TROT   Toll Rides                BHS Access Cornwall Home Page

The Toll Rides Off-Road Trust is known as TROT. It is a non-commercial registered charity, organised by riders, with local agents in many parts of the UK. All funds raised go towards paying the farmers/landowners, establishing the routes. Riders pay a licence toll to the scheme. The cost depends upon how many miles are open to riders. They receive a coloured, numbered hat band which must be worn as proof of membership and insurance.

There are such new Toll Rides being planned or coming to fruition in Cornwall. The first that we know of opens 1st November 2006, in the parish of St Hilary near Penzance. A very important point about the establishment of Toll rides is that they should not use any paths that have always been used freely and on which there may be unrecorded rights for horse riders.

We are very interested to see how such schemes work. We feel they could be a viable option to open up good riding depending upon land layout, ownership and importantly local demand. We do not think they are a viable solution for meeting our general riding needs. They must only be for additional riding routes that cannnot be obtained by other means. It is not suitable for the casual rider, for which free access to important routes and shortcuts should be readily available.

Such routes cannot readily provide casual riding access to enable riders to get from A to B because they are not freely available to all. They can complement, but are no substitute for, a connected bridleway network..

The TROT scheme is a national initiative and once joined it is transferable to other sites.