A HEYSHAM motor cyclist is to throw his weight behind a national biker safety campaign.

Bikers are to take to the streets of London to protest about the menace of diesel spills on roads across the UK.

And Phil Butler, of Morecambe Bay Estuaries Advanced Motor Cyclists, says he knows the risks all too well.

"It is a problem, especially at roundabouts," he told the Citizen this week. "Lorries, buses and sometimes cars overfill their tanks with fuel, which then spills out. When the roads are dry it is OK - but when they are wet it is just like having ice under the tyres. Several of our members have come off their bikes because of diesel spills."

Protestors from the British Motorcyclists Federation will rally in London on September 19 to make the point that 'Diesel spills kill'.

Mr Butler says that locally Truckhaven, near Carnforth, is a particular hazardous area for diesel spills on the roundabouts.

But he says the only thing that biker groups can do is to try to educate HGV drivers and inform them not to overfill their vehicles."

The BMF hopes that the rally will raise the profile of the menace that spilled diesel presents to the UK's 1.2 million motor cycle and scooter riders.

It hopes the Government will take heed of the problem - though a 10,000- name petition and a diesel spills action plan presented last year has not yet sparked any action.

Full details on the rally are from www.bmf.co.uk