaha have done absolutely nothing for the image of motorcycling in the eyes of road users generally, or those who think it is wonderful to go out and go bananas, and these are the ones who end up in the casualty wards or in the mortuary.

"Yamaha have undone a lot of the good work done by others, like the police with their Bike Safe 2000 campaign."

And Coun Fenten added: "I only hope that visitors coming to the Yorkshire Dales on motorbikes will take their road responsibilities far more seriously in future. They should try not to destroy the beauty of the Dales, which so many people come to enjoy. With their noise and speed they only kill what little quietness remains.

"Let's hope they, and the companies making their motorcycles, will give more thought to the havoc they can cause when they behave irresponsibly."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.