PAVEMENT CYCLISTS ARE NOT PAYING THEIR FINES

9.25.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 12th Jul 2007

Graham Tope this week got figures that revealed the number of Londoners being caught cycling on pavements in the capital - and the lack of people paying their fines.

In the last 2 years, the Met police have issued 5,053 fixed penalty notices, however only 2,514 of the £30 fines were paid on the spot. Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea issued 2,000 notices between them whilst 22 boroughs issued less than 100 tickets.

Graham Tope said: "These figures show patchy performance in tackling what is a real menace across London. Cycling on the pavement is both antisocial and dangerous. The fact that only half of all fines are paid of the spot means that the courts spend too much time chasing offenders when they should be dealing with other cases. More work needs to be done to provide cyclists with safe space on our roads and making sure those genuinely caught pay their dues quickly."

A breakdown of individual borough statistics can be provided. Please e-mail info@glalibdems.org.uk for a copy.