We know, we know the window for publishing long, meandering reviews of 2024 shut days ago – but it seems someone forgot to tell the Daily Mail.
Because on Friday, the newspaper’s online counterpart decided to belatedly celebrate the New Year by compiling a list of the MailOnline’s “top 12 villains of 2024” – featuring none other than road safety campaigner and camera cyclist CyclingMikey.
Yes, that’s right. Nestled alongside the likes of the Post Office, Gregg Wallace, Oasis’ dynamic ticketing policy, Just Stop Oil, and Paddington Bear (hold on, what?) in the Mail’s list of nefarious figures and divisive topics was CyclingMikey – real name Mike van Erp – the camera cyclist who has reported thousands of motorists, including the occasional celebrity, for their rule-breaking driving and mobile phone use at the wheel.
(MailOnline’s “top 12 villains of 2024”)
A contentious figure on social media, where he uploads footage of road users committing traffic offences to his X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube channels, Mikey has long been established as regular fodder for anti-cycling articles in certain sections of the national press, which have branded Van Erp a “vigilante” for his prolific third-party reporting.
So, it’s no surprise that the MailOnline staffer tasked with piecing together the publication’s “12 top villains of 2024” described the cyclist and road safety campaigner as a “pedalling pest” and the “bane of London’s roads due to his holier than thou antics”.
But what particular Mikey moment caught the Mail’s eye this year? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, the incident that earned Van Erp’s spot on the paper’s villainous list for April was the rather bizarre post – covered on the road.cc live blog at the time – which showed Mikey himself committing a traffic offence by obliviously riding through a set of red lights.
In the clip, which saw Van Erp stopped at traffic lights on Eccleston Street in Westminster, one of the four lights visible soon turned green, apparently signalling the cyclist to advance and cross the junction.
However, with no traffic following, and the benefit of camera footage to look back on, he worked out the other three lights were red and the green light was in fact for traffic coming from another direction and had been twisted out of place.
Having realised the error of his ways, Mikey then took the bold step of uploading the footage to social media and even invited any trolls who wished to report the incident to the police, giving the time and date of the incident to assist any report.
“It’s my mistake, I hold my hands up, I’m at fault there,” Mikey said during the YouTube video. “I missed that the other two traffic lights were still red. I realised something was wrong when the scooter rider next to me revved his engine and then stopped, so he obviously almost got caught too, but he and the other scooter rider behind me didn’t follow through.
“That’s probably the best use of video cameras that I have over the years, that I can go back and look at when there’s been a point of conflict or something’s gone unexpectedly and I can find out what went wrong and change my own riding as a result.
“If the police prosecute me, so what? I’ll pay the fine, you’re not going to see me complaining.”
And how did the Mail’s 2024 reviewer react to Van Erp’s admirably principled red light confession?
“Appearing to minimise his crime, the pedalling pest claimed that the intersection in central London was ‘fairly quiet’ and claimed other motorists had also nearly fallen for the traffic light,” the writer said of the “shocking” video.
“The peddling vigilante [what’s he peddling? – Ed] later added that he thought a ‘drunk’ may have twisted the sign ‘to point down the wrong road’.”
Apparently that’s enough to have you listed alongside the Horizon-scandal-laden Post Office, Glasgow’s brilliantly hopeless Willy Wonka Experience, and a certain former Masterchef host as one of the UK’s villains of the year.
But then again, he was also surrounded by the member of the public who threw a milkshake at Nigel Farage, school dinners, Just Stop Oil campaigners, and – I still don’t get this – the apparently “polarising” Paddington Bear.
“Does this mean I’m one of the good guys?” Mikey posted on social media after reading the Mail’s review.
Of course, as noted above, this isn’t the first time that Mikey and other camera cyclists have been negatively characterised in the national press.
In October, after covering the rapid growth in third-party road safety reporting in a news article and in a BBC Breakfast segment, the BBC was criticised by cyclists for referring to both CyclingMikey and fellow safety campaigner Tim on Two Wheels as “vigilantes”, with Van Erp arguing that cyclists who submit footage to the police are, in fact, the “opposite of vigilantes”.
Following a number of complaints, including from Tim himself, who described the “vigilante” reference as “disappointing”, the broadcaster admitted to road.cc that the initial language used in their story was “inappropriate”.
70 thoughts on “CyclingMikey named by Daily Mail as one of the “top villains of 2024” – alongside the Post Office, VAR, Oasis, Gregg Wallace… and Paddington Bear”
This says a lot more about
This says a lot more about the Mail than about Mr van Erp.
