London labelled a ‘Wild West’ for cyclists as Lords call for tougher enforcement

Lord Hogan-Howe told the House of Lords that cyclists in London and other major cities are increasingly ignoring traffic laws, putting pedestrians at risk.

The former Met chief, who led the force from 2011 to 2017, urged ministers to introduce tougher regulation, including mandatory bike registration, penalty points linked to driving licences and stricter speed limits on e-bikes.

He said: “Every day, particularly in large towns and cities such as London, we see cyclists ignoring traffic regulations and putting people at risk.

"I 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.

Read more: Cyclists injured record number of pedestrians last year, data reveals

Read more: Are the police serious about stopping red light jumping cyclists?

Pedestrian injuries caused by cyclists rose from 444 in 2015 to 603 in 2024. Of those, the number of people seriously injured almost doubled, from 97 to 181, while 25 of the casualties died.

Lord Hogan-Howe revealed his proposals as peers continued debating the Crime and Policing Bill.

He argued that the lack of identification for cyclists undermines deterrence, unlike motorists who know they can be traced and prosecuted.

He called for bikes to carry registration marks and for e-bikes to be capped at 15.5mph with a maximum power output of 250 watts, warning that many e-bikes are being modified to exceed legal limits.

The former Met chief's comments follows an LBC investigation which found widespread red-light jumping by cyclists on one of London’s busiest commuter routes.

At a pedestrian crossing in Blackfriars during rush hour, only 36 of 151 cyclists stopped at a red light, while 115 cycled through - totalling nearly two offences a minute.

Jumping a red light carries a fine of up to £50 under the Road Traffic Act.

Other peers echoed his concerns.

Lord Blencathra described a near miss at a pedestrian crossing near the House of Lords.

He said: “They use the red lights as an excuse; when cars stop, the cyclists belt through".

Meanwhile, Baroness Neville-Rolfe said London had become a “Wild West” for pedestrians, recounting how both she and her husband were knocked over by a cyclist.

She said: “As a pedestrian, you take your life in your hands every day."

Hilda Griffiths, 81, died in June 2022 after she was struck by a cyclist who was part of a high-speed peloton racing through Regent’s Park.

She was crossing the road on the junction of Outer Circle and Hanover Terrace when she was hit at 25mph. The park’s speed limit for cyclists is 20mph.

Witnesses at the time described how the retired nursery schoolteacher had stepped out in front of the cyclist without looking.

Her son, Gerard Griffiths, told LBC: "She had catastrophic injuries including a broken pelvis in three places, broken arm, broken wrist, fractured ribs, collapsed lung, massive head injury and bleed on the brain.

"I defy someone half her age to recover from that.

“We weren’t allowed to see her until 6pm that evening because of the work they were doing on her."

She died 59 days later and the incident was not given as the cause of her death, despite the cyclist who hit her exceeding the speed limit by 25 per cent.

Mr. Griffiths is now calling for a crackdown on dangerous cycling and for it to be treated with the same severity as motoring offences.

"[The cyclist] had no further action taken against him... and the laws governing cycling are from 1861, [which is] so very archaic."

He also told LBC time-tracking apps and pay-as-you-go bike rental services are to blame, as they encourage riders to cycle faster.

"If you want to ride at breakneck speed fair enough, but you don’t use pedestrians as your collateral damage to reach your goal on Strava," he said.

"A lot of younger people have never even driven so they don't necessarily have road sense and awareness. And with Christmas coming people will go for a night out, have a few drinks and jump on a bike to get home.”

Peers warned that enforcement efforts so far have been insufficient, with Baroness Neville-Rolfe attributing the "indulgent culture" to "Department for Transport neglect and police failure to give this area of lawlessness any priority, although it actually represents a crime wave".