“Make selfish cyclists wear a licence plate,” says frothing Telegraph columnist in bizarre piece claiming drivers are terrified by “egomaniac” cyclists going against Margaret Thatcher with “absolutist green agenda” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Make selfish cyclists wear a licence plate," says frothing Telegraph columnist in bizarre piece claiming drivers are "terrified" by "egomaniac" cyclists going against Margaret Thatcher with "absolutist green agenda"
Good news, everyone! The Telegraph has rung up another columnist for a an anti-cycling special, this time demanding “selfish” cyclists (whose “absolutist green agenda” goes against Maggie T’s beliefs about car ownership, don’t you know) wear a licence plate to use the roads. Isn’t this a throwback to a couple of years ago…
It all comes in response to the news that three new signalised pedestrian crossings are to be installed on the Outer Circle of Regent’s Park as part of the Royal Parks new ‘considerate cycling’ campaign.
Naturally, the newspaper which was scolded by the press regulator over its inaccurate (and much ridiculed) front-page claim that cyclists are hitting 52mph while chasing London Strava segments, found a columnist to pen some thoughts on the situation.
Titled, ‘Make selfish cyclists wear a licence plate’, Clive Aslet claimed people on bikes have a “unique opportunity to cause distress” as they can “unload unspeakable tirades of invective, then pedal away out of earshot before the offended party has had the chance to let off a volley in return”.
The answer? Licence plates… apparently. There was also a new one for future games of anti-cycling bingo, the columnist appearing to oppose the “egomaniac cyclist who believes that all the world should scatter before him”, and is “a product of an absolutist green agenda and a hatred of the ‘great car owning democracy’”. Stay with me… “for whom motor vehicles are not a symbol of individual freedom, as Margaret Thatcher believed, but of greed”. Going against Thatcher’s view of the motor vehicle, add that to your bingo cards, everyone.
The frothing ended with a false claim that illegal electric bikes and motorbikes are “push bikes” before claiming, to car drivers, the “increased responsibility these machines impose is terrifying”.
“But the law seems not to have noticed them, the column concluded. “They or those in charge of them should have number plates. So, particularly in urban conditions, should cyclists. After all, they frequently wear cameras in case their rights are infringed by other road users – they want to be able to identify them in court. Cyclists who wear face coverings should not be anonymous; with rights go responsibilities. A licence plate system would allow aggrieved pedestrians to level the score.”
Sorry you had to read that so early on a Thursday…
Why did Tadej Pogačar share his power data on his latest Strava upload? Won’t it help his rivals?
> Why did Tadej Pogačar share his power data on his latest Strava upload? Won’t it help his rivals?
Regional bike shop chain files notice of intention to appoint administrators
Earlier this week we brought you the news that Frog Cycles had filed an intention to appoint administrators. Now, the local press in East Anglia is reporting Cycle Revolution, a regional bike shop chain with stores in Ipswich, Norwich and Colchester has also made a similar filing.
As with Frog, the notice allows companies to continue trading while seeking to avoid the worst case scenario.
Cycle Revolution director Darren Thomas said it is “a testing time for everyone across the company” and next steps are being “considered”.
“Operations are continuing as normal, and we remain committed to supporting our customers and partners while working to protect the long-standing reputation of the business,” he told the Eastern Daily Press.
“We are working closely with professional advisers. As the situation is fluid, I’m not able to share further detail at this stage. We are working towards an outcome that enables the business to continue trading. We expect this to conclude shortly, although timings are subject to change.”
Jim Ratcliffe “sorry” claim that UK is “being colonised” by immigrants “offended some people” – as Ineos Grenadiers stay silent on owner’s controversial comments
Pray for no speedbumps on the way home
SRAM drops appeal against Zipp aero wheel patent infringement ruling, as Princeton Carbon Works “validated” over wavy rim design
Police promise "full review" after injured cyclist left unattended by emergency services on busy road for several hours
Dyfed Powys Police has promised a “full review” after an elderly cyclist was left lying injured on a busy road for several hours.
The rider was attended to by off-duty fire officers and passers-by, but Welshpool County Councillor Graham Breeze told the County Times that police never arrived to direct traffic and there was a long wait for an ambulance.
“No police officers were sent, and no fire appliance was deployed, even though trained fire personnel were already on site. There was a potential six-hour delay for an ambulance, and the location posed a significant ongoing hazard,” he told the local press.
