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Mr Loophole and 'Britain's most hated cyclist' – Dave Sherry call for crackdown on delivery cyclists who break the law
Nick Freeman, the traffic lawyer who calls himself Mr Loophole, has joined well-known helmet cam cyclist Dave Sherry in calling for the government and police to crack down on delivery cyclists who break the law. The pair says that riders working for Deliveroo are some of the worst offenders and have released one of Sherry’s videos as an example of what they mean.
In August, Sherry - who has been variously described in the media as a 'cycling vigilante' and 'Britain's most hated cyclist' took Freeman for a bike ride in London, but the experience didn’t change his view that cyclists should be made to wear helmets and high-vis clothing, with their bikes carrying registration plates.
> 'Mr Loophole' lawyer urges drivers to fight back at helmet camera users
Freeman has returned to these themes, saying that Deliveroo and other businesses that use cyclists to deliver goods have a duty to ensure their riders are properly equipped for the job and know the Highway Code.
“In fact, before they strap one of Deliveroo’s insulated bags to their backs – which in my mind should be reflective and have an identifying number on it – the minimum the riders should undergo is a cycling proficiency test.
“The time has come now for the Government to look at introducing legislation which will regulate cycling and these types of businesses. Whilst Deliveroo will say the riders are self-employed, the company must be responsible for the welfare and safety of those who work on their behalf.
“Likewise, they must assume some responsibility if the riders break the law. Just like their colleagues who ride motorbikes, those on bicycles must be identifiable and therefore accountable. If that was the case, then I’m sure we would see far less lawlessness.”
As well as urging the Government to regulate companies that use cyclists to deliver goods, Freeman and Sherry are also calling on the police to strictly enforce the law.
Sherry said he was in “total agreement” with Freeman on the issue.
“It is crucial that cyclists also follow the letter of the law, and I suspect those who ignore red lights or cycle on footpaths do so because they think they will never be caught. A lack of identification renders them anonymous.
“I’ve filmed Deliveroo riders take terrible risks. Many ride at night without lights and they often ignore red traffic lights. Very few wear reflective clothing. And, in case they are involved in an accident, they should be insured.
“I get incredibly angry when I see drivers illegally using mobile phones. I get equally angry when cyclists break the law. When they do, they are a danger not only to themselves, but also to others.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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44 comments
I live in Slough, and see a lot of Deliveroo riders commuting down into Windsor, and I see a few of them whizzing about around there. They're all really reflective, and I really don't think they're any worse or better than anyone else, just more visible. I knew one of them, a guy from a local road club who was filling in time between finishing uni then going off to do his next thing and earning a few quid
I'd much rather have them then more cars
Surely the problem with these guys is the same problem that afflicts all those private-subcontractor truck-drivers and car-or-van-driving couriers? It's about the way they are paid, combined with the near-impossibility of policing the roads to the extreme degree that would be necessary to counteract that pressure.
I'm sure they don't run red lights or ride on pavements 'for safety' (as many non-commercial cyclists do), they do it purely to save time, because if they don't do it a competitor will.
It's the result of ultra-capitalist casualised labour practices meeting the 'soclialised' public roads. Capitalism and socialism don't play well together (see PFI arrangements and contracted-out hospital services etc).
I have no idea what the solution is.
(I suppose you could either privatise the roads, or nationalise the companies that use them!)
(I could say the solution is 'infrastructure', but even then, you'd probably still get deliveroo and courier types behaving badly on cycle lanes to the detriment of other cyclists - do they have such issues in the Netherlands?)
Messenger/delivery cyclists have always taken a liberal attitude to road laws. If you aren't paid much you need to go fast to make a decent wage. And keep your job. It causes some issues and injuries but is mostly an annoyance rather than a mortal threat. I used to work for Deliveroo and 99% of the time stopped at reds, followed the law etc. Most of my colleagues cycled relatively sensibly.(I worked in Norwich. Maybe we're just more sensible) The Deliveroo riders in London I've encountered were crazy but tbh everyone in London seems to move like they've got a rocket up their arse and I had more trouble from the taxi drivers and buses (how do you put up with them? Psychos!)
It might seem dangerous but most messengers are very aware of what they're doing because if you don't have your wits about you, could end up smashed up or dead.
Also the lights and visibility argument is bunk. All Deliveroo riders are issued mega reflective jackets, bags etc and a helmet and lights if you don't have them. Some jokers might not use them but in my experience most do. The bag is so reflective that even without lights you're like a moving mirror.
Also since Deliveroo people are GPS tracked if you complain about them with basic information and a time and date they can be identified.
