Here we are back after the summer break with a new series of Thursday ThoughtSparks.

And I thought we’d share a few ‘did you know’ fun facts across the coming weeks. Not only fun facts but also common misconceptions where it’s dangerous if you fail to get it right.

So here’s today’s.

It is illegal to ride a bicycle on a pavement in the UK.

Look at Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835 and Rule 64 of the Highway Code.

Pavements are for pedestrians, and riding a bicycle on one can lead to an on-the-spot fine of £30 or a prosecution and a fine of up to £500.

Specifically, the Highway Act 1835 prohibits riding or driving a “carriage” on a footpath, and bicycles have been classified as carriages since 1888.

So have this one up your sleeve when some callow youth or pompous pensioner tries to mow you down on the trottoir.

Our fun fact raises two key points for marketers.

We live in a world where you can check out ANYTHING at the touch of a mouse-click or smartphone screen. So there’s no excuse not to.

And if we don’t, we’ll get caught out.

In fact, isn’t that the main boon of the internet & AI age? The ease with which we can verify?

Ironic then, that it’s also the age of disinformation too!

And that comes back to our online technique.

Only be satisfied when you’ve reached the urtext… the original source.

People are spouting all sorts of nonsense online – some of it very dangerously wrong.

I don’t know about you, but I use the internet and AI just as much to verify what I think I already know, as much as to discover or research new information.

We are surrounded by alternative facts and fake news.

In the UK, the BBC now has a verification team publishing about the falsehoods and exposing fake AI-generated videos.

So we have to be more and more determined and disciplined to check our own facts… our own evidence base.

If you’re putting a claim in your marketing material, or publishing thought-leadership externally, let’s for goodness’ sake get the facts right.

And that includes statistical proof-points too. The number of times I scream inside when a research group is ridiculously unrepresentative… or when commentary notes a 3% difference as significant when the margin of error is plus or minus 3%!!!

There’s no public scrutiny of business in the same way as there is for politics or public life.

That means we have to be all the more scrupulous with ourselves.