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news
Number plateCouncillor suggests mandatory number plates and penalty points for cyclists — so that bikes are on “level playing field with lorries, vans and cars”
A Conservative councillor has called on the Worcester City Council to introduce mandatory number plates for cyclists in order to “create a level playing field with lorries, vans and cars”, after the popular cycle hire scheme Beryl Bikes was introduced in the city last month.
Councillor Alan Amos, who’s the only remaining Conservative councillor on the Worcester City Council after the Tories lost six of their elected representatives in the 2024 elections, put forward his suggestions to the deputy council leader Jabbar Riaz, arguing that more needs to be done to enforce penalties for cyclists who break the law.
He sought assurances, following the introduction of the Beryl Bike scheme in June, that monitoring will take place to ensure that users do not cycle along the pavements and taxpayers’ money is not used to subsidise the scheme.
Councillor Amos even pointed out where the number plates can be put on the bicycles— the mudguard of the Beryl Bikes. “It’ll have to be fixed there. It’s not an optional extra,” he said, Although adding that the number plates should extend to all cyclists, not just the Beryl Bikes.
He said that he believed cyclists who ride on pavements or ride dangerously should be give penalty points, just like motorists caught breaking the law, reports Worcester News.
Councillor Amos said after the meeting: “I think it should be compulsory for all cyclists to have a number plate which all vehicles on the road have to. My concern is about enforcement.
“All bikes should have a registration number by law so there is a level playing field for any vehicle that uses the road - lorries, cars, vans and bikes. They should all be subject to the same rules.”
He said he saw three cyclists riding along the pedestrianised High Street as he left the meeting at Worcester Guildhall.
"It's a pedestrianised shopping centre full of elderly people. Some elderly people are hard of hearing and don't hear the cyclists coming up behind them. Cyclists need to follow the rules like everyone else," he said.
> Is there anywhere cyclists are required to be licensed, and how has it gone in the past?
Beryl Bikes
A spokesperson for Bike Worcester said in response: "I’ve offered to Alan (and other councillors) on a number of occasions to do a tour of the city by bike (still waiting on the call), so he can see first hand the issues that are faced by people travelling by bike, not least when trying to cross the city centre (we’ve even got an infrastructure safari route which looks at the good and the bad).
"I’m happy to ride my bike on the roads in Worcester, mixing with multiple lanes of motor vehicles (worst case is 4 in a single direction), but have my fair share of interactions with substandard drivers as a result (substandard = antisocial = dangerous = illegal).
“As such I completely understand why many people would choose not to do that, and instead cycle of footways, or through the city centre roads covered by TROs, especially when cycling with children or less confident adults. As a pedestrian including when walking my dog I often encounter children and adults cycling on footways, and all both parties does is avoid each other, usually with a cheery salutation as they pass.
“Not mentioned by Alan or Jabbar is the point that the Highway Code also prohibits driving on the footway, something that is happening near continuously throughout Worcester, in some cases blocking footways when parking, in other cases in the vicinity of pedestrians.”
> "Dangerous cycling" law will be passed following election, Labour and Conservatives confirm
Councillor Riaz said at the meeting: “Cycling on the pavement is in breach of the Highway Code which applies to all road users and all cyclists whether riding a Beryl bike or not and is enforceable by the police.
“There are no specific plans to monitor pavement cycling although data could be made available to police if requested.”
In May, Conservative MP for Shipley, Sir Philip Davies, was the latest high-profile politician to fan the flames of the registration plates for cyclists debate.
In a written question to former Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper, he said: “People have been saying to me that there have been incidents of anti-social behaviour involving cyclists and there is no way of tracking those that cause problems or flout the laws of the road.
“They have suggested that if cyclists were forced to have a registration plate it would mean they were identifiable and could resolve the problem as those who chose to cycle in an irresponsible manner would know there will be consequences.”
The former Tory Government had already decided to clamp down on cyclists riding dangerously with the “dangerous cycling” bill, that was passed in the House of Commons but was then eventually shelved following the announcement of the general elections.
However, the bill received cross-party backing, and is expected to be brought back by the new Labour government, despite the current Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh being a recent convert of cycling, and just earlier today posted on Twitter that she’s been enjoying Laura Laker’s book on cycling ‘Potholes and Pavement’, calling it “eye-opening and instructive”.
This isn’t the first time registration plates for cyclists have been suggested by a Conservative politician in the UK. Two years ago, then-transport secretary Grant Shapps threw British cyclists into a state of frenzy by announcing his wishes of cyclists having insurance, carrying licence plates on their bikes, and being subject to the same speed limits as motorists.
