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Dangerous cyclists to be fined £30 by council staff
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor7 Dec 2009
Cyclists in central London face a crackdown that will see an increase in the numbers fined for breaches of the Highway Code such as ignoring red lights or riding on pavements.
Westminster council wants to be the first in Britain to use its own staff to hand out £30 penalty notices to “Lycra louts” who flout traffic rules.
It is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police to enforce the Highway Code in London but in practice very few cyclists are ever stopped and punished. Westminster is to ask the police to delegate authority to its team of inspectors who enforce regulations on licensing, noise and waste.
About 30,000 cyclists enter Westminster every day and it is estimated that up to one in five breaks the Highway Code. Angela Harvey, chairman of Westminster's scrutiny committee, which put together the proposal, said: “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leave them on the ground as they ride away.
“The police are the only people who have the ability to enforce this issue and they just aren't taking it seriously enough. There are more of our officers on the street than there are police officers at any given time, so it is a sensible solution.”
But the plan, still to be ratified by the full council, met a sceptical response from cyclists groups, who said inspectors would be ignored.
Tom Bogdanowicz, of the London Cycling Campaign, said: “Enforcement of moving traffic offences needs to be carried out by trained police or police community support officers. They are best qualified to enforce the regulations on pavement cycling and most other offences as they have the training and authority to do their work.”
He also called on councils to improve cycle lanes so that cyclists are less likely “to seek the refuge of pavement”.
