Sinister fallout from BBC cycling documentary as helmet cam cyclist receives hate mail

A cyclist whose helmet camera footage featured in the controversial BBC documentary The War On Britain’s Roads has received aggressive hate mail in the wake of the programme's aring.

Gareth Williams, 24, who posts his helmet cam footage under the moniker CycleGaz, was featured in the programme which went out on Wednesday night.

Scenes showed him remonstrating with bad drivers, including a taxi driver who cut him up dangerously.

One user on Twitter said: “I’d happily run him over.”

But Gareth shrugged it off, saying he was used to abuse.

He told the Evening Standard: “The threats are no different, to be honest. I put stuff on YouTube and I get a lot worse than that.

"It’s hot air. People think they are anonymous on the internet. Come the real world, they will run away crying. I don’t think I’m at risk.”

He played it down, tweeting yesterday: “Apparently I’m getting death threats. That’s funny because I haven’t seen any.”He told the Standard: “None of the stuff that was directed at me  from that point of view  was what I would consider out of the norm.

"It’s fairly easy to deal with. I don’t think about it. I get lots of people on YouTube saying, ‘If I see you I will run you over. You are going to die.’ You get so used to it you just ignore it.”

He said that he was disappointed with the tone of the documentary, in common with a lot of cyclist viewers.

“It was initially about the people using [helmet] cameras or calling for safer cycling.

"It was more about the campaign side and what people have done and how we push things forward, and how we use the cameras.

"That was pushed to the BBC but it wasn’t edgy enough for them. At that stage it would have been difficult for me to say I want to back out.

“I think they kind of represented me as ‘Jack the Lad’ and a cocky, arrogant young guy, but I feel more of a balanced person than that.

"I comment on bad cyclists as well. I’m not just going for bad motorists.”