“I am told that an ambulance eventually arrived around two hours after the initial 999 call, though witnesses were initially told the response time could be as long as six hours.”
The local politician said the location where the injured cyclist was left lying is “one of Welshpool’s most dangerous stretches of road”.
“We must understand why police did not attend, why the fire service was not deployed, and why an elderly man was left lying in the roadway for so long,” he added.
Radio 1 presenter Greg James to ride 1,000km on a tandem for Red Nose Day
Radio 1 presenter Greg James is cycling 1,000km across the UK over eight days for Red Nose Day. Sounds like a nice cycling holiday, to be honest. Oh, right, he’s doing it on a tandem. Fair play.
Starting in Weymouth on 13 March, the radio presenter will ride up through Wales, the Midlands and north of England, ending in Edinburgh on Friday 20 March.
Some days he’ll have company, other days he’ll be pushing the tandem on alone. All the info is on the Red Nose Day website.
“Do you wait two minutes or show me the middle finger?”: Tadej Pogačar hits out at “spoiled” fans after bizarre confrontation – and reveals rare glimpse at power data
Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe told to apologise by PM for saying UK 'colonised by immigrants'
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of Ineos and source of cash behind the cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, is on the front page of many of the newspapers this morning having told Sky News the UK has been “colonised by immigrants”.
“You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,” he said. “I mean, the UK has been colonised. It’s costing too much money.”
Prime minister Keir Starmer has told Ratcliffe to apologise for his “offensive and wrong” remark, a Downing Street spokesperson later stating the Ineos boss’s comments “play into the hands of those who want to divide our country”.
Shimano profits slashed in half despite slight sales rise as company blames “weak demand” and rising geopolitical risks
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Latest Comments
@Dodonline Look up "Induced Demand" adding capacity does not work.
@chrisonabike ...have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so Only a few of us remember those hilariously inept impersonations!
@belugabob Unfortunately going down this route is likely to be a missed opportunity. "Safer streets" can be done in a way that allows access to a virtuous circle with whole suite of benefits. But ... that would mean following something like in NL. So "sustainable safety" - a different philosophy of transport, plus gradual infra and organisational changes over decades. Generally opportunities for concentrations of money beat that. So it looks like we'll get "probably safer on average" but with who knows what side effects, while concentrating insane amounts of power (money) in the hands of a very few. And those will be effectively unaccountable, being almost all overseas, and not having to live in the same streets as their products (they may be flying)...
@Fursty Ferret "...regulator" That should be little comfort, because during previous scandals it became clear that in many cases the regulators were easily hoodwinked, or (especially US) they rely on the companies themselves to mark their own homework. (And in the case of SUVs/light trucks, I heard the US government has been hard a-lobbying the likes of Europe and the UK for "reciprocal recognition" e.g. to accept their product as is without further checks). Needing the makers to help / do the checks is even more likely given the complexity of self-driving vehicles. I suspect self-driving vehicles will likely soon be safer on average than human drivers (a low bar). Of course I think other potential consequences are also a matter of concern (not least - in *theory* humans can be held accountable, but holding humans in large companies accountable for their tech is a *lot* harder)...
@mdavidford Celebrity traitors with Lance? Worse - some of these slippery lycrist quislings deceive people that they're a) pedestrians - by getting off their bike and b) drivers - by getting into their cars! It's all on display in this forum, where IIRC such cyclists have appeared under multiple names, have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so...
Politician in "fixing things for my mates / companies I have an interest in" shocker!
@mdavidford Could make that shorter - "we’re letting too many people drive" * I would bet to a first approximation the "damage" could be predicted by number of humans times time driven. Most effective way to fix that - without the UK's "just get rid of the vulnerable road users" - is to remove the motorists, to padded individual lanes, far away from vulnerable road users. Though they'll still crash (and into each other). * Should be "we have incentivised people so that most of them see 'driving' as the solution to most of their transport needs, as well as being part of their status as adults, and we could usefully change that *and* it would also improve health, the economy, the environment..."
@This Wreckage The other point is the observation that efforts to fix the transport systems which reduce motoring convenience almost always meet with very noisy opposition. But when a lot of motor (through) traffic has been removed it turns out that people don't want to go back. They don't all necessarily say how much nicer it is or connect that to the lack of motor traffic. But this experiment has been run in many different localities in different countries and the results seem to hold. Caveats as usual - it's always possible for authorities to bungle things terribly - or even deliberately mess things up with ulterior motives. And people have to have enough time to adapt to the new situation, which is probably nearer a year or two.
