Police apologise as charges against “dangerous” cyclist accused of “riding on the wrong side of the road” while filming phone driver dropped on eve of trial

The Metropolitan Police has apologised for any “stress and inconvenience” caused as it dropped its much-criticised attempt to prosecute a cyclist accused of “posing a danger to other road users” as he attempted to film a phone-using motorist – just one day before the cyclist was due to face trial for cycling without due care and attention.

In a letter sent to the cyclist yesterday explaining the U-turn, a senior manager at the Met said that while responses to footage of road traffic violations submitted to the police were “subjective” and based on the opinion of the officer reviewing the footage, the offence of cycling without due care was not met in this instance, and that the footage of the incident is now being used by the force for internal training purposes.

As we reported last month, 56-year-old Dave Clifton was cycling on Pont Street in Belgravia, London on 22 August 2023 when he spotted a Range Rover using his mobile phone while driving in traffic in the opposite direction, before turning around to capture footage of the motorist’s phone use with his helmet camera.

However, after submitting the footage (above) to the Met, Clifton was told by a member of the force’s traffic division in correspondence seen by road.cc that the police intended to criminally prosecute him for allegedly committing the offence of ‘riding a cycle on a road without due care and attention’ while attempting to film the Range Rover driver.

According to one of the officers dealing with the case, Clifton had “ridden onto the wrong side of the road [and] into the path of an oncoming motorcyclist”.

“Cycling without due care and attention is where the standard of riding has fallen below what is expected of a competent and careful cyclist, and the manner of riding could pose a danger to other road users,” the officer continued.

The phone-using motorist, meanwhile, received a police advisory letter warning him about the standard of his driving, while the motorcyclist received no further action.

> Cyclist to be prosecuted for “riding in the middle of the road” after filming a driver using mobile phone

Clifton, who described the attempt to prosecute him as both “ludicrous” and “malicious”, told road.cc: “I was cycling along Pont Street behind a van. I looked behind me and, when I looked back, the van had veered into the taxi rank to avoid a motorcyclist that was on the wrong side of the road, so I braked and moved to one side.

“Motorcyclists do this all the time, it’s not a problem, and it would be petty to prosecute them for it. As I stopped, I saw a Range Rover driver using his mobile phone, so I turned around and recorded that.”

Describing the Met’s handling of his submission, Clifton says that the original staff member who claimed he was riding “on the wrong side of the road” had “ignored” multiple emails requesting clarification on this decision, before the officer’s manager wrote to confirm the criminal prosecution attempt.

“I thought I might get an FPN [Fixed Penalty Notice], but they decided to go straight to court,” the cyclist told road.cc.

“There are no road markings. The wrong side of the road doesn’t start wherever the police want it to start. It’s their word against my video, how is that ever going to work for them?”

> Not giving up — why a camera cyclist driven off social media by abuse won’t stop reporting dangerous motorists

However, on Tuesday, just one day before the 56-year-old was set to appear in court, a senior manager at the Met contacted Clifton to let him know that his footage had been reviewed again and that the case against him has been dropped.

“After your complaint was received, I decided to review the dashcam footage and felt that the evidence test for the offence of driving without due care was not met, this was discussed and reviewed with the CPS who agreed with our assessment and we have made an application for this case to be discontinued,” the officer wrote in a letter seen by road.cc.

“All footage that is received is subjective to the person viewing and in this case we have used your footage for internal training for our Public Reporting team as we continue to ensure all of our staff are trained and supported to the highest standard.

“We endeavour to provide the highest quality service to members of the public who take the time to report traffic violations, helping keep London’s roads safe as part of our Vision Zero for London.

“We appreciate the time and effort the public take to report these offences and on this occasion we are sorry for any stress and inconvenience that this may have caused you.”

Responding to the Met’s last-ditch decision to drop the charges, Clifton told road.cc that the police’s hand may have been forced by the overwhelming backlash and negative publicity generated by the initial reporting of their prosecution attempt in February.

“The letter suggested that I had made a complaint, that they had consulted the CPS, and that ‘the evidence test... was not met’,” he says.

“What they meant to say was ‘we’ve seen ourselves in the newspaper and realised that no offence was committed’.”