At the end of the day delivery bikes kill and injure hardly any people whereas delivery drivers for example do a lot more harm. I know which I'd rather get hit by if I had to choose... Just saying.
Like others have said we need to focus on the most harmful issues first. Police resources are very limited thanks to the Tory government
personally I think it has more to do with being immersed in the situation you describe, "...everyone in London seems to move like they've got a rocket up their arse and I had more trouble from the taxi drivers and buses (how do you put up with them?..."
a lot of messengers are not putting themselves at risk just to shave a minute or two off the delivery time, but when you are in a situation for many hours a day where so many other road users are following their own set of rules, and where the perception is at least, that by being a stickler for the road laws you are no safer and potentially even more at risk, you start to adopt a certain approach.
1968 Transport Act abolished most Carrier's Licences for road transport below Operator's Licences. Deregulation from centralised monopoly of BRS and the birth of the van man.
Mr Loophole is actually the name of the 33cm, 4kg, solid steel 15mm wrench I carry for my track wheels!
Putting the road traffic violations, helmets, high viz and finger pointing at other road users aside for a moment.
Is there not a basic issue here in that a commercial organisation is exploiting their delivery operatives / riders? Creating a work environment where the riders feel compelled to run red lights and take other shortcuts, putting themselves in danger and creating the antipathy that Mssrs Poophole and "Can't ride 100yds without coming across some idiot" describe in their article?
Deliveroo are not the only organisation wriggling out of their basic duty of care to provide a safe work place by the somewhat shady practice of classing the people who work for them as self employed. It saves them from providing training and basic equipment as well as the other niceties such as workplace pensions, health and safety, employers liability, holiday pay, sick pay etc. As we see in other delivery modes, it is a race to the bottom as to who is willing to work for the least money and the inevitable shortcuts that those people are willing / forced to take in order to make any kind of living from the activity.
Time critical delivery drivers using trucks, vans, delivery mopeds and private cars may well be more likely to kill and injure, but that is no excuse to allow the same practices just because the operative is using a bicycle, or even just running around delivering letters on foot. In that respect a licencing scheme would protect those who wish to make a living being a cycle courier from those who will undercut them by being unregulated.
The big problem with licensing cyclists (couriers or not) is who is going to pay for the enforcement? Will the cost of enforcement be cheap or expensive in comparison to the benefits brought in by the licensing?
I think it's wishful thinking to imagine that a cycle licensing scheme would work well when the police don't get enough resources to deal with the much bigger issues on our roads. It also seems ridiculous to imagine that the "rogue" cyclists will all rush out to get themselves licensed so that they can later be caught. In fact, while we're at it, why don't we just get all criminals to require a license? That'd work wouldn't it?
No, you have misunderstood entirely. It is not the cyclists who require licencing, it is the employer, in this case Deliveroo, and the existing legislation that ensures that employees are treated fairly and provided with a safe working environment is already in place and enforced by the HSE amongst others. Any enforcement for the licencing and workplace safety of the riders must be on the courier company and should not be pushed down to being the sole responsibility of the operative by a loose interpretation of being self employed.
Apologies for that, I may well have mis-read your comment.
However, I'm still confused about what (or if) you're proposing. How can we prevent delivery companies from using self-employed couriers without banning all self-employed drivers/delivery people? Couldn't Deliveroo skirt round the legislation by out-sourcing all deliveries to a shell-company that just uses "self-employed" cyclists? By the time the law figures out what's up, they just change their out-sourcing to someone else.
Why do cyclists run red lights?
This is a rant heard most often from anti cycling motorists, but why do they do it?
Is it because they are the same bad drivers with the disregard for traffic lights who chance it on amber and put their foot down when in the car (over 80% of cyclists are also drivers)?
Or is it an infrastructure problem that encourages this bad behaviour?
As I cycle around on the roads I stop at red lights and wait for them to change to green, but sometimes they never do. The problem is with minor roads that lead on to main roads where the light sequence is activated by the sensor on top of the traffic lights. In most of these circumstances the sensors are not sensitive enough and will therefor not include a bike into the sequence unless a car pulls up behind it. I have even had this issue when the minor road has a dedicated cycle lane, that is just rediculous! Now I am fortunate enough to do most of my daily commute along canal paths and through parks so do not face this issue often, but I can see how someone who faces this sort of issue all the time would stop taking note of light colour and just proceed with caution.
That's pretty much the correct thing to do in the first instance. The lights are defective so you proceed with caution.