And then in a hasty U-turn, the Tory cabinet minister appeared to contradict his widely-reported pledge to enforce tougher rules, just hours later saying that he was “not attracted to bureaucracy” of number plates for cyclists.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
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90 comments
more needs to be done to enforce penalties for cyclists who break the law
Possibly, as soon as something is done to enforce penalties on drivers who break the law. This driver, of whom I have numerous photos and who is regularly seen driving around Garstang, drives a vehicle with no VED for 61/2 years and which previously had no MOT for over 6 years and a failed MOT for 6 months. The police must have been working really hard at looking the other way. The vehicle has been reported by me for over a year, and the PCC has known about the vehicle for almost 9 months.
Raise a complaint against the police force. Their stats for complaints are subject to more rigorous checking than reports of RTA offences. I had cause to report a local who decided to have the same index plate on his Bentley and his Range Rover. No response from local police on this, until I raised a complaint that there was no response. I was promptly contacted (several times) and assured that the matter was being dealt with. It was. I saw an ARV at the premises within a couple of hours after the complaint had been posted. Pester them with a complaint aginst inaction and report to the office of the Police Commisioner.
You must be new if you have just come across wtjs and lancs police !
You must be new if you have just come across wtjs and lancs police !
I'm hurt! It's almost as if you think I'm always harping on about the hopelessly ineffective, useless, bent, lying b******s. As for those who think making a complaint to the police about the police is something the long suffering victims haven't already thought of...
https://upride.cc/incident/md68fwc_apcovernight_whitelinecross/
I think this was the first video submission where I made a complaint about the decision to take no action. The official response to the complaint was that they had to have confirmatory video from the APC vehicle, and there wasn't any so they couldn't do anything. There was a camera in the van, but 'it wasn't working'. There was an additional feature- I pointed out the oncoming Ford that the Transit had to swerve in to avoid (closing speed at least 60mph)- the official response said 'the driver of the other vehicle was not contacted'
Then there's complaining to the PCC about the police. Everything, and this may depend on the particular PCC, that you want to complain about turns out to be 'an operational decision of the police which the PCC cannot interfere with', even if it's vehicles driving around Lancashire for months and years without MOT/ failed MOT, red light offences, mobile phone offences etc., and the police refuse to take action- that, in Lancashire, is an operational decision of the police. Like this- no response, no action
https://upride.cc/incident/px12dnd_stagecoach42_closepass/
Genuine question, have you report to DVLA about the car in question rather than the police?
It may be the police that will ultimately take action, but getting the gov't dept that is actually due the money may be rhe quicker way to ensure clamping and towing.
https://contact.dvla.gov.uk/report-untaxed-vehicle
DVLA is determined to NOT know about VED fraud/ evasion because there are so many offenders. I have been reporting these for several years, including WU59 UMH, and I think none of them have been acted upon. They just can't be bothered, as is evident from your 'link' which gives no means of sending GPS dated photos, or anything else except the number of the vehicle. This must be one of the most inept government departments - if they had even worked out how to read their own database, they would identify many thousands of people whose vehicles have been MOT'd but have no VED.
I don't report VED evasion to the police because there are so many of them even in a tiny part of N Lancashire, and because the police openly declare that it's nothing to do with them and refer everybody to DVLA, which just bins the reports. WU59 UMH was an exception because he had no MOT for over 6 years as well. I have a list of vehicles regularly seen, with no VED for years and years
Time to move on, Alan, just suck it up. No one is interested.
I'd love to see a level playing field where the spend on cycling infrastucture and facilities is the same as the spend motorists get on their infrastucture & facilities.
I think we'd all welcome a level playing field where death by motorist is as rare as with a cyclist, where motorists are no longer seriously injuring hundreds of people a day and destroying lives with impunity.
Lets make a level playing where pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, mobility users have the same safety to go about their journey and get to their destination as those driving cars.
Those are the level playing fields that really matter, putting all human lives before the convenience of motorists.
Sorry to say, we've probably got several years of this from the Tories, while they sort out their internal conflicts, before they get back in contention for power and start going after scapegoats that can be blamed for more wider societial issues. Until then, bashing cyclists keeps them getting coverage, as journos love the engagement that it gets from the phalanx of Clarkson wannabes in the comments sections of the Daily Mail and local newspaper web sites.
In terms of local politics they're really all as bad as each other, ive seen Labour councillors locally claim cyclists are a self entitled lycra brigade who do more harm to the road network with their constant demands to have free road space.
I guess Sir Keir won't be asking them to speak at the next party conference.
In terms of local politics they're really all as bad as each other,
I disagree with that, and this comment resembles those which come from Tory apologists.
Yet another of the locals who wakes up every morning shouting "tories, tories". Get a grip. And no I do not vote Tory however I do wish people like you werent intent on turning every public forum into an echo chamber.
Possibly more Tories are like Amos than Labour, but plenty of Labour councillors I've known of and known personally over 40 years have been at least as anti-cycling as Amos
OK- so all you have to do now is find verifiable evidence of a Labour MP and a Labour councillor advocating number plates for cyclists (see heading of topic), as opposed to unverifiable statements about how you 'have personally' known these dreadful anti-cyclist Labour councillors over 40 years and have never voted Tory in 50 years.
