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driver on phone - via cycling mikey.PNG"Stoking cyclist hate will get him more publicity": CyclingMikey hits back at Mr Loophole's latest attack on "snitch society" camera cyclists
CyclingMikey has responded to Nick Freeman's latest comments about cyclists who submit camera footage of dangerous driving to the police, accusing the lawyer of being "motivated by clickbait" and "stoking cyclist hate because he knows it will get him more publicity".
Freeman — referred to by his 'Mr Loophole' nickname for being the lawyer who specialises in defending celebrities in court for their traffic-related cases, often by using legal technicalities — said that despite the dangers of people using mobile phones behind the wheel he does not "want to live in a snitch society", and called camera cyclists "a danger", arguing that reporting footage to the police has become "an industry".
"Using a mobile phone in a car is dangerous and it is right that it's prohibited," he told The Times newspaper in an in-depth feature exploring CyclingMikey's work. "But I don't think we want to live in a snitch society. I'm not saying the public don't have a role to play but, really, isn't that the role of the police?
"It's an industry now and in my view it's wrong. And there's no relevant legislation that properly deals with cyclists who cycle dangerously. So the law is all over the place."
CyclingMikey, real name Mike van Erp, is well aware of Freeman, the lawyer was the legal representative of Frank Lampard who got the former Chelsea and England footballer's case dropped due to "insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction", despite footage recorded by the cyclist appearing to show Lampard driving with a cup of coffee in one hand and a mobile phone in the other.
Freeman also represented top TV comedy producer Jimmy Mulville who "flipped the bird" and told CyclingMikey to "go f*** yourself" after he was filmed using his phone while driving. In May, Mulville was fined over £2,000 and handed six points for the incident.
"Intelligently using cyclists and stoking cyclist hate because he knows it will get him more publicity"
In response to Freeman's latest comments about cyclists, which join a lengthy back catalogue of newspaper, radio and social media rantings on the topic, Mikey told road.cc he believes the lawyer is "motivated by clickbait".
"I think he's motivated by clickbait PR and is intelligently using cyclists and stoking cyclist hate because he knows it will get him more publicity," he said. "I think he probably quite likes what camera cyclists do because we bring him money in defending clients.
> Here's what to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling
"I know that he was involved with Frank Lampard and Jimmy Mulville in my own cases, and wouldn't be at all surprised if there were quite a few more cases in which he or his firm were defending."
Calling Freeman's view "complete nonsense" that camera cyclists are "causing mistrust and less consideration" from drivers, he continued: "Criminology 101 tells us that it's the chance of being caught that stops most people committing offences, including traffic offences. Cameras, in my experience, have always improved a situation and toned down the worst driver behaviour."
"There is plenty of legislation regarding bad cycling, so he's talking nonsense there too. Like most cyclists, I'm totally fine with cyclists being policed. I just don't think it'll have much effect on road safety. Reporting bad driving is nothing different than reporting burglaries, hit and runs, pickpockets, etc. It's the duty of every citizen, not an industry.
"In conclusion, I don't think a lawyer whose rather large income is based on getting bad drivers off their consequences based on technicalities has any moral high ground to be talking about what is right for society."
Were you to wave a magic wand and instantly make all cyclists behave perfectly, road KSI stats wouldn't change noticeably. Do the same for drivers instead, and you'll stop almost all traffic deaths and injuries. Do you see why I don't bother with cyclists now?
— CyclingMikey the Unspeakable (@MikeyCycling) January 18, 2023
The road safety campaigner is also keen to point out that cyclists are often not even the most frequent reporters of third-party footage to the police, a Freedom of Information request from West Yorkshire Police last year showing that between August 2020 and December 2021 there were 4,386 submissions, of which 1,198 came from cyclists and 2,814 from motorists.
"Cyclists get the infamy because in the UK we're hated," Mikey suggested.
His most recent comments are not the first time Freeman has popped up in the national media to talk about cycling. The lawyer is a regular on the radio and has been outspoken about his desire to see cyclists wear registration numbers and licensed to use the roads.
Freeman has also, in the past, made the case for compulsory helmets and hi-vis clothing for cyclists, forcing cyclists to use cycle lanes when available. He has also claimed that cyclists abuse two-abreast rules, that lockdown led to a "culture of toxic cycling", and that last year's Highway Code changes designed to protect vulnerable road users would create "carnage" on Britain's roads.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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35 comments
The thing about Mr Loophole is that he's not a miracle worker. People pay him vast amounts of money, well above a local solicitor, and then he loses.
My mate in the police has given evidence against his clients multiple times, and won every case.
Indeed - with Jimmy Mulville it was one of his staff defending, and he lost because the evidence was good. With Frank Lampard, my evidence simply wasn't good enough.
without exception, the "snitch society" folk are the first to demand police action if anything happens to them.
Intrusive, fanatical, vigilante, amateur, only picks on women and my kids were in the car cammers instantly pivot to being vital in helping find the scumbags who stole my quadbike/ Rolex/ dented my Range Rover / stole my jet ski/ koi carp.
Anyone who has had significant experience of the processes, conventions, practices and traditions throughout the British system of law knows that the prime purposes and directives of the police and the courts (and the prisons) is to protect the privileges of the upper end of a still class-ridden society; and to ensure that the hoi-polloi are kept in their place.
So its nothing new, except that Toryspiv are now shrinking, demeaning and deconstructing the various law services involved (except for prisons) to a set that's even more oriented at the protection of their New Aristocracy and even less likely to provide justice of any kind to the common herd, other than draconian punishments to various scapegoats or those who might steal an aristo's rolex.
