POLICE across Greater Manchester have been banned from patrolling on mountain bikes amid health and safety fears.

Around 300 police and community support officers with less than a year's bike patrol experience must walk or use cars for two months - pending a safety review.

It follows the death of rookie Police Community Support Officer Christopher Maclure (pictured), who suffered massive head injuries after an accident with a lorry on Atherton Road, Wigan, last week.

Police said officers with more than a year's experience could continue to use mountain bikes, but they would be given extra safety advice.

A spokesman said: "This decision has been taken following the tragic death of PCSO Chris Maclure in Wigan. The safety of officers and staff is our first priority and, while there is no suggestion the assessment process Chris underwent had anything to do with the collision, we have decided to review the nature of assessing officers who patrol on bikes.

Safety training unit

"Following consultation with our health and safety training unit and Unison, we feel confident that officers who have patrolled on bikes for more than 12 months have sufficient experience and road awareness to continue to ride.

"They will be given supplementary advice regarding the Highway Code and safe riding and we will support anybody who has concerns about continuing to patrol on their bikes.

"As a precaution, those officers and PCSOs who have been cycling for less than 12 months will not be able to patrol on bikes until a full review has taken place and they have been re-assessed. We hope the officers affected by this review will be back patrolling on bikes in a couple of months."

She added: "Officers should only ride a police cycle if they have passed a competence test."

Chris, 21, of Priory Road, Ashton in Makerfield, worked from Bamfurlong Police Station.

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