Cyclist says he was refused service at Costa Coffee drive-through – due to company policy “not to serve people on bikes”

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Cyclist says he was refused service at Costa Coffee drive-through – due to company policy “not to serve people on bikes” An employee allegedly told the cyclist that bikes weren’t permitted as “they’re not road legal, taxed or insured” cycling

The admin claimed that the chain “can only allow road worthy, taxed and insured vehicles through the lane”, and told a cyclist they couldn’t use the drive-through because “you’re not taxed or insured to be on the road”.

He then swiftly backtracked on the tax and insurance comment, but maintained that cyclists were not permitted on health and safety grounds. Liam’s lengthy protest brought the drive-through system to a halt and resulted in a visit from the police, who he claims referred to him as “pathetic” and a “loser” with “nothing better to do on a Friday night”.Bet they would serve a police cyclist in uniform ...🤔 I can understand the health and safety implications of having pedestrians standing in the road with vehicles but as cycles and motor vehicles use the same roads all the time it seems a little bizzare, strange risk assessment.

A Costa spokesperson has told road.cc that the company is looking into the incident. We will update this story when we have more information.We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.

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Just walk your bike inside. Normally works for me! They accept dogs don't they? I always joke the bike is toilet trained!

I could have sworn pedestrians and cyclists use public highways as much as people who drive cars, but apparently not in Costas eyes

Pathetic

Unfortunately no company is compelled to serve anyone.

Costa says drive-throughs “are not designed operationally or from a safety perspective for customers on bicycles or on foot” Neither were roads, but we do just fine.

There’s far better coffee elsewhere!

Costa don’t want to get entangled In legal cases where a cyclist is hit by driver on their land. It’s a blanket approach.

Jobsworths

My lad had the same at Starbucks Blackburn when the shop was closed. I pursued them for answers as tobthe fact they had biked 13 miles on the roads with cars going much faster than they would be going along the drive thru. Didnt get a decent answer

The words 'Drive Thru' are self explanatory, wouldn't you agree?

The police should be neutral. Is he breaking the law? I would side with the cyclist in principle. It spotlights how car culture has come to mean status, freedom of movement etc. This confrontational approach polarises opinion but it does highlight how we need to change attitudes

What an absurd assertion. Maybe they should change the brand name to Kwickcaffeinefix and MOT vehicles whilst you drink your coffee

The odd thing about this is that cyclists are a big customer tranche for cafes - a local cafe here was trembling on the edge till I nagged for bicycle racks, and when they were built, its custom absolutely took off, and it's now hugely prosperous

So if im not in a vehicle they wont sew me for anything?

2_Wheeled_Wolf Costa did the cyclist a favour. Their coffee is crap and overpriced.

And is it Costalot policy to waste police time? The dibble have no power to eject him from private property, other than licenced premises when assisting a licemcee, and no crime was being committed.

What about the 1.1 million uninsured cars, or the estimated 650,000 uninsired driver? Will Costalot be checking their documents before serving them?

I had the same at the Starbucks by the BritishCycling headquarters in Manchester. Instead just wheeled my bike in to the asda there and grabbed a better lunch anyway. Made me chuckle!

I had that at a 24hr McDonalds doing a charity ride c3.00am. Refused to serve us until the support van arrived.

He dodged that bullet then. It's possibly the worst coffee in the UK.

That statement applies to about one in ten cars. Feel free to say NO to CostaCoffee

That’s the next CostaCoffee manager of the year that’s coming up with such a stupid rule. Shows how stupid he is that he thinks that. God help us if he drives too.

Another dumb rule / interpretation of a dumb rule by someone who aspires to be on a committee for enforcing dumb rules

Exhibit 94006 of good old-fashioned British common sense.

I use a Boots drive through on my bike regularly, no problems with road legal, tax or insurance with them. I'm surprised any drive thru would do those sorts of checks on every customer/vehicle that comes along.

Dodgy ground there CostaCoffee

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