AFTER being charged with assault, Ernie Jamnikar is happy Gympie Council has decided to ban skateboards and bikes on footpaths in Goomeri’s CBD.

The decision was handed down in Tuesday’s Works and Services Committee meeting, after councillors heard of what happened to Mr Jamnikar.

He recently went to court for assault after an altercation with a bike rider and says he received no punishment and no conviction was recorded.

“I grabbed a kid on a push bike, he’d ridden past, fast, three times on the same day. I’d asked him to slow down and got a mouth full of abuse,” Mr Jamnikar says.

Then the “kid” apparently got up on his pedals to get some speed up to ride past a fourth time and Mr Jamnikar said he stood in front of the bike, grabbed it and the “kid” fell off.

“His father put me on assault charges. It basically got thrown out. I had lots of letters of support from local business owners and the Chamber of Commerce.

“We’ve had a lot of trouble in the area with kids on push bikes.

“I’ve got a duty of care to my elderly customers.”

Mr Jamnikar said an elderly customer could be knocked over and there was an incident a couple of years ago where a child on a bike went through the butcher’s window and cut his arm.

“It’s great (they’ve been banned). We’ve got bike tracks at the back of the shop. There’s no need for them to ride at the front of the shops real quick.”

Mr Jamnikar said youths rode and skated on the cenotaph and there was an incident recently where one fell on to the road and a truck heading through town nearly struck the child.

He says the truck driver was able to anticipate the need to swerve, but without evasive measures he would have hit the child.

“What about the poor truck driver if he did run over him?”

Cr Tony Perrett said he had received numerous complaints from Goomeri residents about youths riding on footpaths.

He said in Tuesday’s committee meeting police would have some authority to stop the kids from riding on the footpath if the council banned them.

The decision has excluded wheeled recreational devices or toys and bikes being ridden on footpaths in Moore St (Burnett Hwy) and in Boonara St (Wide Bay Hwy) in front of shops.