Cyclist fined £700 after jumping red light

The guy in the story does sound like a total berk, especially from Recumbenteer's description. Though somehow its hard to take it entirely seriously - a pedal-powered desperardo trying to recreate a movie car-chase on a bicycle!

I so hope he doesn't have a car.

Don't motorists who kill cyclists through their negligence regularly get fines which are less than a third of this amount?

I do not believe newspapers are a reliable source, especially newspapers that are IMHO all too often anti-cyclist. It is all too common for important context to be removed to produce a story that is quite different from the actual facts.

However, in this case the report appears correct.
The whole event was videoed, I saw it on TV the other night. He was a total cock. When he was spotted riding without lights [visualise typical stealth cyclist: dark clothes no lights or reflectors], the Police tried to get him to stop, so he rode through a red light to escape. Then he continued to ignore their requests to stop and he rode onto the pavement to escape. He was also as drunk as a skunk.
He was really obnoxious. He was offered the choice of a fixed penalty notice or court but since he refused to provide his details he was repeatedly warned that he would be arrested if he didn't provide his details. Eventually, he relented, gave his details and chose court.

It was entirely his fault. If he'd stopped, the Police said he'd been told to walk home. However, he was determined to talk his way into trouble and he succeeded!

I see idiots behave like this virtually every time I cycle. Do I challenge them? Sometimes, but it depends upon circumstances. I have never had a civil response.

Behavior like that gets all cyclists a bad name, to the gutter press he's a typical cyclist.
This idiot is no friend of law-abiding cyclists. He 'presses all the wrong buttons' and feeds ammunition to the cycle-hating sections of the media and the morons who believe everything they're told. As far as they're concerned, all cyclists are Lycra-clad lawbreaking scum, even when it's perfectly clear that this isn't true.

The thing is, his choice to not buy lights was a rather expensive mistake, but then he could have been killed or maimed as a result of his stupidity.

I bought my teenage son:
Shimano DH-3N80 hub dynamo wheel £120 from Spa Cycles
Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Fly Headlight £62 DotBike
Topight Flat Plus dynamo rear light with standlight £24 DotBike
Rear light to be upgraded this weekend to a Busch & Muller Toplight Flat S Plus dynamo rear light with standlight and Linetec Art. 329ASK 14.9 Euro Bike24

He got what he deserved, but lets look at the following sentence:

"Our communities in Brighton and Hove are regularly raising concerns about anti-social cycling, where cyclists are cycling on pavements, having no regard for red traffic lights and cycling without lights at night."

A quick look at The Argus shows that Brighton has far more problems that rogue people on bikes. Indeed a careless driver has recently been imprisoned there for a staggering 9 months for killing someone who was on a scooter.

think this guys fine was probably more for swearing at the peelers and tryin to ride off on htem than running a red light.

That was daft of him. But how many motorists have you seen stopped after cutting a red light? Personally, not one. But I've seen two cyclists stopped and know another two who have been fined. Yet I see drivers put their foot down and get through a light that's just changed every other day.

He's lucky to get the fine. A cyclist last week was riding on a dual carriagway near Swindon in the dark, with no lights on. He was hit by a horsebox and two following vehicles. That's evolution in action. He'd probably have preferred to pay the fine rather than with his life. Frankly, anyone who's dumb enought to behave like that deserves what he gets.
...and that doesn't include sympathy.

What it highlights is that people often get away with minimal punishments for serious offences. I think he got what he deserved. I don't think all offenders do.

I think that is way over the top when you compare it to penalties for motoring offences, and you consider that he didn't actually harm anyone.

He sounds a bit of a jerk. The punishment fits the crime. I wish the same could be said for all offending road users. I did watch a guy on a mountainbike cross a junction at red this morning. I was waiting on the other side and got a fine view. The guy went round the rear of an HGV that had crossed the lights but still had its tail end sticking out into the carriageway as the driver waited for the queue to move forward. As the cyclist peered round the truck he nearly lost his head to a bus coming the other way. He then zoomed across the road in front of a car that had to brake to avoid him and cycled away happily on the pavement. Not long after the lights changed and it did strike me how this guy had put his own life at risk (and possibly others) because he wasn't prepared to wait 30 seconds - puts it in perspective really.