According to Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a life peer who held several ministerial roles under various Conservative prime ministers between 2014 and 2024, thanks to dangerous cyclists, London has been turned into a \u201cWild West\u201d.<\/p>\n
>\u00a0New ‘dangerous cycling’ laws are on the way, but government confirms “no plans” to make speed limits apply to cyclists<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs a pedestrian, particularly in central London, you take your life in your hands every day,\u201d she said, adding that both her and her husband had been struck by cyclists in the capital.<\/p>\n The 72-year-old also accused some cyclists of displaying \u201can arrogant culture of non-compliance\u201d with the law, while criticising the proliferation of illegal e-motorbikes, often incorrectly labelled as e-bikes, in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cScooters and cycles regularly ride on pavements and, because of electrification, they can go at high speeds, up to 70 miles per hour, according to the Sunday Telegraph,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey cannot be heard and they steal up behind you, or approach at speed, making the pavement potentially as dangerous as the road.\u201d<\/p>\n >\u00a0Press regulator rules Telegraph breached Editors’ Code with inaccurate claim cyclists hit 52mph chasing London Strava segments<\/a><\/p>\n The Sunday Telegraph article<\/a> referenced by Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe was published last weekend, reporting that Transport for London and a number of local authorities in the capital have contacted the government to raise awareness about both the legal and safety implications of illegally converting e-bikes\u201d.<\/p>\n This illegal practice, the letter said, \u201chas resulted in reports of these \u2018e-bikes\u2019 travelling at 70mph in the City of London\u201d and the deaths of four people from lithium-ion battery fires, with transport chiefs noting that \u201cthese converted vehicles are no longer e-bikes but legally become motorbikes\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Tory peer David Maclean, Lord Blencathra, also argued during the debate that the \u201cthreat\u201d posed by cyclists in the capital had shifted from \u201cLycra louts\u201d to illegal e-bike users.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, it was my experience that it was a tiny minority of Lycra louts, the ones with their heads down between the handlebars and their backsides up in the air, belting through lights,\u201d Maclean said.<\/p>\n \u201cI submit that I am certain that the majority of e-bike riders are breaking the law one way or another, either by excessive speed or by riding through lights or on the pavement.\u201d<\/p>\n >\u00a0“Stop calling them e-bikes”: BBC corrects inaccurate coverage claiming powerful electric motorbike was an e-bike<\/a><\/p>\n Maclean also criticised the \u201cproblem of thousands of e-bikes \u2013mainly Lime \u2013 lying scattered over our pavements\u201d.<\/p>\n He claimed that companies are \u201cdeliberately selling massive off-road bikes, which people then use on our streets\u201d and that \u201cthousands of people\u201d are cycling on pavements, \u201cwith grossly inadequate enforcement to stop it\u201d.<\/p>\n Away from the focus on illegal e-motorbikes, Lord Hogan-Howe, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, led the criticism of \u2018dangerous\u2019 cyclists, who he claims are not held accountable for putting people \u201cat risk\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day, particularly in our large towns and cities such as London, we see cyclists ignoring traffic regulations and putting people at risk, particularly pedestrians who have a disability or a lack of mobility, even when those same people are using pedestrian crossings,\u201d Lord Hogan-Howe, who was Met Commissioner between 2011 and 2017, told the Lords.<\/p>\n \u201cAt night many cyclists are not displaying lights, wear dark clothing and ride dark cycles, and pedestrians and other road users just cannot see them.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not believe that cyclists are a group of people who are more criminal than the rest of society or than any other road users. However, they are less accountable than people who drive buses and cars, and general deterrence theory does not work for them.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no licence or registration mark. This means that not only does the technology not work against them, but they cannot be identified for other road users, and they have no identification mark to offer for an investigator to identify them after they have behaved badly.\u201d<\/p>\n >\u00a0Speed gun deployed to fine cyclists riding faster than 12mph in London park<\/a><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Lord Hogan-Howe has called for cyclists to carry some form of identification. In November 2023, the crossbench peer claimed that \u201cdangerous\u201d cyclists are \u201centirely unaccountable\u201d <\/a>and should be made to install number plates on their bikes.<\/p>\n![\"Cyclist](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cyclist-london-pedestrians-foreground-copyright-simon-macmichael.jpg\" "\\"Cyclist")
Cyclist in London with pedestrians in foreground (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n![\"Cyclists](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cyclists-london-male-and-female-cycle-lane-copyright-simon-macmichael.jpg\" "\\"Cyclists")
Cyclists in London male and female in cycle lane (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n![\"Cyclists](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cyclists-london-brompton-and-lime-hire-bike-copyright-simon-macmichael.jpg\" "\\"Cyclists")
Cyclists in London Brompton and Lime hire bike (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n
![\"Cyclists](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cyclists-london-talking-cycle-lane-copyright-simon-macmichael.jpg\" "\\"Cyclists")
Cyclists in London talking in cycle lane (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n