A London cyclist has shared footage of himself being stopped by a policeman for riding on the pavement – although in fact, he was on a cycle path, as he politely pointed out to the embarrassed officer.
In the video, posted to YouTube by Silvio Diego, the officer gestures to the rider to stop, saying: "Hey – why are you on your bike on the pavement?"
The cyclist tells him: "This is a passage for a bicycle," with a nearby PCSO nodding his agreement that this is, indeed, the case.
The sheepish looking police officer says, "Sorry, I can't see the cycle path."
That's despite the short route, which enables riders coming across Waterloo Bridge or arriving from the Strand to head up Wellington Street towards Covent Garden, a route blocked to motor vehicles, being clearly marked as a cycle path on both the pavement and bollards.
77 thoughts on “Video: Policeman stops London pavement cyclist… but it’s not the pavement it’s a cycle path”
So what
So what 😕
Policeman makes a mistake, so
Policeman makes a mistake, so what.
Cyclic wrote:Policeman makes
So, why doesn’t the Policeman know how to recognise a cycle path? Is it the fault of the cycle path or the policeman?
Now, back to defending the plod no matter what.
Good. I’m glad the copper did
Good. I’m glad the copper did it. Didn’t matter that he was wrong, if he thought the cyclist was on the pavement, he was right to challenge him about it. As it was, no harm done.
Your an absolute idiot, let’s
Your an absolute idiot, let’s hope a copper arrests you for rape shall we, doesn’t matter if you didn’t do it, the copper thought you did, so he’s in the right to accuse you.
FFS
Urban_Manc wrote:Your an
Rude from a club of one.
Urban_Manc wrote:Your an
Seriously? Are you equating rape to being stopped on a pavement by what seems to be a polite officer? 8|
indyjukebox wrote:Urban_Manc
Seriously? Are you equating rape to being stopped on a pavement by what seems to be a polite officer? 8|— Urban_Manc
Seriously? Are you unable to see that s/he did not suggest that?
Polite? That’s just a minimum. If someone whose job is to know the law and be aware of their surroundings is incompetent and inconveniences me then politeness is merely the last straw.
This is professional incompetence and pretty representative of the car-driving numpties that take ages to secure a couple of years convinction when a cyclist is killed by a car driver.
Ush wrote:indyjukebox
Seriously? Are you equating rape to being stopped on a pavement by what seems to be a polite officer? 8|— indyjukebox
Seriously? Are you unable to see that s/he did not suggest that?
Polite? That’s just a minimum. If someone whose job is to know the law and be aware of their surroundings is incompetent and inconveniences me then politeness is merely the last straw.
This is professional incompetence and pretty representative of the car-driving numpties that take ages to secure a couple of years convinction when a cyclist is killed by a car driver.— Urban_Manc
It’s not professional incompetence. It isn’t even close to meeting any standard of negligence. He made a minor error by being unaware of a specific fact, which he quickly acknowledged and apologised for. Reasonable human beings (yes, including police officers) do that all the time. The point is, he dealt with it properly, apologised, and everybody moved on. Which makes it very difficult to see why people are getting wound up by it…
Urban_Manc wrote:Your an
Just wondering. Is it hard riding along with such a big chip on your shoulder?
That strip is a fucking
That strip is a fucking nightmare.
There is no notification to pedestrians that the lights are green with cyclists are approaching, and it’s a very tourist dense area.
I live one side of it and my girlfriend on the other and every time I go through there, I have to shout to warn people.
It’s so bad (and in the streets behind up towards the ROH) that I dodge a bit of Aldwych then head up Drury Lane
zanf wrote:There is no
You’re right, it’s not a good piece of infrastructure, although it’s a very useful link. Clearing some of the clutter and putting in a kerb-demarcated cycle route (i.e. like a road, only narrower) would be helpful.
Duncann wrote:zanf
The could easily change the texture of the pavement and raise it slightly to at least give a visual indication that its a shared path (with ‘look left/right’ painted), and they could go a bit further with installing some lights on the pedestrian side with some kind of tone/bleep to warn people.
