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Grant Shapps (via YouTube)“No plans to introduce registration plates” for cyclists, insists Grant Shapps
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insists that the government has “no plans to introduce registration plates” for cyclists – just three days after he said that people on bikes should be made to carry number plates on their bikes, then immediately backtracked on his comments, which have been the subject of intense media focus this week.
Appearing on Nick Ferrari’s show on LBC this morning, Shapps was asked by the talk show host: “Which is it, Secretary of State?”
“No, no, no … no plans to introduce registration plates," the minister replied.
“The wider point that I was making, though, is that it's got to be right to ensure that everybody who uses our roads does so responsibly,” he continued.
“What I was actually talking about at the time was cyclists who perhaps bust through red lights, we see that an awful lot,” Shapps said.
“There is no way to prosecute a [cyclist] who might run into somebody else, and sometimes you get these very sad cases of death by dangerous cycling, and we are proposing to bring in death by dangerous cycling as a specific offence, along with other changes to car drivers and for other users of the road as well.
"So this is not a plan which is – as I think has been suggested – somehow going after cyclists.”
North Korea is the only country in the world that requires cyclists to display number plates, and while Shapps insisted that the UK would not be following suit, he pointed out that “If you're going to stop people going through red lights how do you know who it was?”
Referring to section 35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which has nothing to do with people riding through traffic lights but which enables cyclists involved in a crash in which a pedestrian is killed or injured to be prosecuted for causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving, Shapps told Ferrari: “The law itself is not sufficient at the moment so you end up with relying on horse and coach legislation to prosecute cyclists. That, of course, makes no sense.”
In fact, cyclists can be issued with a £30 fixed penalty notice for offences including riding on the footway, ignoring traffic signs and riding through red lights (often for their own safety, such as when a lorry draws up alongside them at a traffic light) – and just yesterday, in fact, police officers in east London targeted cyclists making an illegal turn onto Shoreditch High Street from Hackney Road (and not Bethnal Green Road as the tweet suggests).
It's that time of the year when 3 officers are waitng to fine cyclists that are trying to filter safely turning left from Bethnal Green road into the 4 lanes of speeding traffic amongst the urban motorway shit show that is Shoreditch High Street #priorities pic.twitter.com/kJKsM4VdFn
— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@BobFromAccounts) August 18, 2022
In an article published online by the Daily Mail on Tuesday evening which also appeared on the front page of the newspaper the following day, Shapps suggested that cyclists could be made to observe the same speed limits as motorists, and that registration plates could be one way of identifying riders who broke the law.
> Grant Shapps: Cyclists should have number plates, be insured and subject to speed limits
But there was immediate confusion over his comments, with a front page story in the Times the same day quoting Shapps as saying: “ “I’m not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates. That would go too far.”
The same day, a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson told road.cc: “It’s just proposals. No new policy has been introduced as of yet.
“The Times piece is the more accurate reflection of the Transport Secretary’s view. That’s his position on it.”
The DfT, as well as government ministers, have repeatedly said insisted that introducing a licensing or registration scheme for cyclists would be counter-productive and too costly to administer.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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28 comments
This knob is desperately and despicably trying to curry favour with Truss and the Daily Bile readership by demonising cyclists. The DM readership are too old and fat to cycle and therefore loath those who can cycle. If Shapps had the tiniest interest or competence in improving road safety he would use sound risk management principles and look to find what hazards cause most harm to most people. Inevitably this is motor vehicles of all kinds. I regularly see motorcycles literally racing each other at 70-80mph on a local residential street (30 limit) around 3.30pm. This is when primary school kids are walking home. I report this to the police periodically. They email me back to note the problem and advise that they will not take any action. The mind boggles. Neighbours have had the same response to their complaints. The motorcycles have numberplates and, presumably, insurance.
Whilst this is all true, his wish for mandatory insurance for cyclists is not new. Knowing a bit about how these things work, I suspect he's mentioned it a few times in internal meetings and then received well evidenced and argued advice from his civil servants on why it's a bad idea, and therefore he hasn't raised it publicly. But now, with the government pretty much non-existant, he's gone rogue and (including for the reasons you state) decided to spout off.
No plans ro vote this idiot back in next election
How about, just enforce the law as it stands?!!
I'm also sick of cyclists running red lights and riding on pavements. However, putting a plate on and dressing up with a huge viz bib, numbered up like a convict, is pointless if there aren't enough police to see it and take action.
and if this is the worst thing that cyclists do, hell. Why is it such a big worry?
Shapps is a buffoon, and so was appointed by a fellow 'no-insight' sufferer with this malady
In a week when there are bus, tube and rail strikes bringing chaos to some commuter routes Shapps was just creating a diversion. Non-Stories about cycling are just a distraction from the real issues, but occupy front pages taking the press's eye of the ball.
“If you're going to stop people going through red lights how do you know who it was?”
How about introducing the "Idaho stop" then? That'll remove any concern about having to identify cyclists running red lights (which are only really required in the first place due to motorists),
That would be too much like common sense. And it would just be 'pandering to the cycling mafia'
I'd never heard of the "Idaho Stop", had to Google it (Wikipedia). It seems to suggest cyclists in the main are simply doing what is safest after all, and legislation needs to catch up. Not quite the picture portrayed of hooligan cyclists recklessly hurtling through red lights.
