Before Rob had the idea for Bricycles, he had attempted to single-handedly target cars parking on pavements. Though this campaign was unsuccessful (and in addition, caused him to be barred from his local shop!),it is a problem which is still with us, as pedestrians trying to negotiate residential areas of Brighton, littered with 'parked' cars.
I tried to establish a local branch of something called the Pedestrian's
Association, it exists as a national body (now renamed Living
Streets).I got in touch with them and they provided me with
material and a piece of legislation they were trying to get magistrates
to take seriously which was 1850s and it was about driving vehicles
over public footways. So cars park on pavements often with the
connivance of wardens who would rather they were on the pavements
than obstructing roads and this annoyed me intensely.Ultimately
all that really happened was the police eventually got embarassed
and sent official warnings to all the cars I'd sent photographs
of and I got banned from my local corner shop for photographing
him unlocking his car
Rob has wearied of environmental campaigning for the most part
Yes, not cynical but weary is fair.It struck me how much it bothered me when Environmental issues started to be taken on by the main political parties - ie Labour- because I felt I'd had something stolen from me, you know as a volunteer campaigner and so on. For instance when the local council takes on issues..damn it, the role disappeared!.... I guess more to the point, you beat your head against a brick wall for a certain length of time and eventually its nice to stop doing it. And that's moreorless the way I felt about the campaigning side. I found it difficult to maintain the enthusiasm that I had earlier and I've just moved on to other things
However, his personal choices are still very influenced by environmental
issues