On Saturdays, its a full on nightmare as you’ll have people congregating for the matinee at the Lyceum and their attention is elsewhere/non-existent.
I only go that way as I hate going over Blackfriars Bridge after having a bus driver try to kill a friend and myself (and coming within millimetres of knocking me off).
As a bonus, they could also sort that drain out in the middle of the junction as its absolutely lethal!
zanf wrote:As a bonus, they
Report it: http://www.fillthathole.org.uk
Duncann wrote:zanf wrote:As a
Done!
Thanks. 🙂
I do like this site but I
I do like this site but I feel there needs to be a bit more editorial judgement applied sometimes.
Ditto
Ditto
Headline “Video: Policeman
Headline “Video: Policeman stops London pavement cyclist… but it’s not the pavement it’s a cycle path” rather than “Polite Copper challenges cyclist mistakenly, listens to explanation, realizes mistake and allows cyclist on their way in a matter of seconds with an apology” 😕 😕 😕
This junction has been a
This junction has been a problem for years and no one will take responsibility for creating a proper interface between the pavement and cycle path. Its very tricky for cyclists coming north off Waterloo bridge across the Strand as the traffic is very fast moving which tends to ‘push’ the cyclists into this junction at speed.
I spent 5 years commuting south and then north across Waterloo bridge using that junction and have seen many collisions, near misses, fist fights and other altercation.
Several times a year I would see council / tfl people in fluro jackets surveying the junction, I would stop and speak to them and ask who to raise this with. Sent number of emails to the contacts and was passed from one to the other with none taking responsibility.
With time the white paint markings faded away; they even rebuilt the entire road traffic junction and failed to even look at this cycle path junction.
Seems nothing has changed….
Frankly, its a video of good
Frankly, its a video of good policing.
It was a reasonable challenge, and a polite apology when the mistake had been pointed out. The cyclist was inconvenienced for what, 2 seconds??
Nothing wrong with an honest mistake, it how you deal it which which marks you as a person
Is it a pure cycle lane or a
Is it a pure cycle lane or a shared path? If the former, I think I’d have asked him to police the pedestrians 😉
So what? Cop made an honest
So what? Cop made an honest mistake and apologised for it, cyclist was equally polite to the cop.
davkt wrote:So what? Cop made
Yes. And if he wasn’t then he would have been tasered and shot by a group of incompetent hysterics.
The standard of article on
The standard of article on this website is taking a nose dive
Fair play to plod there- a
Fair play to plod there- a polite and warm apology. I expect the angry brigade would have much preferred that video to be of an angry confrontation.
As is often the way in this
As is often the way in this country, this is a failure of the infrastructure more than any real failure of the people involved.
Policeman in doing policing
Policeman in doing policing shocker!
Can’t remember the last time I saw an actual police officer on foot.
good job all round – polite
good job all round – polite cyclist and policeman happy to acknowledge and move on. need this considerate behaviour to continue…
:H
Fair play to the officer- no
Fair play to the officer- no harm done. Sometimes they get it wrong and have to move on. One day he’ll stop a thief riding a stolen bike on a pavement………
Another one wondering what
Another one wondering what you’re trying to achieve, Roadcc, by publishing this story?
If you ride that path, it’s lousy – it’s just paint on a pavement in a crowded and shared use area and not clear at all that it’s a cycle lane. The basic infrastructure is designed in such a way as it puts cyclists and pedestrians in direct conflict – especially as the cyclists are trying to get off the main road as quickly as they can.
The copper’s doing his job and has done it in an exemplary manner IMO – if all the drivers who made mistakes towards cyclists responded with a smile and apology, cycling would be a lot more pleasant…
Road cc, it’d be good to get a response from you re your objective here…
Lets face it that cycle path
Lets face it that cycle path is dangerous, crossing the pedestrian path like that.