Part of this process to reduce or eliminate the rule of law requires pariahs. Cyclists are one handy group. along with protestors of various kinds, people with the "wrong" colour skin, the "undeserving" poor and various other easy targets lacking power to retaliate. Let's stick 'em all in a handy category of "the woke".
The Toyspiv kulcha wars are an attempt to define such pariah-groups then turn those fearing that they'll become "losers" in the Toryspiv ekonimikals of a war of all against all. This distracts from the Toryspiv machinations to rob everyone blind and reduce them from citizen to subject, from free agent to serf. Its a scenario in which big claws and a willingness to use them on the weak and vulnerable is the only virtue.
The Mikey bloke is a "freedom fighter" against more than he knows perhaps. The loopholer is just another potential "loser" acting like one of those hanger-on-er types that inhabit the fringes of the big bully gangs, hoping the bully keeps on beating up the softies rather than amusing himself at the expense of the craven hanger-on-er. Occasionally the hanger-on-er is useful in protecting the bully from an accusation oof evil doings by lying and cheating on his behalf.
Mike. I really do wish you'd run for office.
Never let the naysayers get you down.
Many of us follow in your footsteps.
The lawyer could very well be in need of some camera assistance one day. He may himself fall victim to a hit n run or pedestrianised incident. All this shit talking would soon stop. I can see it now. He's just been quadraspazzed in an rta, by a mobile phone driver. Yeah! I'm pretty sure the lawyer would agree that he has no intention tracking down the ac10 driver via all means necessary.
Loathsome parasite.
He's certainly no Bob Loblaw.
More of a #CashCowCretin.
Mike becoming a politician would be interesting, but unprecedented - he's empathic, cares deeply for others and values truthfulness.
Many have entered elected office with those qualities. Most have those bashed out of them on first contact with their own whips.
I don't think Mike is corruptible. He is Eliot Ness!
Mikey for Mayor!
Well thank you all very much! I'm stuck in my room now because I can't get my swollen head through the door any more. Really, I'm as much of an arse as the next bloke, I'm nothing special or out of the ordinary at all.
I'm nothing special or out of the ordinary at all
Maybe, but you're still doing a good job!
Yes, but you use your arsiness to catch out the bigger arses who endanger others for their own selfishness.
It's strange how media works and they've certainly picked on you to be the figurehead for all the rest of us that run cameras and catch dangerous driving. Though we may not be prolific, there's a lot of us and at some point even the worst police forces might get on board (paging WTJS and Lancs police).
there's a lot of us and at some point even the worst police forces might get on board (paging WTJS and Lancs police)
I can't see this happening with the really bad, anti-cyclist forces like Lancashire- not when they simply ignore offences like this one by the driver of Stagecoach 42 bus- which they have done
Nicky boy, why don't you campaign to ban dash cams in the UK? Their main purpose is to stitch up bad drivers and hold them to account for the damage caused to innocent third parties.
Nick Freeman's on the side of criminals; killers in cars.
Mikey is on the side of their future victims.
I'm with Mikey.
It's not an industry now, but it could and should be made an industry by the government paying a bounty to anyone - pedestrian, cyclist, dashcam owner -providing video footage of a texting driver that leads to a successful prosecution. This might actually put some teeth in the law making such behavior illegal, and the fees collected from fines could be used to pay the bounties.
"It's an industry now and in my view it's wrong."
Like the massive industry that is the legal system? I wonder if he thinks that that is wrong too.
"And there's no relevant legislation that properly deals with cyclists who cycle dangerously."
Surprising that a lawyer who claims to be well-versed in road law doesn't appear to know road law. I suppose his experience is much more with getting drivers off on legal technicalities than cyclists.
"So the law is all over the place."
Well, he's right there, the law is indeed all over the place, with clearly incompetent, dangerous drivers still being allowed to drive because of lawyers like him.
I wonder if he's proud of what he does, and does he ever think of the people injured and killed on our roads every year by dangerous, incompetent drivers like the ones he gets off.
It's only an industry because offences are occurring on an industrial scale, if all drivers stopped using phones Mikey would be out of a job!
I know it seems like it's his job, confronting motorists about breaking traffic laws, but he's not actually employed to enforce traffic laws..
Is that U turn around the black mercedes SUV allowed? Can I do it whenever I want as a cyclist?
Mikey stopped on a double yellow after, which is prohibited, but Mikey can ride however he likes when going after lawbreakers, which is typical vigilante behaviour, acting like he's law enforcement.
Every time I see one of your posts I think thank goodness, if your claim to have been a UK law enforcement officer is true, that you've moved to Australia, as you don't appear to know the road laws. There is no prohibition against cyclists stopping on double yellow lines (although some councils have introduced special prohibitions for non-standard bicycles such as cargo bikes).
HA ha - you fall for another grogism, stoking his groggering by sticking to the "point" he made. No need to refute grogbelch as it is, by definition, just the gas from 'is bile duct.
These threads are such fun, especially when grogtype caper, yelp and gurn.
Another individual who fails to understand the meaning of vigilantism.
Pointed out to them many times.
Almost a badge for them now.
Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTm2KTWW8yI&t=4s
One of the greatest and also saddest nights of my life.
Did anyone see Motorway Cops last night. I think it was a repeat. Anyway one side of the M6 was closed and the police filmed 48 rubberneckers on the opposite carriageway using their mobile phone. How stupid are these people.
No gonna watch it now.
Jeez, why would anyone want to film a crash like that? It's gruesome and it's not something I would want on my phone to remind me.
Just as we ask them to close one episode of the KYA Show, another one starts...
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