@This Wreckage And yet - in the poorest parts of where I stay (Edinburgh) it's not uncommon to see bikes with flat tyres rusting in the closes of flats, or on balconies, and they aren't all kids' bikes... I do agree that storage is an issue. IIRC some places (Edinburgh now) are starting to bring in guidance on having some cycle storage for new flats. Nothing like NL though where for decades it's been a part of the building regulations. I think most people who don't own a bike have simply never considered owning a bike as adults, because they're not "cyclists" (e.g. not practicing a sport) and transport cycling isn't "a thing" for most people in the UK currently.
It's really not smart to alienate so many potential buyers by putting hookless rims on a road bike. I personally don't think it's safe, but everyone can agree it greatly limits tire choices and inflation pressures. Both very important things on a road bike.
42 thoughts on ““Make selfish cyclists wear a licence plate,” says frothing Telegraph columnist in bizarre piece claiming drivers are terrified by “egomaniac” cyclists going against Margaret Thatcher with “absolutist green agenda” + more on the live blog”
Here we go again!
I’m not sure I can even claim “Bingo!” because some of those claims are so unhinged I didn’t have them on the cards.
How about as well as ‘L’ plates, we have ‘#’ plates – where the # is replaced by the number of points a driver has on their licence.
I’m not sure that has any real relevance to someones safety on the roads. I would bet a large amount of money that plenty of people with 6 or even more points on their license are safer drivers than those with none. Lets not pretend that even a tiny fraction of bad driving results in points on people records.
It would enable others to identify those drivers who ‘hold the rules of the road in contempt’ though.
I really can’t see an issue with going against Margaret Thatcher’s ideals. After all she is pretty much responsible for the destruction of British Manufacturing, public services, utilities, council housing and transportation. She also pissed revenue from North Sea up the wall in lower taxation, which mainly served to push up house prices.
But surely selfish cyclists are the epitome of Thatcherism, she was all for the individual over the society!
When I’m out in my car I am constantly petrified a cyclist will come out of nowhere and kill me or if not kill me, try to kill themselves on my car. Scares the bejesus out of me. The other drivers doing nearly 50 in a 30, pulling out in front of me without looking, flying into side roads on the wrong side of the road? Nah, thats my happy place. That doesn’t worry me at all.
Less cars? No, I want more distracted drivers on our roads. Then again, with license plates there aren’t any because they have all been caught and banned due to their number plates. Silly me.
So it would all be fine if cyclists would just stick around for those in charge of a dangerous lump of machinery to rage at them? Right – gotcha…
Maybe Telegraph columnists should be made to wear some sort of identifying mark – after all, they’ve already proved they hold facts, truth, and good sense in contempt.
Thank you to Sir Jim Ratshit for proving once and for all that it is the refugees of this world who are responsible for all the country’s woes, rather than the wealth hoarding, tax-dodging billionaires and multi-millionaires. Good on ya, Big Jim!
Now get the fuck out of my football club, you incompetent reactionary dick.
As an immigrant to the tiny principality of Monaco he is equivalent to over 1800 immigrants to the UK, can he please stop colonising this poor little town or at least STFU and stop being such a hyppocrit.
Definately mising teh eddit funktion.
road.cc or Sir Jim?
seems like a day of entitled individuals….
fans without empathy or patience, A journalists with a distorted view of sharing the road, A billionaire hypocrite who deliberately uses misinformation.
Journalist?
Whilst Thatcher was fully into car ownership and road building, her brief environmental phase was very important to the green movement as it legitimised the various worries about the ozone layer and climate change/CO2.
A good point. Of course, Thatcher did much damage, but it is sad to realise that until not too long ago the Conservatives did have a strong environmental side in much of their strategic thinking. Sadly, all seems gone now in a bid to out-Reform Reform.
How will they judge which cyclists are selfish and therefore have to have a number plate?
I suspect the test is “Are you a cyclist?”.
How will they judge whether number plates are an effective solution?
By seeing whether it reduces the number of cyclists.
They also drive an SUV?
“Thin-lips” Clive is the one who wrote about executive jets being entirely acceptable forms of transport, yet feels bicycles require more regulation.