Can’t blame the Police officer making a mistake there.
Someone is going to get hurt there one day 🙁
Road.cc, think you should
Road.cc, think you should change ‘sheepish’ to ‘polite’.
Thing is, the alternative to
Thing is, the alternative to going through Covent Garden and using that bike lane, at least if you’re trying to go south to Waterloo, especially from Kingsway, involves negotiating four lanes of traffic around the Aldwych. In the winter, especially, it’s just too scary. It’s fine for the lorries that hurtle along there, mind.
There’s also an ahead only
There’s also an ahead only sign when you’re coming south. I have no idea why.
I was a pedestrian on that section for years before riding there and was genuinely surprised to have bells rung at me. Why were these bikes on the pavement, I wondered.. I have taken a look and it a few times and also taken the Drury Lane option. It wouldn’t take much to mark it more clearly. Same goes for Byng Place on the Bloomsbury path, where the coffee stall and benches at to the pedestrians’ confusion.
Tea and medals all round.
Tea and medals all round. Mistakes happen, no one was injured in the making of this article.
Its not about the individual
Its not about the individual cop, whose error was trivial and harmless, but surely it is at least an illustration of how cycle infrastructure is so sparse, random, often badly signed, and inconsistent that non-cyclists are frequently caught by surprise by its very existence?
This must have taken more
This must have taken more time to write than the non-incident depicted took. Agreed with others, this feels like an extremely cynical attempt to push an agenda.
A great demonstration of how politeness can benefit everyone, though. Doesn’t that make you feel good? Thanks to mutual respect, the matter was dealt with in seconds to the satisfaction of all parties.
nuclear coffee wrote:This
The cyclist was still stopped and forced to answer questions from someone who has been entrusted with too much authority.
Responses to this incident indicate a cynical attempt to push an agenda that everything is fine. It is not.
Ush wrote:nuclear coffee
The cyclist was still stopped and forced to answer questions from someone who has been entrusted with too much authority.
Responses to this incident indicate a cynical attempt to push an agenda that everything is fine. It is not.— nuclear coffee
Gosh. ‘Police State’ shocker. Who knew? Best barricade myself in just in case the rozzers try to eliminate us all. Because surely that’s what this kind of aggressive interrogation leads to, isn’t it?*
*For the hard of understanding, there may be elements of sarcasm in this post. For RoadCC, what was the point of this article? To raise ire against a policeman making a decent effort at doing his job? Why?
TimC340 wrote: To raise ire
erm…you have the right to free movement along the highway. This policeman stopped a member of the public going about his lawful business. As others have pointed out, it is indicative of the car-centric attitude and all-too-often lacking knowledge of the law by the police. Had the person concerned been of a sensitive or troubled disposition, this could have easily escalated into something much more serious.
Also, it is further evidence of how even when London / The UK does put in cycling infrastructure, it is woeful.
The point of this article? I’d like to see the Met issue a notice to all its officers telling them to brush up on where cycling is and isn’t allowed. And I’d like to see TfL/whoever put in place better signage/surfacing here to delineate and advise cyclists and pedestrians alike.
I’d happily bet £100 to the burned-down dog’s home of your choice that this happens every_single_day, many times per day, at this location.
KiwiMike wrote:TimC340 wrote:
The copper made a mistake, and apologised as soon as it was pointed out. Making mistakes is not illegal, nor is it a short step from making a mistake to full blown authoritarian crackdowns on bike-path cycling. It is just a mistake, that’s all. Give the guy a break, FFS.
TimC340 wrote:
The copper
TimC340, I’m not hassling the policeman, yes he made a mistake and good on him for admitting as such when corrected. At no point did I say he should be strung by the knackers from the nearest lamp-post.
My point, as I hope was clear but obviously not to you, is that this is evidence of a systemic failure of the Met to ‘get’ cycling, and of TfL/councils to build proper infrastructure that doesn’t lead the public and police officers into needless confrontation.
