Jeremy Vine says you won’t be seeing his cycling videos popping up on your social media feeds any more, the broadcaster announcing he will stop sharing them as “the trolling just got too bad” and “the anger they generate has genuinely upset me”.
The BBC and Channel 5 presenter has been sharing videos from his commutes and other rides around London for years, the clips often viewed millions of times. They regularly attracted thousands of comments and were often the basis for news stories here on road.cc and national newspapers’ websites.
Vine’s bike was stolen from outside his home last week and he told his 765,000 Twitter followers that the theft had “made me think” about whether, when he gets a new bike, he wants to “go back into the trolling furnace”.
The bike theft — at 5am while I was already up, with the house lights on — made me think. pic.twitter.com/C14IRssj7k
— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) April 27, 2025
Outlining the extent of the abuse further, the broadcaster revealed there are “at least two death threats” against him currently being investigated by the police and a new cycling video “would make my phone physically heat up in my pocket”.
“I enjoy debates but not abuse,” he explained. “It’s strange that getting interested in road safety can actually endanger a person. I see other cyclists facing the same and wonder how they deal with it. So when I get my new bike I’ll stay vigilant but won’t share my adventures.
“The trolling just got too bad. They have had well over 100 million views but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me […] My aim was only to get all of us who drive to think about the dangers of trying to move around cities on a pushbike. I know I’ve sometimes got a little cross when a driver has, say, pulled out without looking, but I only ever uploaded the film to show the danger.
“I never made a penny from my videos, by the way. They have gone completely crazy at times.”
Vine also shared screenshots of the sort of the abuse he has received online, a “regular theme” being “the desire to see me crushed by a truck”, his point proven by a reply to the announcement about the videos stopping from someone who said it is a “shame as we won’t get so [sic] see him squashed”.
The decision to stop sharing the videos on social media probably should not come as a surprise, Vine having recently told the road.cc Podcast that he faces “trolling” every time he posts about cycling, which can be “exhausting”.
“When I put stuff on social media, invariably, without exception, I’m told that I had done something wrong that put me in danger,” Vine said. “Or I shouldn’t have been on the road anyway, because I don’t pay road tax.
“But the trolling has got to me a bit, and I feel like I might rest up, so drivers can relax. There’ll still be CyclingMikey and the others, but I might have a break, because it’s got a bit exhausting.
“If you’re reversed over by a van in a cycle lane, it cannot be your fault – but 95 per cent of the people who replied to my video said it was my fault. So I suppose it’s a bit wearing. My wife says to me, ‘put down the phone, it’s blowing up’.”
Last week, Vine made headlines after suggesting angry drivers are “not getting enough sex” and have “small di*k energy”.
“What happens is, all the people who are not getting enough sex lock themselves in small metal boxes and drive around London,” he added.
29 thoughts on ““I enjoy debates but not abuse”: Jeremy Vine to stop sharing cycling videos on social media because “trolling just got too bad””
Much the same here – had
Much the same here – had multiple threats against me investigated by the police (I know one guy in Manchester was actually tracked down, cuffed and arrested), stalkers coming to my home, insane abuse every. single. day.
I just want to ride my bike and hang out with my cat. Half this country thinks that deserves the death penalty.
sigirides wrote:
The dogs vs cats thing really has got out of hand.
It’s all the dogs on the
It’s all the dogs on the roads these days.
They should keep their owners on leads, I reckon.
You joke, but I get a
You joke, but I get a surprising amount of abuse from that vector too lol.
Yeech! There really are a lot
Yeech! There really are a lot of barking people on the internet.
We need more Matty & Kaidos
We need more Matty & Kaidos this side of the pond.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI3xGoEujYJ/
We’re gonna need a bigger cat
We’re gonna need a bigger cat.
I guess this must be Cybele,
I guess this must be Cybele, but fun fact, the Norse goddess Freya has a similar setup with a chariot drawn by large cats, except hers are Norwegian Forest Cats like Sigrid.
Correct cat spot!
Correct cat spot!
Sigi, I hate the abuse you
Sigi, I hate the abuse you get but as a glass is half full type of guy I don’t think half the country hate you. It’s a very outspoken and opinionated vocal minority. What percentage who knows? But remember empty vessels make most noise.
It’s a shame if he’s given up
It’s a shame if he’s given up altogether. Some of his clips were genuinely insightful, and a useful way to get people thinking about different aspects of road safety they may not have thought about. I also acknowledge that the most obviously reasonable ‘OMG, they almost killed me’ videos will get trolls*, and it will get wearing.
HOWEVER, I do think he would have got more from it, saved himself a bit of time and grief, and persuaded more people if he’d reduced the number of videos published in half, and focused on the most obvious offences and where there is genuine potential for danger. The ones where he reacted badly to having plenty of time to slightly reduce his speed so a car in a congested city could come out of a side street just made him look like he didn’t know how to share the roads. If a car would have done it to another car – and there’s not any danger – then it’s doesn’t merit a share.
*Not just deliberate trolls. Any video of any bad driving on the internet and you’ll find someone sincerely blaming the lorry driver for not managing to adjust their speed when a car pulls out of a layby in front of them. If you put a video of your exemplary cycling or driving on the internet, someone will call you an idiot for doing it wrong.
Meh (at best).
Meh (at best).
It’d be nice if people would always react positively to others – or at least not unpleasantly. But we should all know that isn’t guaranteed.
Further: a great way to make people less likely to behave positively (or more likely to say nasty things) is increase psychological “distance” between them and relax social bounds. For better or worse, by design or not … that is exactly what the power of the internet brings us *.
