Filling up your tank is usually a dull affair. You queue up, stare blankly at the price per gallon, and wonder whether your car is drinking more than you do on a Friday night. But in Cleveland, popping into the local Shell could soon come with more drama than a Fast & Furious chase scene — because the police aren’t just after the riders anymore, they’re eyeing up the cashiers too.
Yes, you read that right. In a move that sounds equal parts ingenious and absurd, Cleveland police are now using a 2017 ordinance to ticket not only the swarms of dirt-bike and ATV riders illegally terrorising city streets, but also the humble gas-station clerks who dare sell them fuel. That’s right: ring up the wrong customer and you could be slapped with a $100 fine.
NEW: Cleveland residents are FURIOUS after dozens of dirt bike riders TERRORIZED the streets for hours while police REFUSED to stop them
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) August 5, 2025
RESIDENT: “You all and this ****** mayor that is running our city need to regain control of our city that we pay our property taxes for.”… pic.twitter.com/WCuJDYrH37
The idea is simple enough: starve the beast. No petrol, no mayhem. But critics argue the law’s about as effective as banning forks to fight obesity. Since it went live, the ordinance has been used just nine times. Nine. That’s fewer than the number of Cleveland Browns playoff wins this century. Of those, five stuck, one was tossed out, and the rest simply vanished into the legal ether.
Meanwhile, the problem persists. Just earlier this month, surveillance cameras captured a gang of ATVs and dirt bikes swarming Denison Avenue like a scene out of Mad Max: Midwest Edition. Riders were weaving into oncoming traffic, popping wheelies, and then conveniently topping off their tanks at a nearby station — as if chaos was just part of their Sunday errands.
Police Chief Annie Todd put it diplomatically: “I think they were out there having fun, but it’s causing a nuisance to the entire community.” Which is a bit like saying Godzilla was “just stretching his legs.”
But here’s the real kicker: under the ordinance, gas clerks are supposed to somehow play fuel police. Spot an unregistered vehicle, deny the sale, and presumably risk being screamed at — or worse — by a gang of adrenaline-charged bikers who really just want to keep the throttle pinned. Defense attorney Susan Moran asked the obvious: “Is the clerk supposed to be looking out the window like it’s 1950? Should they just run outside in an apron and say, ‘Sorry son, no plate, no petrol’?”
And she has a point. In the age of self-checkout, do we really expect the midnight shift cashier to moonlight as Batman? The alternative, of course, is to post actual police officers at fuel stations like bouncers at a nightclub, which sounds expensive, overkill, and only marginally less ridiculous.
So for now, Cleveland’s fight against rogue riders is caught somewhere between sensible enforcement and sitcom-level policy. Riders will probably keep buzzing through intersections, clerks will keep nervously scanning the pumps, and the rest of us will wonder why, in 2025, the biggest threat at a gas station isn’t the price of unleaded but the possibility of being fined for doing your actual job.
Source: Unlimited Ls