That’s my point – there are two lessons to be learned from this, what we saw in the video is evidence of a systemic failure in the two organisations most able to affect/improve the lot of people choosing to cycle in London.
‘FFS’.
TimC340 wrote:[ nor is it a
I realize that it’s fun arguing against your own misrepresentations of other people’s arguments, but it’s best that you do that in your own head.
TimC340 wrote:Ush
The cyclist was still stopped and forced to answer questions from someone who has been entrusted with too much authority.
Responses to this incident indicate a cynical attempt to push an agenda that everything is fine. It is not.— Ush
Gosh. ‘Police State’ shocker. Who knew? Best barricade myself in just in case the rozzers try to eliminate us all. Because surely that’s what this kind of aggressive interrogation leads to, isn’t it?*
*For the hard of understanding, there may be elements of sarcasm in this post. For RoadCC, what was the point of this article? To raise ire against a policeman making a decent effort at doing his job? Why?— nuclear coffee
I think we should stop feeding the troll really. Unfortunately some cyclists do have an obsession with seeing victimisation everywhere.
In the real world police are human. How they factor this in is just as, if not more, important than any individual instance of making the right call, and anyone without a pathetic victim complex can see this policeman factors it in very well indeed.
Ush wrote:nuclear coffee
The cyclist was still stopped and forced to answer questions from someone who has been entrusted with too much authority.
Responses to this incident indicate a cynical attempt to push an agenda that everything is fine. It is not.— nuclear coffee
I have to say, as a card carrying lefty, you come across as a right wanker. I’m no fan of the Police (my dad had his head smashed in on an anti-fascist demo) but the guy made a mistake (a very small one at that) and apologized sincerely. What more do you want – beheading maybe? IS would love you.
Dropped wrote:
I have to say,
And like our previous friend you come across as a nut having an argument with yourself.
As to what I want? I want the “resource strapped” police to concentrate their allegedly low resources on the major menace on the roads: car drivers.
I do not want them wasting their and my and everyone else’s time by bumbling around and getting in my way.
Now, time for matron to tuck you back into bed with your sedative.
To Ush
Quite clearly my
To Ush
Quite clearly my argument is with you and your ill thought out reactionary comments.
Do you really think that the Police have ‘concentrated’ their resources on stopping innocent cyclists? Your comments make you sound like a loon conspiracy theorist. Then again maybe the Duke of Edinburgh is behind the deadly stopping of cyclist case?
The sheer horror of being stopped for 5 seconds must be the absolute end of the world for you. Just like the half wit motorist who is too impatient to wait and pass safely.
Speaking politely to someone for 5 seconds is not wasting peoples time by any sensible measure, so as the Americans would say, I think you need to pull your head out of your ass.
A few weeks ago on that same
A few weeks ago on that same path, a surley pedestrian assumed he had right of way, after the cycle lights had turned green, and tried to walk(barge) through me as I started cycling towards the bridge. Not realising that the light had changed for cyclists to go. Luckily I’m 16st and already leaned towards him to avoid getting toppled, so lets just say his efforts were futile. I think at that point he realised he was surrounded by a sea of bikes and maybe he was not ‘just on the pavement’.
I have to agree with some of
I have to agree with some of the above comments have a right wing group of cyclists kidnapped the editors family? Honestly please show at least a bit of objectivity.
No problems there – decent
No problems there – decent copper.
I think they should
I think they should concentrate on those buses using the bus lane.
can we have some bike reviews
can we have some bike reviews please?
fennesz wrote:can we have
Love it!
It is a stupid place for a
It is a stupid place for a cycle lane. I know the area well and it is mobbed with pedestrians at times, few of whom have any idea that there is a cycle lane there.
The cop made a mistake and then apologised, which is no bad thing. Things are not always that way.
I had an encounter with a PCSO a few years back in which he told me off for going the right way up a one way street. He was rude to start with and then didn’t apologise when his colleague nudged him and told him he was in the wrong. I think this cop is the better of the two.
