“This is exactly why cyclists should have number plates,” says Mr Loophole – after “arrogant” cyclist fined £1,200 for squeezing between cars (while riding without a licence plate); Cyclist in outside lane of 70mph dual carriageway + more on the live blog

Ah Nick, how have you been? Better late than never, I suppose?

It took him a few weeks, but everyone’s favourite jumper-around-the-neck, loophole-seeking, phone-driver defending lawyer Nick Freeman has finally spoken out about that Operation Snap clip, which made headlines across the country at the end of July.

Just in case it’s slipped your mind (lots of stuff has happened since, so I don’t blame you), here’s a quick recap: two weeks ago, West Yorkshire Police released a video on social media featuring a camera cyclist passing a parked car on a hill as a motorist travelled in the opposite direction in Menston, near the spa town of Ilkley.

The footage was submitted by the cyclist to the force’s Operation Snap portal for driving offences. The Leeds-based rider was wishing to alert police to an alleged close pass he was subject to at the start of the video, only for the force to prosecute him for his “poor cycling”, claiming his filtering distance was “significantly less than the car he reported earlier had given him”.

The cyclist was then fined over £1,200 for the manoeuvre, a hefty penalty road.cc was told was the result of him disputing the matter in court, where the subsequent penalty may also have been means-tested.

The earlier close pass committed by the driver, which was not included in the police’s abridged social media post, resulted in the motorist being offered to take a driver retraining course.

In a statement provided to road.cc, West Yorkshire Police also said it was “not appropriate” to release footage of the earlier close pass, the spokesperson stating that it would be “unfair” to the driver and not “strictly relevant” to the offence posted online.

> Police say “not appropriate” to release close pass footage captured by cyclist fined £1,200 in viral clip

So, now we’ve covered all that, what is Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman’s take on the clip? Number plates, number plates, number plates.

“I was really impressed that the police could be bothered to investigate a video that a cyclist in Ilkley had sent in, trying to have the driver of a Volvo car prosecuted,” the lawyer, who has specialised in obtaining not guilty verdicts for celebrities charged with driving offences, said in his ‘Nick Says’ video posted on Facebook, complete with ethereal backing music.

Sorry, Nick, I’m going to have to stop you there. As I just explained above, the cyclist who submitted the footage wasn’t complaining about the oncoming Volvo driver, but an earlier close pass now shown in the clip. But we can’t expect you to actually read up on these things before sharing your opinion online, can we? Anyway, carry on…

“The driver of the Volvo had done nothing wrong, and the cyclist had. And it turned around and bit him, and quite rightly so, expensively in the pocket,” Freeman continues.

“The arrogance of the cyclist, when there’s a car coming, and he’s going to overtake a parked car which, by necessity, means he has to be right over by the crown of the road – and he actually has the arrogance to blame the motorist coming the other way.

“What the cyclist should have done is he should have waited, let the Volvo pass, and then it would have been safe for him to proceed. Just think how many more cyclists will be held to account if we had a registration number for them, and that is the direction I’m afraid we need to move for. But congratulations to the police in Yorkshire for doing a good job here.”

> “Very, very few people can break the speed limit on a bike”: James May slams Mr Loophole’s call for clampdown on ‘speeding’ cyclists, claiming problem is with illegal e-motorbikes and “nothing to do with cycling”

In his written post, Freeman said: “This is exactly why I believe cyclists should have number plates. An Ilkley cyclist uploaded helmet camera footage hoping to get a Volvo driver into trouble.”

Again, that’s not what happened, is it Nick?

“That, for me, exposes a flaw in the way we think about accountability on our roads. Too often, the debate is framed as drivers versus cyclists,” he wrote.

> Suspended sentence for drunk cyclist who knocked pedestrian unconscious, as Mr Loophole uses case to call for new laws and bicycle number plates

“That’s the wrong question. The real question is this: Why should any road user be exempt from proper accountability? If you’re using the public roads, your actions affect everyone else. Rights and responsibilities should go hand in hand. I’ve represented motorists for over 40 years, and this case simply reinforces what I’ve believed all along.

“Equal rights. Equal responsibilities. Equal accountability. Or have I got this completely wrong?”

In the comments, Andrew Fish pointed out the Freeman’s call for cycling number plates comes as a response to a cyclist being handed a hefty fine for careless riding… despite not having a number plate on his bike.

“So the police in Yorkshire did a good job without a cyclist registration scheme,” Andrew said.

“Maybe the money would be better spent on getting the 800,000 uninsured motorists off the road or, doing something to halt the three people a day killed on our roads?”

Now, there’s a thought.

I wonder what Mr Loophole would make of this?

Lola Amuah was driving down the A38 in Derby – just before the national speed limit changes to a 40mph zone – earlier this week when she spotted this cyclist riding in the outside lane:

“Reckon we should undertake him? 10mph in the outside lane on a 70 dual carriageway. Surely it’s not legal? Nowt funnier than folk,” Lola wrote.

And while it is legal for people on bikes to travel on A roads, we’re not sure how advisable it is to opt for the overtaking lane.

“The perfect example of just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something,” Chris wrote in the comments.

Naturally, a lot of the other comments are of the ‘typical cyclist, they do whatever they like’ variety, though Zoya did note: “Judging by the angle, it looks like the photograph was taken by the driver of the car; that is illegal.”

Granted, the story itself is more a diatribe against working from home culture (the word ‘bike’ only makes an appearance in the very last sentence, as part of a round-up of possible commuting tactics), but we’ll take it…