Cyclists on pavements update

We've been investigating further.

Unfortunately, Camden officers do not have the power to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for the offence of cycling on the pavement or for going through red lights (£30). This is covered by the S72 Highways Act 1980 and currently in Camden only police officers and Safer Neighbourhood Team Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) have the power to issue FPNs.

In the last year, Camden police have issued 219 FPNs to cyclists (mainly for cycling on the pavement), compared with just 180 in Islington but 420 in Westminster. This suggests that there is more that our borough police could be doing. We know the Swiss Cottage police team has issued some FPNs, which is great, but we will be asking the council and the borough police for a greater focus on this.

The council does stress it has got a strong emphasis on using other measures with the Police and Safer Neighbourhood Teams to discourage cycling on the footway, such public leaflets and police led prevention operations. Last year, in some hotspots in Camden, Police led 9 operations combined with the Council’s Street Warden Service, warning a lot of cyclists as well as issuing FPNs. This campaign took a balanced view and also stopped vehicle drivers who stopped in Advanced Cycle Stop lines, and gave advice to cyclists regarding the dangers of HGVs. We need some of this in Swiss Cottage!

We are pursuing this issue further, we feel we are representing a silent majority on this. Please let us know what you think.