What a strange individual, to go around kicking the proletariat while rimming his paymasters. Pathetic.
He’ll never own a jet, or even be able to charter one but he can definitely enjoy London’s best bits on a very nice e-bike. Perhaps he should try it one time.
It is obvious that it is road.cc strategy to put rage bait content at the top of the Live Blog.
I don’t agree with the strategy, I don’t read the Telegraph, and I don’t need a cycling website to recycle their content for me.
But you validate it by repeatedly commenting about it.
And so have I – although I engage much less with road.cc (and other social media) these days, and try to avoid the ragebait. It leaves more time to ride my bike – which is a double bonus for mental health.
No you are wrong. I have commented on road.cc’s rage bait strategy, not on the rage bait content.
It is you who have validated their strategy, higher up the thread, by reacting to the bait – by commenting on the anti-cycling content in the Telegraph article.
As long as you and others keep rising to the bait, we’ll keep getting recycled anti-cycling content here.
Makes no difference _what_ you’re commenting about – it’s all engagement, and it all counts the same.
“And remind me, how do these ironic viewers show up in the ratings?”
“They show up the same, my friend. They show up just the same.”
A Mitchell and Webb sketch mocking the apprentice
You have to pay to read The Telegraph’s ragebait, but if you want a laugh without paying them or giving their website any traffic you can read it for free here: https://archive.is/20260210164622/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/10/make-selfish-cyclists-wear-a-license-plate/
“Dear Clive Aslet of the Telegraph
With regards to your article about requiring cyclists to display registration to enable them to be held to account for any infractions on the road…
Presumably you had done sufficient research to verify that this would be a worthwhile endeavour when it comes to the value of any property damage caused by cyclists alongside the casualty rates (deaths/serious injuries) when compared to those caused by drivers.
Because, of course, we all know that drivers (who have been required to show registration on their motor vehicles for decades) are impeccable road users who do not cause ANY damage or KSIs for fear of the consequences by being so easily traceable through the vehicle registration…
Not.
Regards
A. Noyd”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe:
Part owner of ManU football team: if they banned immigrants his team would be down to about 6 people, or less.
They must be the right kind of immigrants. You know, the ones that make him money.
The things that riles me the most about these brexitty, racist liars is they lie. The population growth figures are incorrect. He uses the language of UKRAP and ReFUK to make it sound as if the population is growing tens of millions every half decade. When it is not. Also, he implied very clearly during the brexitty years that he would build a car factory in South Wales following Brexitty. But then he took his business and himself to France – because it is easier to do business in the EU rather than outside the EU. Which he knew anyway but lied.
The BBC have taken the trouble to run a fact check on his comments: of eight claims made, it turns out that six were false and the other two true but inaccurate: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15x4x7p93lo
I guess the realisation in recent years is in a world of so much information and contested facts that a) people don’t care that much about lies (or “opinion before fact”) b) loudness and frequency not just win, but actually create reality (or at least direct the conversations).
The challenge is then do you try to beat them at their own game – they’re probably going to win that and you become the thing you disagree with? Or hope that taking the high ground wins (might have to console yourself with “we see now they were right and we *should* have listened). Or invent another way eg. like the “shit sandwich” technique where you start and finish with your point and the truth, and only address the lies and bias once, in the middle?
… of course humans have always had human biases. So all those social and psychological things which make us quite unlike Vulcans always apply and are there waiting for those seeking power or maintaining it to use. And they – we – all do to some extent.
Didn’t stop them rushing Farrightage on to Nick Robinson’s programme to claim that he was “factually correct” without a whole lot of pushback, though.
Until recently discovering the Private Eye podcast I had thought that GB News had some regard to matters of old-fashioned journalism (albeit without being a consumer of their content). Apparently I was mistaken.
Although …
One cannot hope to bribe or twist
(thank God) the British journalist.
But seeing what the fellow will do
Unbribed, there’s no occasion to.
(That should have said “*some* at GB News occasionally had…”)
But as you say, the BBC could have given him more of a shake, given their “fact check” crew had pointed out the rubbish.
OTOH Farrage – like Trump – thrives on that also it seems.
Yet more foaming at the mouth anti-cyclist bile from the Torygraph. You’d think they’d have more important things to write about the way things are.
This writer sounds like one of those sad people who walk through town centres ranting on about anything and anyone. Like them he is best ignored.