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news
Cycling Mikey scores points victory over Chris Eubank after filming boxing champ going through red light
The undisputed champion of London helmet camera users, Cycling Mikey, has claimed another notable scalp after catching former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight champion boxer Chris Eubank driving through a red traffic light in London’s Hyde Park.
As happened in November 2019, when he caught film director Guy Ritchie using a handheld mobile phone in Regent’s Park, Mikey – real name Mike van Erp – initially had no idea who the driver was when he spotted Eubank with his phone in his hand. He was sat at the wheel of his Rolls-Royce convertible near the junction of West Carriage Drive and South Carriage Drive, which run alongside the city’s Cycleway 3.
> Guy Ritchie handed driving ban after cyclist caught him using his phone at the wheel
The Evening Standard reports Mikey told Bromley Magistrates’ Court that on 2 September last year, he was “filtering up past the queue of traffic and noticed this Rolls-Royce driver holding his phone.”
In the video, he said to Eubank, “Nice car, mate,” before adding, “I hope you are not using the phone.”
He continued: “I was the person who got Guy Ritchie. I didn’t know who he was. Are you famous? I wouldn’t know who you were either.”
Eubank told him: “Go away, go away, I’m an officer,” and when Mikey sought clarification of whether he meant he was a police officer, the former boxer said, “Yeah, off you go, off you go.”
“The traffic lights then changed, and we moved along,” Mikey said. “He drove through an early red light,”
Mikey told the court: “I’m not particularly good with faces, especially those of famous people I’ve never seen in real life,” but said, “I thought that he [Eubank] was so well dressed that he must most likely be someone famous.
“I googled the numberplate to discover who he was, and it turns out that he was given status of a certified law enforcement marshal in Louisiana in the USA due to his fame.”
Eubank, who was born in London but lived as a youngster in Jamaica then New York City’s South Bronx, was granted that position by the city of Opelousas when he visited it in 2018.
At the time, he said in a tweet accompanied by a video of him attending a road traffic collision: “Sergeant Eubank proudly on duty in Louisiana. All warriors protect and serve, whether one wears a badge or not.”
In court, Eubank said he was trying to get away from the cyclist, whom he claimed is a “stalker.”
He said: “I unintentionally ran the red light trying to get away from this man who admits he is a stalker.
“He admits this when talking online and in a newspaper article, how he proudly had the famous director, Guy Ritchie, banned for six months.”
After pleading guilty to failing to comply with the indication given by a traffic sign, Eubank was given three penalty points and told to pay £280 in fines, court costs and fees.
Eubank has been in court several times over the years for motoring-related offences and in 1992, he was fined £250 for driving without due care and attention after he lost control of his Range Rover and crashed into a building site, killing 33-year-old Kevin Lawlor.
In 2013, he was found guilty of taking a vehicle without consent after he drove a beer delivery lorry parked outside his home in Hove 150 yards down the road, only coming to a halt when he hit a road sign.
Many of the videos from Cycling Mikey which have resulted in drivers being prosecuted were filmed at a spot on the Outer Circle of London’s Regent’s Park which has been nicknamed Gandalf Corner. This is a nod to the scene in the Lord of the Rings film The Fellowship of the Ring in which the wizard, played by Sir Ian McKellen, tells a balrog, “You shall not pass!”
Mikey, who has said that his efforts to bring law-breaking drivers to justice is in part motivated by his experience as a teenager when his father was killed by a drunk driver, has said that in 2019 alone he caught 358 drivers – and two cyclists – breaking the law, with fines totalling tens of thousands of pounds after his submission of footage to the police.
In the 'about' section of his YouTube channel, he says: “I seem to upload an average of roughly 1 in 5,000 driver interactions to YouTube. That surprised me – far fewer than I expected, and it shows just how nice most people are to other road users. I tend to thank tens or hundreds of people on every commute for nice driving. It makes for boring footage though, so only the exceptionally good driving gets uploaded.