The next stage is to use an app like FixMyStreet and report them as defective as the sensitivity can be tweeked. I've done this a few times and it seems to work (although I'm not sure there's enough metal in a carbon road bike to trigger some of those induction strips in the ground).
Thanks for this, I was reporting it manually when I got the time but this will make it much easier!
I live in a city that has Deliveroo and stayed in a few other areas that also have the service and have to say i've never seen anything particulalry crazy from them at all. Just kids trying to earn a few quid.
However most buses in my city drive like arrogant cocks and would run you over at the drop of a hat.....so I know where i'd be targetting any safety initiatives.
Make commercial riders accountable?...In isolation I don't really see the issue if we do.
I'd suggest the cost of enforcing might likely be greater than the revenue it generates though ..And if the costs get passed on, I don't want to pay an extra 10p for my Gaucho delivery .. that 68 chiraz won't drink itself though. Hmmmmm decisions decisions...
That aside, my loophole should pursue another cause, cantankerous twonk!
Is there any non-anecdotal evidence that deliveroo et al riders are involved in a disproportionate amount of accidents?
Oh shush now. You and your facts!
Completely agree with the general tenor of these comments above, as in Freeman and Sherry should concentrate on reducing dangerous car driving...
but...
I'm not surprised that they are calling out Deliveroo riders - in Brighton (which I cycle around daily) they are a complete menace (both the scooter and pushbike varieties) - riding on pavements, riding while using phones, riding through red lights, riding without lights, cutting up in traffic - the full set of 'this is how car drivers and pedestrians come to resent all cyclists' behaviours - which we all suffer from in the end.
To the point where I won't actually use deliveroo (a great idea in principle) because I'm pretty certain that my dinner will be delivered by a reckless idiot. I've tweeted them about this and they respond pretty quickly from head office but clearly their drivers and riders don't give a toss. Probably because they tend to be more male, and younger. than your average cyclist and are strongly financially motivated to go quickly rather than considerately or safely.
So in my view this is the obnoxious sounding off about the differently-obnoxious.
Hmm - I was just about to say that these Deliveroo riders must just be a London problem, because I've been pleasantly suprised that all the ones I see down here have lights (sometimes very small ones, but better than nothing) and seem quite law-abiding. I agree that you do see them on phones quite a bit, which may be foolish, but it's not illegal. Maybe we get a better class of Deliveroo rider in Hove?
If Deliveroo riders are such bad offenders, why not simply boycot takeaways that they deliver?
That would get a change much quicker than any revision of the law, and cost nothing (though no extra lawyer fees).
You are correct Alan, think of it as 'e' for envelope.
Common sense would suggest we focus on the hundreds of thousands of uninsured motor vehicles on the road killing and injuring people and avoiding vehicle license....but then I'm not an immoral scumbag practising law or a blinkered daily mail/express reader.
I think we are missing the point here - with congestion zones, stationary (ery?) traffic and super duper cycle super free super ways his market of scumbags to get off the hook is reducing; he needs to identify cyclists to pay him to absolve their stupidity!
I prefer the other version
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Of course. Far from agreeing that the article might actually be correct, just jump on the 'well, motorists are always jumping lights, hitting people, being aggressive, yada yada, so why should they be held to account' Bullshit Wagon.
The article is correct in that a great deal of Deliveroo cyclists don't have lights, weave all over the road and the pavement, ignore traffic lights and generally think they're entitlted to do so. Every group of road users, be it cars, lorries or cyclists, pedestrians even, has a majority of sensibles, and a minority of utter twats. Deliveroo cyclists are most definitely in the second.
Deliveroo riders often seem to ride as if they are on a mission to get from A to B as quickly as possible, whether or not that puts them or others in danger. This applies equally to those on scooters and on bicycles. I saw a Deliveroo rider pedalling hard up my road yesterday evening after dusk but without lights, and that's not the first time either. I was nearly taken out by a nutter Deliveroo rider on a scooter when I was on my motorbike last year as he roared past, well in excess of the speed limit, missing me by just a few cm.
Erm - isn't that the whole point of any couriering (whether it's important legal stuff or KFC takeout)?
How do you fix a country where 500 people get KSId per week due to motorised vehicles, but the column inches about going to hell in a handcart pertain to cyclists 'doing what they like'?
That's so fucked up I'm struggling to identify where the problem starts...
One of the first principles of management is to control the big problems first, and if you've solved them, you move on to the little stuff.
Nothing these two say or do convinces me that they have got their priorities right, and the slimy, cynical lawyer is obviously just using this to distract attention from his clients and blame cyclists.
Two pricks spouting shite. Meh.
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