OldRidgeback wrote:It is a
I totally disagree, the cycle lane was put there for good reason – to avoid some very nasty traffic system (the strand gyratory system) and be to able to cycle along quiet back streets instead. That cycle lane could have saved a life. The cyclist video shows that it can be navigated safely. An improvement to meet your concern would be to make the cycle lane curbed.
It boggles the mind, cyclists wanting less infrastructure. I cycle around London and appreciate little bits of infrastructure like this, which allows me to cycle away from traffic and pollution.
Cyclists are dangerous! – are you dangerous, are joggers dangerous? Motors kill 2000ish people per year, on average 1 person per year gets killed by someone cycling – and the circumstances are usually extraordinary when the cyclist is at fault.
kie7077 wrote:OldRidgeback
I totally disagree, the cycle lane was put there for good reason – to avoid some very nasty traffic system (the strand gyratory system) and be to able to cycle along quiet back streets instead. That cycle lane could have saved a life. The cyclist video shows that it can be navigated safely. An improvement to meet your concern would be to make the cycle lane curbed.
It boggles the mind, cyclists wanting less infrastructure. I cycle around London and appreciate little bits of infrastructure like this, which allows me to cycle away from traffic and pollution.
Cyclists are dangerous! – are you dangerous, are joggers dangerous? Motors kill 2000ish people per year, on average 1 person per year gets killed by someone cycling – and the circumstances are usually extraordinary when the cyclist is at fault.— OldRidgeback
That side of the Strand gyratory isn’t the bad bit. It’s dangerous around the other side heading south when you have to cross traffic lanes heading west. The problem with that cycle lane is that there are vast numbers of pedestrians there during daytime, many of whom are tourists rather than locals and are utterly unaware that it’s a cycle lane. It’s a pinch point for slow amblers with cameras, as well as people milling up the street to the nearby theatre. Just round the corner would have been a better place for a cycle lane.
OldRidgeback wrote:That side
I beg to differ.
Heading around from either Waterloo Bridge or The Strand is nasty as you have traffic whipping around from the east cutting across to head up Kingsway, traffic from waterloo either cutting across to head east, or up kingsway (that missed the tunnel) and a plethora of buses that are cutting across lanes to get to the stops. This is before any mention of black cabs.
Aldwych is a nightmare full stop. (Should have left it as it was! 😉)
@ OldRidgeback
Zanf pretty
@ OldRidgeback
Zanf pretty much covered it, 1st a bunch of bus stops on a rather awkwardly shaped road with traffic flying all over the place, then if you’re heading East you have to pray you don’t get hit by someone heading north.
Bored of road.cc slagging off
Bored of road.cc slagging off the fuzz every other news item. If you could do a better job why not give up some of your spare time and become a volunteer cop. Stick to reviews, real news and pro racing please.
I think its a good article
I think its a good article but the headline defeats what i think it’s trying to get across. We all make mistakes and as long as we accept that and apologise then no harm done.
In this case the officer was polite and accepted he had made a mistake, end of.
So the highly paid and
So the highly paid and looking at a shit hot pension police officer made a mistake because his first and over-riding instinct was that a cyclist *must* be in the wrong, and he couldn’t be bothered to look or was too poorly sighted, or was simply just too stupid to know or notice the cycle lane.
But he was polite with it, so everything is hunky dory.
farrell wrote:So the highly
If you fancy the job with such high pay and a shit hot pension you can apply to:
http://www.metpolicecareers.co.uk/contactus.html
and as a general rule cyclists aren’t allowed to cycle on the footway. This bit of poorly marked cycle lane is one of the exceptions to that so, yes the first overriding instinct was correct to challenge the cyclist which he did politely. And the cyclist replied politely and the police officer politely accepted that he had made a mistake and the cyclist politely rode off.
I’d be happy with that if I was a cyclist. I think the police should be out and about more often asking what people are up to and politely challenging them if they think they need to and actually accepting that they might be wrong in their polite challenge on occasions.
