Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner denounces “full-Sky-replica-kit cyclists” riding “three or four abreast in front of me” and “ignoring red lights” – and says cyclists “don’t contribute in vehicle taxes”

While Surrey’s Roads Policing unit has gained a reputation over the years for debunking anti-cycling myths perpetuated by angry drivers – such as those surrounding riding two abreast, road tax, and ‘holding up’ traffic – it appears the message hasn’t got through to the county’s police and crime commissioner.

In a lifestyle article for the Guardian this week, Conservative politician Lisa Townsend claimed that “full-Sky-replica-kit Sunday cyclists” ignore red lights, cycle four abreast, and don’t deserve better infrastructure because they don’t pay “vehicle taxes”.

Townsend was appearing in the Guardian’s regular ‘Dining across the divide’ feature, which pits two people from different ends of the political spectrum together over a meal, during which they discuss the issues du jour.

Lisa Townsend

In this week’s edition, Townsend, who replaced David Munro as Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner in 2021 before being re-elected this year, was paired with “left-leaning” human rights consultant David.

After discussing Rachel Reeves’ Budget, approaches to crime, and the drawbacks of tribal politics, talk eventually turned to cycling.

“David is half Dutch, and he talked about how terrible our cycling infrastructure is,” Townsend said after the dinner.

“I know it’s not great, but it would never be a political priority for me to give cyclists better infrastructure, particularly when they don’t contribute in vehicle taxes.”

She continued: “I’m not anti-cyclist. I’m anti the full-Sky-replica-kit Sunday cyclists who ignore red lights and drive three or four abreast in front of me.”

Responding to Townsend’s curious “not anti-cyclist” stance, David questioned her understanding of the UK’s implementation of Vehicle Excise Duty, the levy commonly mislabelled as ‘road tax’.

> 'Road tax' is coming... but not for cyclists

“Road tax for bicycles is unworkable. Bikes do use roads, but so do pedestrians, and dogs,” he noted.

“I recently got a hybrid car and the tax is very low. By that logic, if you’re reducing what’s paid for polluting vehicles to pretty negligible amounts for hybrids and electric cars, what would you charge for a bike? How would you enforce it?”

As noted above, Townsend’s attitude towards cyclists appears at odds with the reputation garnered by Surrey’s Roads Policing team, earning praise from cyclists for its active presence on Twitter, where it often challenged the kind of anti-cycling claims made by their Police and Crime Commissioner in the Guardian this week.

> Surrey Police suggest Twitter user is ‘too childish to drive’ in response to criticism of its close pass operation

In 2017, the force was applauded by cyclists for publishing a video instructing drivers on how to overtake cyclists safely, while in the same year it responded to one motorist’s criticism of a close pass operation by witheringly concluding that they were “too childish to drive”.

And in 2022, the roads policing team’s social media team conducted an experiment by running two polls asking drivers how long they spend on average a week stuck in traffic caused by other drivers and cyclists respectively, in a bid to highlight the often hypocritical claims made by motorists – like Townsend – that people on bikes are constantly ‘holding them up’.

However, the force’s standing among cyclists has taken a bit of hit in recent years, after a Freedom of Information request in May 2023 revealed that 80 percent of the almost 1,000 motorists accused of close passing a cyclist in Surrey over a 15-month spell were issued with warning letters, with only three being prosecuted.

Surrey Police responded to those figures by claiming that “in the majority of cases, issuing a warning letter is the most appropriate course of action”, due to the “evidential viability” of the submitted videos and the “associated threat, harm, and risk” of the driving offence committed.

The force also told road.cc that it “regularly” receives video submissions of alleged driving offences “from the same people”, and called on those who frequently submit close pass clips to “engage with us further and work together to tackle” issues around road safety.

> “Red lights mean stop for all road users”: Police post video of cyclist “flagrantly contravening multiple red lights” – but some say fined rider was “enhancing his safety” and avoiding “going shoulder to shoulder with two-tonne vehicles”

Earlier this year, the Surrey RoadSafe account also came in for some (albeit short-lived) criticism after it shared edited footage of cyclists fined for riding through red lights. In January, a video was posted showing a group ride of four cyclists at a junction in Esher, the footage being widely shared on social media and online.

As the riders made the right turn a police vehicle was being driven just behind, the driver rolling up to the stop line as the group turned across the junction, the police following moments before the group was stopped and issued fixed penalty notices.

Some, including a lawyer from Leigh Day law firm, questioned why the video was “unnecessarily cropped to show the cyclists already passed the stop line and not crossing this when the light is red?”

However, Surrey Police released the full unedited footage a day later, leading lawyer Rory McCarron to comment: “Thank you for showing the whole video. Justified FPN, no excuse. A lesson learned to the cyclists (and maybe the poster of the original video). Whilst this isn’t fatal 5, your work generally is applauded.”

And just last week, the force once again shared footage of the moment two cyclists riding metres in front of a Surrey Police vehicle were spotted jumping a red light, before being stopped and issued a fixed penalty notice, with the force telling its followers on social media that “red means stop”.