A cyclist who was issued with a £100 on-the-spot fine for riding on a shared walking and cycling path had the penalty cancelled after The Standard intervened.
University academic Dr Paulo Ceppi was stopped by a contractor working for Kensington and Chelsea council and given the fixed penalty notice.
He had been riding across West Cromwell Road, via a 20m-long path in a central “island” in the middle of A4 dual carriageway, on his way to work at Imperial College London.
The path is part of a shared crossing for pedestrians and cyclists near the junctions with Cromwell Crescent and Nevern Road, both of which are on a designated cycle route.
Dr Ceppi, an associate professor in climate physics at Imperial’s Kensington campus, said the council had used “insidious, unjust tactics” to “trap” cyclists in what appeared to be a money-making exercise.
“The agent was hidden behind bushes,” he told The Standard. “I didn’t see her until I was half-way along the pathway.
“I was cycling very slowly and she caught me by surprise. She said: ‘Please show me your ID.’
“I thought I was fully within the law by cycling carefully on what looks like a shared pathway. I wouldn’t have wanted to run away - I don’t want to do something that seems criminal.”
The incident happened at about 9am on July 3.
After The Standard raised the matter with the council on Monday, a spokeswoman said that town hall officials accepted the penalty had been “issued in error” and that it would be cancelled.
The council is now checking whether other cyclists have been wrongly fined at the same location. It has also reminded its contractors not to issue fines to cyclists using the shared path.
Dr Ceppi said: “I’m pleased K&C has now owned up to their error – but shame it only happened after The Standard contacted them and not when I initially challenged the fine, when they backed their agent’s decision.
“I hope other cyclists experiencing similar unjust tactics will also have their fines cancelled. More importantly, using this strategy that contracts out to a private company, is at best short sighted and at worst insidious.
“It does nothing to safeguard pedestrians as it only informs those cyclists who are fined, while many will continue to use this pathway completely unaware. Ultimately, it benefits no one apart from their bank balances.
“Rather than trapping cyclists, K&C need to improve infrastructure and signage for pedestrians and cyclists – particularly along the treacherous A4, notorious for cyclist accidents.”
There are blue signs indicating that the crossing is for cyclists and pedestrians, and “green man” signs for pedestrians and cyclists at the traffic lights.
There are no signs that tell cyclists to dismount or which make clear that the cycle lane has come to an end.
The council contractors, who work for a firm called Kingdom, have also been spotted targeting pavement cyclists in other parts of the borough.
Kensington and Chelsea, which is run by a Tory administration, has long been regarded by cyclists as hostile to their interests.
During the pandemic it ripped out a “pop-up” cycleway in Kensington High Street and won a subsequent High Court case after refusing to have them reinstated.
Earlier this month, Kensington and Chelsea was criticised in the annual Healthy Streets Scorecard, in which campaigners rank the 33 London boroughs in terms of road safety and efforts to encourage walking and cycling.
According to the scorecard, protected cycle track provision in Kensington and Chelsea “is almost non-existent at 0.2 per cent of road length, the lowest in London and a glaring mismatch to the borough’s cycling rate”.
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesperson said: “After a council officer has reviewed this complaint and location, we can see that this fixed penalty notice was issued in error and have asked Kingdom for it be cancelled, which they have agreed to.
“We apologise to the cyclist for the inconvenience and will remind officers to check shared use spaces before issuing penalties for cycling.”
Kensington and Chelsea council introduced a “public space protection order” to tackle anti-social behaviour, such as cycling on pavements, as well as littering and dog fouling.
The enforcement officer who stopped Dr Ceppi told him that, in her view, the shared part of the crossing only related to the two staggered sections that cross West Cromwell Road and not to the connecting path in the central reservation.
Dr Ceppi initially appealed to the council but was told in a written reply from a Kingdom administrator that she was “satisfied that the fixed penalty notice was issued correctly”.
She said: “The shared area is the crossing and not the actual pavement.”
She told him: “Although the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea encourages members of the public to use bicycles, we want to ensure this is done safely for both the rider and pedestrians.
“Unfortunately we have seen some incidents where pedestrians, including young children, have been hurt or there have been some very near misses due to people riding on pavements in high footfall areas. This can be anti-social as it can make people feel alarmed and distressed.
“When an offence is witnessed the options available are to issue a fixed penalty notice to an offender or to proceed the case directly through to prosecution.
“There are no formal grounds of appeal against a Fixed Penalty Notice. If you wish to dispute the notice, you have the right to appeal via the magistrates court.”
The council said on Monday that cyclists could contact it directly via this link if they thought they had been incorrectly fined.
Dr Ceppi said he accepted the need to keep pedestrians safe, but said the council’s tactics “benefit no one and in this particular case are legally dubious”.
He said: “These agents have regularly been active in the same area in recent weeks, targeting cyclists in the area, particularly along this very busy and dangerous stretch of the A4.
“To me, it sounds more like a money-making operation rather than ensuring the long-term safety for pedestrians and cyclists.”
In May, Dr Ceppi was caught cycling on the pavement at the junction of Warwick Road and West Cromwell Road. “I paid the fine and have been extra careful since,” he said.
