ANGRY residents of an idyllic North York Moors village have launched a campaign to put the brakes on speeding bikers who use their road as a racetrack.

Community members in Bilsdale, near Helmsley, have formed a pressure group named Band - Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger - to stop irresponsible bikers using the B1257 Helmsley to Stokesley road.

The road, dubbed the Helmsley TT in some motorcycling circles, is a popular proving ground for riders from all over the country who want to test their skills and the performance of their machines.

But residents are paying the price in noise nuisance, pollution and increased danger of injury and even death for riders, other road users and pedestrians.

One person has already been killed on the B1257 through Bilsdale this year as the death toll of bikers killed in North Yorkshire in 2003 rose to 28, the highest ever.

Residents are urging police to crack down hard on bikers who flout road laws with an increased police presence, the introduction of speed cameras and a 50mph speed limit brought to the national park.

Group chairman Ken Braithwaite, of Chop Gate, Bilsdale, said the campaign was not against bikers but was instead targeting the "irresponsible and dangerous element" who give all two-wheeled motorists a bad name.

He said: "Not only is the B1257 not the Yorkshire TT, these bikers are not TT riders. They have neither the skill nor the guts to compete in real TT racing, so they come here to fantasise.

"But the people of North Yorkshire are having to pay the price for those fantasies in noise pollution and carnage on their roads."

Nick Wood-Dow, deputy chairman of the Environment Council, said: "The North York Moors National Park is not simply one of Yorkshire's treasures, it is a national asset of great importance.

"It is tremendously sad that, on weekends, the B1257, through the heart of the park, has been allowed to become a lethal race track for inadequate and irresponsible bikers."

North Yorkshire Police has shifted the emphasis of its Bike Safe campaign towards a harder line on irresponsible bikers who speed and race around the county's 6,000 miles of roads.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council, which would be responsible for reducing the speed limit, said officers were waiting for the Government to create new guidelines on speed limits.

Debbie Molyneux, of York Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), admitted there was a problem with riders of high-performance machines targeting the B1257 route. She said: "There's a lot of weekend warrior-type people who have no real respect for other road users.

But, of course, not all bikers are like that. It's only a small minority, but it gives everybody a bad name."

She said MAG would support campaigners who wanted to target hooligan riders, breaking the law and putting life and limb at risk.

Updated: 11:02 Wednesday, October 08, 2003