Active travel is very low on most people's agendas, never mind cycling. Then there are some quite bonkers antis everywhere in the political spectrum. And as ktache points out not only does this chap have a selection of ... unusual views but has swung between parties himself!
All that said there have been quite a few examples of Conservative councillors in particular apparently relishing being "the nasty party " on active travel. Could it just be a selection effect by road.cc or is there something further?
A lot of the more mad stuff seemed to be the result of a government that knew it was on its last legs desperately hoping to find something that would get people talking that wasn't all of their many other failures. Unfortunately it did get (some) people talking, and while I think we'll see less of this driven by senior Tories, the 'war on motorists' and anti-cycling mentality is something that will stick with some.
But yes, it's only fair to say that anti-cycling rhetoric is not exclusive to the Tories (or Reform), and while the senior politicians from other parties might be more sensible, the lack of meaningful enthusiasm for active travel remains pervasive and there will always a few at a local local cllrs that think they are being a man of the people (it is almost always men) by raising concerns about cyclists on behalf of the old ladies the motoring lobby claims to care about.
The Uxbridge bi-election had a lot to answer for. The idea that the general public was anti-clean air/cycling and that politicians needed to be more pro-car has, I hope, been proven to be incorrect. We need to remind politicians of all persuasions that the politicians that rallied against active travel are the ones that lost their jobs.
There was a bit of that - but
a) unfortunately this provoked Labour to follow (strategy seemed to be "hug the opponent close")
b) bit like a certain other issue of the last decade while there was a recent focus on this there are clearly enough politicians with firm long-term anti-views. Or who - at best - think this is a waste of time/energy if not a vote-loser. Or perhaps it's "don't really care about active travel, but absolutely not going to challenge motoring culture and priveledges".
Things have been announced but then not pursued, or effectively parked / funding removed. That has been a pattern for more than just a couple of years: see the comprehensive review of road offences (announced 2014), Road Safety Investigation Branch, Gear Change (2020), funding for eg. Active Travel England (seems to be sidelined)... (there are others)
Well ... yes, but I doubt that's the lesson that will stand out to the politicos. And due to current money troubles it seems they're going to be rather keen on investment from private industry / "growth" . That doesn't suggest to me that things will leap forward for active travel, rather the opposite.
i really hope I'm mistaken!
Alas, once certain paranoid views are out there, trying to undo the harm will be akin to putting the toothpaste back in the tube. The best we can hope for is that the heat will gradually dissipate from the argument. Regardless of what any politicians do or say going forward (and some will continue to agitate), every council announcement of spending on active transport will be met with predictable complaints, often from people who don't even live in that area.
Hopefully at least some of them will get bored of complaining, and council officers and councillors won't give them undue attention.
I think they just trawl newspapers for stories and Tory councillors have an inate ego for self promotion, so the two things collide.
But I've spent probably best part of 25 years talking to local councillors of all political persuasions about active travel & cycling and absolutely very few get it properly, but certainly among the 3 main parties there's often wafer thin differences in outlook on it.
We had a Lib Dem councillor lead opposition to a proposed LTN inspite of overwhelming support from local residents. Consequently the Tory council who had funding for it & had suggested it, scrapped the idea.
So this idea that all Tories are raving anti bike nuts whilst Labourites or Lib Dems are fully on board, maybe it's the flavour of politics oop north, but it's not my experience.
Tories don't matter for the foreseeable, which is the good thing from my point of view. We can pivot from rearguard actions fighting BS to trying to get stuff done.
The one to look forward to is the Local Elections in 2025.
In Notts / Derby we are now Tory MP free (except one, and the Leeanderthal Man), Tory Mayor free, and Tory PCC free (the new one in Notts is not yet even banned from driving, like the last one).
Councillors getting a haircut next year.
But we've just had fourteen years of it, so are you suggesting that there are only another couple of years to go? I beg to differ, and it seems unlikely that the tories will suddenly become sensible any time soon, or even in the next few years.
Cyclists have been wanting a level playing field with motor vehicles for decades. Something tells me that number plates won't magically give us the equality in the road that we are craving.
This will never go anywhere for one simple reason. Number plates don't stop motorists breaking the law.
This will never go anywhere because vehicle registration is not done at city council level. A city councillor should know this.
A Tory city councillor. They've abandoned reason and policy and instead they have bet their electoral future on culture wars.
He's a Tory, silly.
Silly comment. While I've never voted Tory in 50 years of voting, I'm fully aware that there are many Labour councillors at least as bad as Amos
It would be dumb to have to register each bicycle. And on most bikes there's nowhere to mount a plate that would be large enough to be visible at a distance
It would make more sense to register the rider ie have to wear a number plate on your back, but a level playing would require that of drivers also, and for the plate to be visible at all times. This would negate all the nonsense with the notice of intended prosecution and people claiming that they weren't driving the vehicle. The whole system as it stands is stupid and registering bicycles is utterly ridiculous.
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