The horror of Bristol

A tourist couple say they will never return to Bristol – because they feel menaced by cyclists in the city centre.

It is illegal to cycle on the pavement and former magistrate and police authority chairman Mr Drummond wants officers to have a zero-tolerance policy to enforcing the law.

The city council says that in the last three years 11 pedestrians have been involved in accidents with cyclists – but that over the same period 749 cyclists were hit by cars.

On one occasion her husband escorted his wife on his scooter to the Commercial Rooms, in Corn Street, so she could use the pub's toilet. "I waited outside for her, but I could not get up on the pavement because a van was parked across the point where it is lowered for disabled access," said Mr Drummond. "So I had to stay in the street. "A policeman drew up and said I was causing an obstruction. "But a girl on a bike was cycling fast down past me at the same time – the wrong way down a one-way street – and the officer did nothing about it."

Bristol is home to a fine transport blogger, who states I bear some responsibility for changes in transport thinking in Bristol that emerged in the 1980s and 90s, notably traffic restraint and traffic calming as well as the promotion of cycling. Now disillusioned with the lack of progress and the relentless rise in our car dependency.

Of Bristol, our well-informed local blogger reports:

With the exception of the Railway Path, facilities and routes for cyclists are widely regarded as poor quality and ill-thought out.

Gosh, does Bristol remind you of anywhere else, I wonder?