But Paddington? What exactly is it about a loveable, kind, bear, inspired by the plight of Kindertransport Jewish child refugees, that the Mail hate?
(oops, might have answered my question there! The Mail actively and successfully campaigned against letting Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis into the UK)
the little onion wrote:
I thought that it might be because he drank tea from the spout of the Queen’s teapot – the cad!
HMTQ was gracious as ever and
HMTQ was gracious as ever and didn’t queensplain to a bear confused by unfamiliar pottery…
Perhaps being Great Grandmother enables acceptance of early mistakes.
There’s no end to their
There’s no end to their failure.
Long overdue for Horse Riding and Bicycle Riding to be Protected Characteristics so we are Protected from their bias and ignorance by the existing Equality Law.
Bears, yes, why not. Protect Bears too.
the little onion wrote:
“punishment for the offence [of using a phone while driving] was doubled to six penalty points in 2017 after the Daily Mail launched its End the Mobile Madness campaign”.
The Mail – to their credit – was still highlighting the problem until recently. So they seem to be for cracking down. Unfortuntately, just not quite as much as they’re for hate-generating clickbait.
Paddington. The undocumented
Paddington. The undocumented and illegal economic migrant from darkest Peru. Sponging off a soft touch English family. I’m surprised it has taken the Mail this long to get on his case. He is brown too. Definitely doesn’t help.
I appreciate what he does and
I appreciate what he does and all but he blocked me on twitter after I called out one of his friends for telling a fellow cycling advocate to “f### off” when she claimed they were being ablest. I met him in person at an LCC event in the past few years, suffice to say I was seemingly the only one not fawning over him.
Boopop wrote:
Reminds of that Jimmy Carr story where a woman accused him of being fattist. “I think you’ll find you’re fattest” he replied.
He blocked me as well, as he
He blocked me as well, as he disagreed with me when I said that if you’re wheelieing down the road, you’re not completely in control of your bike.
Well, if we’re sharing these
Well, if we’re sharing these stories he didn’t block me but unfollowed and refused to to speak to me because I said that I didn’t like the guy (can’t remember his name) who cycles round London with his cat (Sigrid, remember that) in the front basket, primarily it seems for TikTok clicks, because I thought it was putting the cat in unnecessary danger just to show off. It’s a shame because I support Mikey’s cause and actions and have robustly defended him – and still do – against his detractors but it seems he’s definitely not the best at accepting contradictory opinions to his own.
I like Sigrid and Travis, I
I like Sigrid and Travis, I’ve met them in person and he inspired me with a better solution for taking my cat to the vet.
That said, everyone’s allowed to have an opinion and deciding not to talk to you because you said you didn’t like someone seems rather childish!
I expressed myself badly,
I expressed myself badly, when I said I didn’t like the guy I meant his actions rather than him personally. No problem with people taking their cats to the vet and other necessary places on bikes, good on ’em (though I’m afraid I’m too soppy about my three to risk it so spend a fortune on Ubers if they need treatment), not the same (in my opinion) as zooming around through the busiest London traffic with a cat loose in a basket; that video of his where he was hit by a moped rider and Sigrid flew out of the basket and was nearly splattered gave me nightmares. But as you rightly say, everyone has their own opinions and I certainly wouldn’t block someone or send them to Coventry just because they disagreed with that one.
Maybe we should crowd fund
Maybe we should crowd fund somebody to dig up some real dirt on the owners of the Mail…
You mean the 4th Viscount
You mean the 4th Viscount Rothermere? I don’t know that there’s too much dirt on him, but there’s an interesting family history around the 1930s and 40s…
I believe he bleats on about
I believe he bleats on about patriotism whilst not paying taxes, as he is non-dom
Not really “dirt” but
Not really “dirt” but definitely an abuse of his position I’d say: he directed the DM’s campaign against the Kensington High Street cycle lane, led by his friend and convicted drunk driver Nigel Havers, because he thought it would delay his 1.5 mile chauffeur-driven limousine journey from his Holland Park mansion to the DM headquarters in Derry Street, just the other side of KHS.
Not so simple. Assuming that
Not so simple. Assuming that heś UK resident (unlike his father) he´ll almost certainly be deemed UK domiciled and therefore not a non-dom for tax purposes (at least since 2017). The offshore trust arrangements will mean that a large chunk of DMGT shares are likely outside of UK IHT, but that will change come 6 April this year.
However, itś worth pointing out that the fact that he does pay his taxes now is due to successive rule changes (under both the Tories and Labour) rather than any choice he´s made.
