A bicycle owner shared the second he was ticketed by a London police officer for biking with out holding onto the handlebars.
When you concentrate on the most important threats going through cyclists on UK roads, you’d most definitely think about they’d come from close by motorists.
Everybody is aware of that in the event you select to cycle in a significant metropolis, you are mainly inserting your life within the fingers of motorists on the highway, with a complete of 14,523 highway casualties involving cyclists final yr (per Gov.uk).
Nonetheless, one man lately discovered himself being accused of being a hazard to different highway customers in a clip that was lately shared on-line.
In a now viral submit on X, barrister and local weather change activist Paul Powlesland claimed a Metropolis of London police officer had tried to ticket him for biking with out his fingers on the handlebars.
The clip – which had been filmed a few months in the past, however shared on-line yesterday (3 July) – Powlesland responded to information of a brand new Metropolis of London police marketing campaign by sharing the video of himself arguing with an officer over the scenario.
A spokesperson from the Metropolis of London police has since clarified that the interplay befell when Powlesland approached the officer in April, after receiving a ticket on 5 March.
Within the footage, Powlesland might be heard arguing with the policewoman concerning the why he was being ticketed for biking non-handed, claiming that it was not an offence to take action.
“Anybody biking no-handed in rush hour goes to get ticketed?” Powlesland questions, to which the officer replies: “If I see them, sure.”
“Do you truthfully assume that’s a superb use of Metropolis of London Police time,” the barrister questions, earlier than occurring to accuse police in London of failing to research bike thieves and telephone snatchers.
The officer then cites Article Two of the Human Rights Act in her clarification of why biking with out holding onto the handlebars is risks, saying that by not having full management of the automobile customers are inserting ‘others in danger’.
I lately received stopped & ticketed by the Metropolis of London Police for, & I child you not, “biking no handed”. Regardless that it’s clearly not an offence, the officer stated they had been ticketing me beneath the Human Rights Act as I used to be infringing different folks’s Article 2 ‘Proper to Life’, in… https://t.co/LU4BUKZZ4w pic.twitter.com/3DBE6XUgSN
— Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) July 3, 2025
Shocked, Powlesland then questions: “Biking no-handed violates Article 2 of the Human Rights Act? That’s the Proper to Life, isn’t it?”
The officer begins to make clear her remark earlier than he cuts in so as to add: “No, you stated me biking no-handed violates Article 2. I believe we’re carried out at that. It’s slightly foolish, isn’t it?”
Is it authorized to cycle on UK roads whereas not holding onto the handlebars?
The clip has since induced a debate on-line, with a number of folks leaping to Powlesland’s defence, calling the officer’s resolution to challenge a ticket ‘mad’. In the meantime others identified that having much less management over the bike does place different folks – significantly pedestrians – in danger.
In keeping with a post by BikeLawyer, there isn’t any legislation within the UK which explicitly prohibits biking ‘non-handed’, nonetheless, officers do have the precise to drag over cyclists who they consider aren’t ‘in correct management’ of their bike, based on S41 D of the Highway Visitors Act 1988.
In the meantime guidelines 66 and 68 of the Freeway Code handle issues round biking dangerously, together with the road ‘you have to not journey in a harmful, careless or thoughtless method’.
Responding to the clip, a spokesperson for Metropolis of London police instructed LADbible: “We’re conscious of a social media submit that exhibits a small clip from an extended interplay between a bicycle owner and a Metropolis of London Police officer on the April 2 2025.
“The bicycle owner approached the officer and through their three-minute chat, the Human Rights Act was talked about. The bicycle owner was not ticketed on at the present time, however he had approached the officer as a result of she had issued him a ticket on the March 5 2025 within the Metropolis of London.”
The assertion continued: “On the March 5 2025, the officer noticed the bicycle owner driving together with his arms stretched out large and off the handlebars throughout rush hour.
“The officer stopped the bicycle owner and issued him with a ticket for careless and thoughtless biking beneath s29 of the Highway Visitors Act 1988.
“A ticket was processed on the Might 19 2025. Ought to the bicycle owner contest the ticket, officers will attend court docket and current any related proof that now we have obtained.”
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