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Letter to my MP

Well I read that piece about the hit and run driver saying his car was stolen and got a little incensed found my local MP and sent him a letter, finally got off of my arse. I am not sure if it will do any good but if I get a reply I will post it. My local MP is Jon Cruddas, recently voted 2nd worst dressed man in Britain and this week sporting a makeover in the Romford Recorder (local paper). I do hope that his new look cuts a swathe through the renowned parliamentary bullsh1t if he picks up on my concerns.
Here is what I sent anyway and no doubt I left an awful lot out to address everyone’s concerns. Thoughts please but be gentle as it was a heavy night and it's been a while since creative writing at school.

Hello Jon

I will get straight to the point what is your stance and what are you doing to protect cyclists rights in the eyes of the law? The reason I ask this is there seems to be a constant stream of cases being highlighted from around the country were the life of a cyclist has little to no worth. Two such recent cases I shall highlight 1) a car driver being fine £35 for killing a cyclist after driving 90 metres with the cyclist on their bonnet before crashing into a tree 2) a car driver being prosecuted for perverting the course of justice for lying about his car being stolen but not for the death of the cyclist he hit whilst driving alleged stolen vehicle. As you can see, with good reason, there is a growing lack of faith in the justice system when it comes to one of, if not the, most vulnerable section of road users. It seems to me and many others that the courts favour the motorist side, even if this is allegedly not the case, and the ever growing list of victims is doing very little to abate this fear. I am lead to believe that there is a Parliamentary inquiry into cycling at this very time and urge you strongly to support the encouragement of cycling, if you do not already. I won’t go on about the health benefits and savings to the NHS as they are obvious but how are we expected to “Get the nation cycling” when there is such an issue as the one highlighted i.e. no faith in the judiciary system to protect the rights of a cyclist. We are at an ideal time to promote this with the events of last summer and it would be remiss of you, and fellow MP’s, not to do so.

Sadly for more information regarding the two highlighted cases, and many subsequent others, you can get this from road.cc or cyclingnews.co.uk

Kind regards

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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6 comments

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cidermart | 11 years ago
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So the direct reply turned into an email from a lackey, hmmm just after my address to check if I was in his constituency or am I now on a watch list???. Oh well here is the reply if you are interested.

"Jon Cruddas MP has received your email regarding cycling and has asked me to respond to you.

You are correct there is a cross party inquiry into cycling as they want to build on the momentum that has been created. Jon agrees that cycling should be given a higher priority than ever before and fully supports the campaign. The campaign will look into issues that affect cycling in the UK which will include road safety, urban design and working with public transport.

Jon feels this is an excellent opportunity to get more people to cycle in Britain and to ensure that cycling is safe and he will be promoting it.

Best wishes
Jeanne Alexander
Snr Caseworker for Jon Cruddas MP"

So point successfully swerved but he is backing cycling and I, and now you, have this point effectively in writing so let’s hope his name appears on any documentation regarding cycling or I will be contacting him again.

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cidermart | 11 years ago
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We have movement on the reply front as I received an email today (30/01/13) asking if he could have my address so “He could respond to me directly”. Lets hope it is good news  1 I will keep you updated.

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Dutchie | 11 years ago
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Good initiative...

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cidermart | 11 years ago
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Yeah I would be up for signing that as he does seem to have his head screwed on. I just felt it was time I dusted it off and rattled my sabre at my local MP as he is meant to work for us. I personally think that if we all did this they might realise how many there are and have to listen. Thanks for the feedback fellas and I will post up his reply, if it comes  22

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bikerdavecycling | 11 years ago
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Like the letter, like the fact it's straight to the point. Will do much the same to our own upper-class-twit MP....

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Carl | 11 years ago
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Can we get the Cycling Silk to draft a standard letter and then we can download it send it to every MP and everyone else? I'm sure he could fill it with lots of intelligent stuff about legal anomalies over the way the law treats road deaths, and there's no shortage of fuckwitted judgements or cop-outs from the morons who staff the CPS.

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