Be Aware: Misleading Green Road Information Site.

I’ve discovered a problem, you don’t hear of it very often yet it has been mentioned to me on several separate occasions recently and it’s called the querf greenlaning site. (Also known as bywaydatabase.com)

After seeing a photo of a lane I recognised from my agricultural contracting days (but not a legally drivable PRoW) posted on Facebook, I privately made contact with the OP and confirmed my suspicions by discovering that this person had inadvertently driven a bridleway based on inaccurate information sourced on querf. The person who drove the bridleway wasn’t the stereotypical mudplugger, it was a young family in a largely unmodified Discovery, just the solo vehicle on a dry and sunny bank holiday afternoon.

The bridleway in question has been used illegally by 4x4s before, one chap who got stuck there a couple of years ago swore blind that he was in the right and mentioned a ‘querf’, which at the time meant nothing to me.

Further study has revealed more inaccuracies in Dorset and I suspect that this could also be the case for other counties as well.
The querf site is free and is possibly much more popular and widely used than we realise.

I am of the opinion that it could even be a contributory factor to our off piste/trespass issue – people could well be unwittingly following the inaccurate and misleading information on this site and driving where they shouldn’t be driving on Restricted Byways, bridleways and footpaths.

This is a classic example of another good reason to continue flying our flag by promoting the club, ‘Responsible Rural Recreation’ (and GLASS membership/TW2)…..at least any information shared to the club is accurate and up to date.

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