Well that was my mistake –
Well that was my mistake – choosing to pay tax.
On the other hand that choice is more sustainable the more money you have – to pay people to ensure that is fine under the rules. Or too much effort to thoroughly check!
Certainly up until at least
Certainly up until at least 2022 he was still claming non-dom status by having France as his domicile of origin, being born in Paris where his old man lived most of his life to avoid tax. As I understand it (which is not very much) nondom status is being removed for those domiciled in the UK for at least fifteen of the last twenty years; not sure whether that applies to him or not.
I´d be surprised if he wasn´t
I´d be surprised if he wasn´t deemed domiciled from 2017 (when the 15 of 20 year rule was brought in), unless he had a few years of non-UK residence. This would mean that he could not claim the remittance basis, whereby non-UK income (and gains) are not taxed unless brought into the UK. This is most likely to be relevant to distributions from the offshore trust which owns most of the DMGT Plc shares. I must emphasise, though, that if he brings funds into the UK to live on (which he would very likely need to do) then he´d pay tax on this (when UK resident).
The change from 6 April this year does away with domicle altogther, and it´s very unlikely that Rothemere would be able to take advantage of the new regime. It will also mean that the DMGT Plc shares in trust will be subject to IHT, which they probably would not have been before.
Maybe one of the drivers he’s
Maybe one of the drivers he’s caught texting whilst driving, and reported, earning them 6 points and a fine, was some high-up at DM.
What a load of upside down
What a load of upside down blx really. The person who witnesses and reports a crime is a ‘villian’ and the person who commits the crime and is filmed doing so is a victim. Only in the unspeak of the media is such blx possible. I doubt a regular Mail reader would understand the paradox going on there.
Rome73 wrote:
Whether you are the villain or the victim also depends on your wealth and/or ‘type’* in the world of the Mail, I suspect…
*Yes, that is a euphemism.
Rome73 wrote:
Until drivers stop seeing phone use whilst driving, speeding, etc., as ‘victimless crimes’, I doubt that this attitude will change, unfortunately.
Karma would be for the editor
Karma would be for the editor of the DM to be hit by a vehicle whilst they are crossing the road, and the driver found to have been using their phone at the time.
More karma points if he was
More karma points if he was reading the DM on his phone.
I wouldn’t imagine that
I wouldn’t imagine that anyone working there actually reads their own “newspaper”. They all understand that it’s best use is as backup toilet paper…
Cycling Mikey actually spots
Cycling Mikey actually spots guys being stuck in traffic, not moving.
Thinking about Mikey and
Thinking about Mikey and other cyclists who upload their incident footage it seems that the issue is people assume they’re ‘content creators’ who ride around trying to find crimes to monitise. However dashcam footage uploaders don’t face the same assumptions around them. I wonder if viewers pick up on cues such as aspect ratio and fisheye that tell them this is GoProesque footage from a content creator, versus dashcam footage with a date and timestamp from an ‘ordinary’ person.
Perhaps Mikey could edit the footage to make it more dashcammy (dashmaxxing?)
There is no possibility that
There is no possibility that video from CM and other cycling cammers can be ‘edited’ to make it look as if it has been taken by a respectable driver – even apart from the rather reasonable view that severely edited video is unlikely to be accepted as evidence
oh you’ve misunderstood, i
oh you’ve misunderstood, i don’t mean trying to trick people into thinking they’re watching a car and i definitely don’t mean footage submitted to the police. i just mean adding a timestamp and perhaps cropping it slightly before posting it on sm
If it’s ‘on the road’ it’s
If it’s ‘on the road’ it’s still going to be obvious it’s a cyclecam
sorry i don’t know how to
sorry i don’t know how to explain it any clearer than i have
Car Delenda Est wrote:
“Filthy lycra weasels, fighting their dirty underhand war!”
“Splendid fellows, brave heroes, risking their no-claims bonus for Blighty!”
Are there any dashcammer
Are there any dashcammer channels ? And not the compilation ones I mean equivalent to Mikey or Vine in terms of content and as a personal channel.
I presume there must be, just never bothered looking for any.
For me there’s never an issue in having to hunt for incidents, any standard length bike ride will have multiple reportable incidents recorded on camera. Which is why I’m always perplexed when lots of the content the bike cammers produce are not the style of things I’d have bothered even noting during a ride.
That’s when it feels like content for content sake and about feeding the monetisation algorithms.
There’s the The London Dash
There’s the The London Dash Cam – he has it in for cyclists.