Criminology wise this is exactly what we want the police to be doing. The theory called “broken windows” postulates thatto minor infringements, littering, grafitti, petty vandalism etc indicates an area where the police don’t pay attention and that leads it to be regarded by criminals as a place where crime is easier. the term came from the research experiments set up to see what happened when cars and buildings had broken windows that remained unfixed compared to when they were fixed and repaired.
I think most people would like to see the police pay attention to what is happening on the streets and asking polite questions when they need to rather than have the streets abandoned as a police free zone that they can’t really be bothered with.
And frankly if you feel oppressed by a copper politely asking a question and then apologising when he realises he had made a mistake, I suggest you get out more and travel a bit. Might open your eyes a bit and make you appreciate some of the good things about Britain.
KiwiMike, i’m being totally
KiwiMike, i’m being totally sarcastic here but hear me out –
I went into a coffee shop and asked for a cappucino with no sugar, the assistant serves me a cappucino with sugar. Its pointed out to them and they apologise, make a fresh cup and i’m delayed by a few seconds –
now is this a systematic failure by local authorities in their education policy in that someone cant remember no sugar, or is it the fault of management for not giving the correct training, or more importantly is it just a mistake 😕
I do agree though that more needs to be done in relation to bike infrastructure and in preaching to the masses about cycling and its benefits.
@stumps
The coffee shop
@stumps
The coffee shop example doesn’t quite fit, as it would have to be a society where only an eccentric minority drank coffee and where even coffee shop staff were unfamiliar with the habit, being taken aback and slightly puzzled every time the subject came up (‘oh, you wanted it made with _hot_ water, right, sorry about that’).
If this video has a point, its just that this sort of thing would be less likely to happen if cycling were more mainstream.
so i’ve finally watched the
so i’ve finally watched the video. I see people getting really irate about it – much more than the cop or the rider, it seems. Maybe you should just CTFO.
That cycle lane is confusing
That cycle lane is confusing if you don’t already know about it. I use it regularly and I am actually amazed at how many pedestrians are aware of it and give-way to the cyclists when the lights are green. =D>
One thing I am not sure about is who technically has right-of-way between cyclists and pedestrians here. It’s not a road, it’s a pavement with a cycle lane bisecting it. 😕
So who called who a pleb?
So who called who a pleb?
Christ, I bet you’ve cleared
Christ, I bet you’ve cleared out some common rooms in your time Oozavared.
Slow news day guys?
Slow news day guys?
Quote: The copper made a
+1
It must have taken longer to
It must have taken longer to upload the clip to YouTube, that it took for the nothing-really-happened, to happen.
dafyddp wrote:It must have
I think ‘helmet-cam warriors’ who upload nonsense (like this) to Youtube should have their Go-Pro’s shoved up their arses. Preferably with the helmet still attached and ideally by the policeman featured.
Joeinpoole wrote:dafyddp
Whoa there Tonto.
The cyclist uploaded a good news story about a polite, couteous and fair minded copper apologising for making a small mistake. It’s almost a masterclass in policing and in how you ooght to respond to a civil question from a police officer.
The guy hardly appears to be a warrior of any sort.
Joeinpoole wrote:should have
I never cease to be surprised by other people’s fetishes and sexual desires. I suppose the uniform thing is common enough.
You go girlfriend….
…all that debate…all that
…all that debate…all that effort… all those keyboard strokes…all that energy…all that sub-collar thermal excess…but,ohh!,the passion! =D>
Farrell, a starting wage for
Farrell, a starting wage for a cop is less than that of a trainee manager at McDonalds. Admittedly i will get a good pension when i retire as mine is set in stone, however the pension that has since been brought in by that wanker Theresa May is significantly less yet we have to pay more to get it.
I digress though back to the story 😉
…lets all chill and have a
…lets all chill and have a nice Horlicks…or Camomile infusion…. =D>