After Dame Joan Collins last year called on London mayor Sadiq Khan to “do something” about cyclists “before the city is ruined”, Patricia Hodge has become the latest high-profile actress to launch a scathing rant about people cycling in the capital, claiming she gets “invariably screamed at” when she admonishes cyclists for “riding their bikes at speed”.

In a recent interview with Candis magazine, the Rumpole of the Bailey and Miranda star also questioned why cyclists jumping red lights or riding with no lights are rarely stopped by the police.

“I can’t tell you how many continue to ride their bikes at speed, with mothers having to swiftly move their buggies out of the way,” the 77-year-old, who lives in west London, near Hammersmith Bridge, said.

“These people see themselves as the centre of the universe and I think that’s very bad for society. I feel I have the right to say something. But when I do, I’m invariably screamed at.

“I always make sure, though, to point out that the only reason they’re angry is because they know I’m right.”

She continued: “And have you ever seen a policeman pulling a cyclist over because they don’t have any lights or because they’ve jumped the traffic lights?”

Hodge also told the magazine of one recent near-collision  with an especially “rude” and “dangerous” cyclist in the capital.

“I was crossing Portland Place in London recently, waiting on the central reservation for the lights to turn green,” she added.

“As I stepped off, a cyclist, a man in his 30s, went through the red lights and almost collided with me. But instead of apologising, he flicked me a rude sign.

“I just pointed at the green light for pedestrians and he called me the worst word in the English language. And when you get older, I think you have an obligation to speak out when things aren’t right.

“I won’t let anything go anymore. It worries me that manners are going out the window.”

> Joan Collins calls on Sadiq Khan to “do something” about dangerous cyclists before London “is ruined”

As noted above, the Jemima Shore Investigates actress’ anti-cycling rant – reported widely in the national press today – bears a striking resemblance to a similar diatribe posted on social media last year by Dame Joan Collins, after she was allegedly struck by a “masked cyclist with no lights” on the pavement in London on her way to dinner with Christopher Biggins.

 In an Instagram post, Collins said she was dropped off by a black cab driver and forced to walk to the restaurant Rules after discovering that Maiden Lane in Covent Garden was closed to traffic.

“However, that didn’t stop a masked cyclist with no lights and weaving on the pavement from crashing into me, almost knocking me over,” she wrote.

The actress then turned her attention to London mayor Sadiq Khan and called on the Labour politician to deal with what she believes to be the danger posed by cyclists, as well as the apparent inability to be dropped off at her destination by motor vehicle.

“How much longer must we live with closed roads and cyclists who consider themselves above the law?” she continued.

“Why don’t you do something, Sadiq Khan, before this beautiful city of London is ruined?”

In response to Collins’ post, a spokesperson for Khan said: “The mayor is committed to making London as safe as possible for both cyclists and pedestrians.

“Walking and cycling have boomed in the last couple of years and the mayor has built hundreds of kilometres of new or upgraded cycle routes since the pandemic, and completed work to make some of the capital’s most dangerous and intimidating junctions safer.

“The mayor encourages everyone using London’s roads to do so safely to help make London the best city in the world to walk and cycle.”

Between 2016 and 2021, 2,472 pedestrians were injured in collisions involving cyclists in the UK, accounting for just over two per cent of the total reported pedestrian casualties (122,961) in that period.