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@CheBeef
I was halted by a large luminescent man with lots of leather and badges on his person this morning....he also had a hat, very official.
I was cycling up Cannon Street to the junction with Commercial road (which is closed northbound due to road works). None the less, I got to the point where the road goes in to a single southbound lane and pedalled along the empty pavement. The large chap stopped me and we started to have a discussion about cycling and road safety in general. He started by quoting a law which dates back to 1837! So I explained my point of view, which is I don't think laws from 2 centuries ago are necessarily still current in their entirety and they possibly need adjusting to suit a new millennium.
Anyway he was telling me how potentially dangerous what I did was, and I pointed out some particularly illegal manoeuvres behind him made by a car. I said why don't you go and ticket them......he said he can not as is not a police man but a PCSO, or some such. Then he tells me his powers allow him to ticket cyclist and not motor vehicles. So they are out, specificity targeting cyclist and they can do nothing to motor vehicle drivers!!!! This I was not aware of.
He was not able to answer my statement as to do you think it's right that you are out here targeting the cyclists and not the more dangerous metal boxes on wheels, no answer. We continued our very friendly debate and it veered in to electoral politics and the faults of the democratic system, in the end we bid each other good day and I pedalled off.
Nice guy all in all, but I think he reinforced my lack of respect for the road law and the way cyclists are targeted by the 'pro cycling' London authorities.