Part of the reason for posting stuff you see as ordinary is to highlight the problems that cyclists face, as there are plenty of people who think drivers are very law abiding and cyclists are not. Bear in mind what may be water off a duck’s back to an experienced cyclist is very off putting to a casual one.
I can only hope for a cumulative effect on drivers in the long term to change their behaviours.
But is there like a car
But is there like a car channel who posts never ending clips of cars pulling out at junctions, roundabouts, cutting across lanes stuff, jumping red lights?
And the only reason I ignore the minor stuff on the roads, is because the major stuff more than makes up for it in bucketloads.
But we rarely see the major stuff covered as often by these channels, and it’s the major stuff that kills people.
I often think of compiling a set of worst stuff I’ve captured of the year, but life’s too short to waste the time on it.
Ruby dash cam, exposed UK
Ruby dash cam, exposed UK dash cam, UK dash cam all do yearly or monthly round ups.
Probably the best option to see major stuff.
Dashcams UK on Facebook,
Dashcams UK on Facebook, about 20% of the footage is from cyclists’ helmet cams ?
If the Daily Hate dislikes
If the Daily Hate dislikes Cycling Mikey, he can take that as a positive.
Right whingers will always go
Right whingers will always go for hyberbole, truth twisting, double standards and fauxtrage. Sometimes seen in this parish.
One should always stop on a
One should always stop on a red if there’s crossing traffic or pedestrians who look like they may of use to society in the future. Otherwise why would one??
I remember this time at a
I remember this time at a crossroad, I checked that no cars were coming, no pedestrians to be seen, so I started pedaling through the red, only to be struck by a thundering voice behind my back, “Red light!”.
That was a police car just behind be, shouting with their megaphone…
Lucky for all of us it was a
Lucky for all of us it was a police car and not a Daily Mail reader with a dashcam, because that’s the sort of thing that – coupled with the right headline – will generate a lot of ad revenue for the Mail and a more aggravation for law-abiding people on bikes.
In much the same way GoPro (other brands available) footage of someone driving an SUV doing it would send the road.cc comments section into a frenzy of “throw away the key”.
I’m sure you weren’t putting yourself or anyone else in any danger, but the optics aren’t great …
In much the same way GoPro
In much the same way GoPro footage of someone driving an SUV doing it [RLJ] would send the road.cc comments section into a frenzy of “throw away the key”
Untrue – I regularly post lists on here of videos of drivers committing serious red light offences which are invariably ignored by the police, with no response whatsoever, because everybody knows what Lancashire is like
S.E. wrote:
If you didn’t spot a police car behind you then I think your situational awareness needs more work. As you didn’t overtake them (which would have certainly made you aware of them), you should have been aware of a vehicle approaching your rear as it’s handy to know what way they’re indicating so you can be wary of a left hook etc.
You’re lucky it wasn’t this instead, though
Strange how fascism is
Strange how fascism is getting so normalised these days. Most are chasing big Oil money.
The usually tamer Mail could claim to be ‘just reporting it’ yet I think they should stick to salivating over underage girls.
Facism? Where on Earth did
Facism? Where on Earth did you get that from?
aidsmith wrote:
Othering of those in non-conformist outgroups. Lists of persons regarded as “villains” to be hated by society. Language comparing targets to vermin (“claims to have ratted on”, “cycling pest”). Comes from an outlet notorious for its historical antisemitism and support for fascist groups (“Hooray for the Blackshirts!”). In the words of J.Edgar Hoover, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and consorts with other ducks, I say sure as hell it’s a duck.
The Mail demonstrating its
The Mail demonstrating its utter irrelevance. Claiming that someone making the roads safer for everyone is a villain is perverse, warped and just wrong: some of the DM’s most time-honoured and prominent characteristics.
Given that their readers are likely to be wealthy and such people are more likely to use their phone whilst driving, they’re just looking after their supporters.
Anyway, the list is clearly wrong: no Feathers McGraw.
Tbf to them they didnt say
Tbf to them they didnt say that was the reason he made their list.
It was because he is a road safety campaigner but in April he published a video of himself jumping a red light and in their words tried to minimise the lawbreaking aspects to it.
For sure a disingenuous reason to make the list. But there’s plenty of that going around thesedays, just like click bait headlines
And Feathers McGraw is a fictional character made of plasticine fwiw.
Given paddington was in the
Given paddington was in the list, why not other similar types?