The article I saw also gave talk of speed limits. Which was ironic given that morning on an early commute through a residential area with a 20mph limit, I saw every car go through closer to 30mph. Meanwhile I was using the pavement which is designated shared use because as well as speeding vehicles, the attempt at slowing traffic consists of badly maintained cobbled sections and pinch points, making cycling the road there lethal.
I also can't recall a cyclist ever damaging my cars and getting away with it. I have had countless door dings and damage from other cars though in car parks etc. Leaving me out of pocket.
Did you run over all of them
Part of my daily commute is on a 20mph residential street. I ride along there at 20mph, and am overtaken by every vehicle, they all overtake me at some speed, I estimate most drive at 30mph plus. Even the tractor units and trailers fly past me.
I have also had so many car park dings, thankfully my dent man has managed to get them all out, but at substantial cost to me. And I always park as far from other cars as possible, yet some fuckwit always parks next to me.
'tractor units and trailers' huh? do you mean articulated trucks in 20 mph residential streets? is that allowed in the UK?
Unfortunately, yes
Fixed it!
Actually, I think he had a much better idea of what he was saying than most people seem to think. If you look at precisely what he said in each interview, he doesn't contradict himself at all, because he doesn't commit to anything at all.
In the DM he says 'we need to think about how we could identify cyclists, and if we need reg plates and such' - not 'we're going to do any of this stuff', but close enough to delight their readers by making them think that's what he'd said.
In the Times he said 'I'm not attracted to doing this' - not 'we won't be doing this', but close enough for their readers to conclude that he's not proposing something completely ludicrous and unworkable.
Basically he just seems to be allowing both audiences to hear what they want to hear, without tying his hands to anything, and probably just assumed that no-one would bother bringing the two pieces together and calling him on his 'constructive ambiguity'.
“There is no way to prosecute a [cyclist] who might run into somebody else"
Tell that to the cyclists convicted and imprisoned for furious cycling offences
He's just another minister who's too thick to understand the briefings that his officials provide for him. Presumably in font size 24.
I assume that the briefing was that there isn't any way to *specifically* prosecute cyclists, in the way that there is for drivers - hence his comment on "horse and cart" legislation, which was indeed drafted with a view to horse-drawn transportation.
This does not mean, as has been frequently demonstrated, that it can't be used to prosecute cyclists. It can, and it has been. Likewise, there is nothing preventing prosecution of a recklessly dangerous cyclist for manslaughter.
“There is no way to prosecute a [cyclist] who might run into somebody else......."
So he's still lying then? Only in a government headed by a congenital liar could someone as dishonest as Shapps become a minister. Typical tory; the damage is done, he's had his ten seconds of fame, so now he retracts.
I'm sure the DM and all those other media which featured the original story will be putting this latest statement just as prominently as the first.
I don't think he's actually lying. He's just very, very stupid.
Why can't he be both?
He's a politician! Do you expect anything else from them?
No one can tell who cycled through a red light, but they can in a car? Wait till he hears about registered keepers not handing details to police, if indeed the police care....
No one can tell who cycled through a red light, but they can in a car? Wait till he hears about registered keepers not handing details to police, if indeed the police care....
They don't! See SP05 BGU- MOT failed 26.3.22, MOT expired 30.3.22, reported 11.7.22. No response whatsoever from Lancashire Constabulary.
A friend has reported his neighbour who's Range Rover tax expired in 2020. And his work vehicle tax expired in May this year. Police not interested as it is not their job any more, DVLA not interested.
A friend has reported his neighbour who's Range Rover tax expired in 2020. And his work vehicle tax expired in May this year. Police not interested as it is not their job any more, DVLA not interested
I'll see your Range Rover and raise you a Range Rover Velar B6 CAX, which has clearly decided to not bother with MOTs from the outset now they know that, despite the DVSA assertion that policing the MOT is indeed the responsibility of the police, Lancashire Constabulary will determinedly look the other way for years. I have a letter from January 2022 informing me that VED enforcement is the responsibility of, as you say, DVLA- who, as you also say, are completely uninterested in enforcement of VED
I just don't understand the mentality of people who spend that much on a car but won't get an MOT, to save £50?!
I just don't understand the mentality of people who spend that much on a car but won't get an MOT, to save £50?!
No, No, No! In Offender's Paradise, Lancashire and other areas aspiring to this status, the abandonment by police of enforcement of MOT, insurance and VED has encouraged the quest for the Holy Grail of Motoring: the completely off-record vehicle and driver, where the savings from avoiding altogether the Taxation War on Motorists are much greater. Transit P19 JTW has followed this encouragement to 'boldly go' and has saved 3 years of VED- looks like he used that evasion as a test so see if the police were indeed staying on the sofa and switching off their ANPR cameras, before moving onto the full evasion regime. Admittedly he's only been driving around Garstang without MOT for 7 1/2 months, so that's pretty law-abiding for Lancashire, but such examples inspire those like B6 CAX driver (see below) to never bother with MOT at all once the 3-year 'new vehicle' allowance expires- the system apparently soon forgets about them. You would think that DVLA would be able to rapidly identify people who are still taking an untaxed vehicle in for MOT, wouldn't you?