I’m a little dumbfounded that anyone would now be surprised by this.
* Of course that’s maybe a side-effect – in its recent incarnations it’s mostly considered to be”for” other things like moving money around, generating money via “traffic” / influencing folks etc.
In terms of “benefits” to folks engaging I think of it a bit like telly in the UK – when there were fewer channels there was much less choice … but as the numbers increased it didn’t necessarily mean there was an increase in the amount of quality content. Just a more thin / uneven spread. But then I don’t have a telly now.
Just turned on World at One
Just turned on World at One on Radio 4, “The BBC’s Jeremy Vine is calling time on his cycling vigilanteeism, he’ll tell us why.” I must have missed those videos where Vine meted out summary justice to those with whom he disagreed…
Rendel Harris wrote:
“I am Vineman”
Is that some sort of
Is that some sort of Chardonnay superhero?
Ned Boulton – The Sudden
Ned Boulton – The Sudden Silence of Jeremy Vine
https://substack.com/inbox/post/162313769
Surprisingly tricky to convey
Surprisingly tricky to convey to people the idea that “this activity is very safe, but if everyone behaves like this prick in the car it won’t be for long”. And the haters know that, which is why they alternate between calling us drama queens and suicidal lunatics.
It’s an important point.
It’s an important point. Also the difference between how people judge safety in practice e.g. objective safety and subjective safety. It may be statistically safe but if it doesn’t feel safe * to people they just won’t try.
That’s leaving aside additional things like “social safety” and whether it is actually an activity you can do in a social way. Never mind any effects on social status e.g. “if I do this will it make people think I’m a weirdo / poor / antisocial”?
* Or rather look safe from a distance – since most may never have cycled since childhood…
Yes, exactly so. I find Ned’s
Yes, exactly so. I find Ned’s viewpoint slightly insulting, in that I do point out shitty driving in my videos occasionally, but I also cycle without a helmet (and in jeans and a cotton tee) specifically because I want people to see that cycling is safe and easy. I had a motorcycle and a rifle before I was a teenager; there’s not much I’m afraid of, but I still don’t want to see someone drunk behind the wheel and I still compulsively point out poor trigger discipline or sweeping when watching tv with my wife. 😂 And of course I’m American – I’m sure British people find the idea of a 12 year old Travis and Sam (my German Shepherd at the time; Max the manx typically didn’t join me) running about town with a rifle shooting at bottles quite alarming.
I wasn’t being sarcastic in my previous comment, it really is quite tricky to say “this is a dangerous thing to do in a safe situation” without people misinterpreting it and much of what we think about “danger” is quite relative.
sigirides wrote:
I know the US is quite different (on average) but yeah most UK folks would consider German Shepherds with rifles alarming. I’m concerned when they’re only carying their teeth…
I didn’t take it as sarcastic – quite a few of the regular discussion topics on here end up with people (who apparently cycle themselves) at cross-purposes about this. So not a surprise that others will immediately ask “How can you complain about road safety yet also encourage people to cycle because ‘it’s very safe’ ?”
chrisonabike wrote:
That’s mostly down to the lederhosen though, to be fair.
Say what you want about the
Say what you want about the Marines, a well trained German Shepherd is the world’s most feared marksdog.
Its a great article and does
Its a great article and does make a good point. I do have to disagree with it on one point – that my experience of commuting on London back roads (TFL recommended quiet routes + bits of a CS) tends more towards Jeremy’s than Ned’s.
Caveat that with London drivers are – by and large – better than nearly everywhere else in the UK at dealing respectfully with cyclists when we share the infrastructure.
But Ned does reveal he
But Ned does reveal he chooses far quieter routes, essentially to avoid the kinds confrontations Jeremy encounters.
And if it doubles the time taken to ride, maybe not in London, but elsewhere it brings cars back into the more convenient travel option.
Which isn’t exactly solving the problem of drivers being idiots, or boosting cycling, even if it’s less stressful to ride.
Secret_squirrel wrote:
Proof?
Secret_squirrel wrote:
Well…I adore my home town and would defend it to the hilt in most things but that’s not my experience I must say. The only other towns I’ve lived in for any appreciable length of time (in the UK), Cambridge and Bath, both had better drivers vis a vis cyclists in my experience. London is so huge though and its composite parts can be so varied it’s perfectly possible for two people to have vastly different experiences depending which part of it they inhabit.
One big issue with the debate
One big issue with the debate re posting stuff on social media (vs just report it to police) is when the police don’t do anything…
Oh, victims right to review decisions is basically meaningless when a NIP has to be issued for any prosecution to occur, so you end up with “sorry, we were wrong, but can’t do anything about it now” and zero changes to what actually happens.
IMHO the solution would be rename NIP’s as (or extend them with a) notice of investigation (NoI), have DVLA take email contact as well as address, and allow an NoI issued digitally to comply with 14 day rule (with written notice then having a longer period).
NoI could then be issued automatically, separate to the paperwork for identifying the driver, probably automatically based on the online form I have to fill in when I submit video footage of bad driving.
Never been sure how and when
Never been sure how and when all this anti-cyclist hatred started. Seemed to come to the fore when lockdown started and people rediscovered cycling but it was around long before that. When politicians exploit it then we know there’s a real problem. As for threatening posts Jeremy would be better off quitting X and going onto Bluesky. There’s a lot more reasonable people and a lot less loons on there. X is a lost cause. It won’t be long before the numbers leaving it make it unviable.
Jeremy hasnt said anything
Is Jeremy happy his neighbour was watching and filming them?