You mean that other …
You mean that other … bugbear, migrants from eg. the middle east getting here via poorer parts of Europe, like Wojtek?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear)
Well Paddington made the list
Well Paddington made the list not because of the character, but because of a twitter promotion for the latest film.
The film makers & sponsors had created a Paddington Bear Airbnb in the same street, but not the same house, the films have become associated with, as a competition to celebrate the film premiere that 3 lucky winners could spend the night in.
Which has now also become a tourist hot-spot as a result, alot like the bookshop and homes from Notting Hill did, and various Harry Potter filming locations are.
And the local residents were just fed up of it, more the fact others were making money from their homes than they were, and have just had to put up with the inconvenience of it.
I deal for the Wail, then !
I deal for the Wail, then !
stonojnr wrote:
That’s what he wants you to think.
His intentions are good, it’s
His intentions are good, it’s just the way he goes about it sometimes can be a problem. One fears he’ll come a cropper one day when says something to the wrong person……
Didn’t he already do so when
Didn’t he already do so when a very important man already breaking the law drove his car into him, then won in court?
Velophaart_95 wrote:
That raises the ever-present debate of should one inform the offender that they have been observed. It has often been said to CM, and indeed sometimes to me, “Why do you have to confront them, just film them, report them and let the police deal with it.” This is all well and good, but my reply is, and I think CM would say something similar, in the case of phone drivers they are engaged in a potentially life-threatening activity. If one just leaves them to it unchallenged, how is one going to feel if they hit another cyclist or pedestrian down the road whilst still on the phone? I’m happy to take the risk of an irate motorist deciding to get physical in order to stop that happening, although none ever have, plenty of “fronting up” and “come on then” but most aren’t too secure outside their safety cages (although I recognise being a six foot tall former rugby player with the (rapidly declining) remnants of a decent physique probably provides a certain amount of deterrent that not everyone enjoys – CM is quite a small chap but extremely courageous and I take my hat off to him for the way he won’t let himself be bullied, check out his confrontation with this utter weapon: https://road.cc/content/news/how-would-you-be-camera-now-mikey-293871 )
An excuse (as if it were
An excuse (as if it were needed) to link to the excellent Dan & Dan’s Daily Mail song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI
Obviously Paddington is on
Obviously Paddington is on the List because he was, until given a British passport, an illegal immigrant. It’s not clear if the bear was given British citizenship. He may only have an honorary British passport thus meaning that he is still an illegal immigrant. This would explain the quality newspapers listing of him.
Bols wrote:
I prefer the term “asylum seeker” or “refugee” as “immigrant” is often used by right-wingers to dehumanise those people and “illegal” is a loaded term that is a matter of opinion until the relevant case has been tried in court (especially if the methods to apply for refugee status have been changed and are no longer viable for people to use until they are already in the country).
hawkinspeter wrote:
I prefer the term “asylum seeker” or “refugee” as “immigrant” is often used by right-wingers to dehumanise those people and “illegal” is a loaded term that is a matter of opinion until the relevant case has been tried in court (especially if the methods to apply for refugee status have been changed and are no longer viable for people to use until they are already in the country).— Bols
As I understand it, “immigrant” is “a foreigner coming to live in the UK” whereas “a Brit moving overseas to live” is an “expat” 😉
If a person who gets people
If a person who gets people off the road for breaking the law by driving while using their phone is a villain then that paper needs reflect on what they should be e reporting on. How many RTI’s are hit by car drivers being on their phone.
Surely, the Daily Mail would
Surely, the Daily Mail would not want crime to go unpunished.
Benthic wrote:
Well, if it’s broken in a very specific and limited way, then they’re probably fine with it.
They left out The Telegraph
They left out The Telegraph and The Daily Mail.
Aside from the single
Aside from the single incident which CM owned up to and invited others, with specific details, to report… what exactly does the Daily Fail regard as reasons for saying he is a villian?
(PS, is there any update on whether it was actually reported and if the police actioned it? It would be great to shut up any nay sayers to show CM (and cyclists in general) isn’t immune to the law either.)
Or should the Daily Fail label every dangerous driver a villain for causing KSIs and collisions which cost insurance companies a huge amount in payouts, thus increasing motor vehicle premiums to go up for EVERYONE…
On an aside, I am left
On an aside, I am left wondering if it is ever at all possible to have the words ‘right wing’ and ‘hypocrite’ not co-joined,
Everything they touch is so.
Yes, it’s a lot more
Yes, it’s a lot more difficult when you don’t have any traffic queues, and the police don’t consider it to be an offence anyway
https://upride.cc/incident/yh66utp_audia1_handheldmobile/