“I'm a driver too, I love cars, but I don't like dangerous driving and people taking risks with vulnerable road users,” he adds.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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That's an 'interesting and brave' repurposing of the word 'highbrow' there.
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Best to avoid driving on the A34 if at all possible, never mind cycling on it.
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39 comments
Mike van Twerp is a sad git.. looks way older than 49 too - more like mid 60's; get a real life Mikey.. vigilantism doesn't seem to be good for you.
You should look up the meaning of the word vigilante.
My understanding is it's something like beating people up on a whim if they don't behave the way you think they should, or something.
a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.
Vigilantiism doesn't have to be violent. Just like those paedophile hunters, who ensnare pervs on video, because the police don't care.
Mikey doesn't undertake law enforcement, and does not act outside legal authority, so even this rather mild definition is inaccurate in this case.
Actually, this rather does beg the question of what definition law enforcement is, and also what we mean by outside legal authority
Law enforcement (not to be confused with upholding the law which seems to be the British Police's approach regarding policing by consent) must involve punitive action, I would have thought - it is the point that people are forced to comply with the law. Any use of force implies violence to some level
"Outside legal authority" would suggest illegal or at least unlawful behaviour.
I was possible too swift in declaring the definition mild - it possibly is closer to my original rough definition than I first thought
Well done again, CM! However, he does have it easy with the fairly co-operative Met. Aye! We 'ave it tough oop here in Lancashire, where the Constabulary just ignore impeccable video of drivers going through red lights, crossing double white lines in dangerous positions, super-close passing of cyclists etc. I want a handicap system where activist cyclists are given credit for having to work against backwoods pathologically pro-motorist police!
Yeah, cos violence is always the answer.
Nige, you do realise that says a lot of how you think.
You'd pay to see an entitled, law-breaking, ex boxer beat up a member of the public merely for cooperating with the police.
I don't know if you're aware that that is the outcome of your logic, but there it is.
You should know that as a Trump supporter, Boo doesn't like anyone promting the Vaccines around.
Or assisting the police apparently...
So not just a pun. Your opinion is you'd like to see him punched by an ex boxer for assisting the police?
Lol no Nige, you don't get to set assignments. Have a great weekend
He gets to have an opinion, like us all..
You really didn't understand Stewart Lee did you. Just embarassing.
Very witty, I'm sure. But I don't think you realise that, in this story, you're Richard Hammond.
Touch of sunstroke ?
Possibly. Could be lunchtime drinking.
Oh come off it Nige, quit feeling sorry for yourself. People (quite a few tbh) disagree with you. That does not equal wishing violent assault on you, or getting pleasure out of imagining it(yuck). That's kind of the point of the responses you've had...
A misplaced sense of victimhood and Brexit do seem to go hand in hand.
Or because it's a nonsensical point with no basis.
No sense of humour? tell you what, I would also pay good money to see Chris go a round in the ring with Mike.
He did repeat that his opinion was that violence is a solution, so where's the humour?
Mikey does an important job for his community. Annoying or not to some people; he's getting dangerous drivers off the road, which benefits all of us (Plus it's entertaining).
He's had numerous collisions, went through a red light, impersonated a police officer and killed someone with a vehicle, so how the hell is he still driving? I don't care how famous he was, he shouldn't be on the road endangering innocent people's lives.
Can we have a whip round and buy Mikey a medal or something?
I was thinking that was fairly benign and £280 is nothing to him, car not moving, then put the phone on passenger seat, but then I saw...
£280 fine for rolling through a red light out of Hyde Park north gate.
£250 fine for killing a someone with his Range Rover in 1992.
"He was sat at the wheel of his Rolls-Royce..." by whom?
No seatbelt either...
Did they decide the video didn't show him using his phone for communication even though Eubanks excuse for holding it was the traffic was stopped.
It grinds my Veloce gears the way these people don't seem to be able to afford / can't be bothered with a hands-free if they really do need to speak to others from their car (which they don't).
If you're rich, why drive yourself at all?
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