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news
Police use close pass footage to prosecute cyclist for riding on shared-use path
A cyclist who submitted footage of a close pass to the Met Police has learned that he himself is to be prosecuted. The force says road.cc reader Giles is guilty of riding a pedal cycle on a footpath – but the cyclist points out that the stretch in question is a well-marked shared-use path.
The alleged offence happened at 6.45am on March 4 at the roundabout between New and Old Kent Roads in London. It occurs towards the end of the video above.
“As a result of my reporting a driver for what I considered a fast, close, aggressive pass, I am being prosecuted for ‘Ride a pedal cycle on a footpath,’ when in fact I was using a well-marked cycle path,” said Giles.
“After I reported the driver I was somewhat surprised to get an email a few days later saying that they were going to prosecute. They rarely prosecute for close passes. It turns out that they are prosecuting me rather than the driver.
“I am absolutely raging about this. It highlights how clueless police are about cycling and to me seems to be an attack on cyclists. They are ignoring the driver but jump at a chance to prosecute a cyclist.”
A look on Google StreetView shows that there is a sign indicating the area can be used by cyclists as well as pedestrians at the point at which Giles comes off the road.
There are further signs round the corner.
Giles says that he often takes this route.
“In this case the roundabout was very quiet but there can often be lots of queuing traffic there. This makes it hard to get by on the road, especially leaving the roundabout where it is narrow. It's a lot easier on the shared cycle path – and the shared cycle path avoids two sets of lights.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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74 comments
The Met police are indeed corrupt from top to bottom.
Google for Daniel Morgan (died 10 March 1987 in Sydenham) to get an idea of how utterly bent they are.
This. One of the murder suspects was paid a lot of money to carry out various crimes by a man who went on to work for the Prime Minister. Such corruption goes right to the top.
you can see the shared use sign at 3.55.
Once they drop the case take it to the IPCC, your PCC and the chief constable.
Why is there a bike dock on this supposed footpath?
The officer should be suspended immediatley pending an invesitgation/retraining - not only have they completely ignored the initial complaint, but have chosen to prosecute the victim! It's this sort of thing that completely discourages people from trusting the police!
Were there any independent witnesses, or have the Met decided that a single video is enough in this one?
Any bets on the close pass driver being a member of her majesty's constabulary.
Please go to court, and if you can afford it go for crown. Maybe contact the cyclists defence fund. Really embarrass the idiots.
And there you raise the big question. Why is the footage alone enough to prosecute here (despite doing nothing illegal) while people submitting footage from 2 or even 3 cameras get told there is insufficient evidence.
I'd recommend raising a complaint if police declare that camera evidence is insufficient as usually it's just a lie to avoid doing work.
Because British police are lazy, feckless, incompetent c**ts.
Next question.
This isn't even ignorance. It's sheer bloody mindedness from the Tactical Gammon department of the local plod. Whoever has sanctioned that response should be disciplined.
Slow hand clap for the Met.
The very best of luck, Giles.
Can the police be prosecuted for wasting police time?
You can sue them for malicious prosecution and there's quite a few solicitors that love cases like this.
Now that would definitely be worth a tenner. Crowfunding anyone?
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