‘Police said I violated the Human Rights Act for cycling no-handed'
Paul Powlesland, a barrister and environmental campaigner, filmed the encounter with the City of London police in which he was told he could fall and injure someone.
In the video posted to X, a police officer can be heard saying: 'Cycling with no hands on the handlebars places other road users at risk, contravenes article 2 of the Human Rights Act '.
The barrister, laughing, responds: 'Cycling no-handed violates Article 2 of the Human Rights Act? That's the Right to Life, isn't it?'
Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 states that 'everyone's right to life shall be protected by law' and 'no one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a court following his conviction of a crime'.
I recently got stopped & ticketed by the City of London Police for, & I kid you not, "cycling no handed". Even though it's clearly not an offence, the officer said they were ticketing me under the Human Rights Act as I was infringing other people's Article 2 'Right to Life', in… https://t.co/LU4BUKZZ4w pic.twitter.com/3DBE6XUgSN
— Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) July 3, 2025
There is no specific law that makes cycling no-handed a crime in the UK, though police do have the power to fine riders deemed to be cycling dangerously and not in control of their bikes.
Mr Powlesland is heard probing the officer over whether she intended to ticket everyone cycling no handed during rush hour, to which she responded: 'if I see them, yes.'
He added: 'You're letting phone snatchers and bike thieves go to ticket law-abiding citizens cycling no handed – do you honestly think that's a good use of City of London police time?'
While Mr Powlesland was not ticketed on 2 April, when the video was shot, he had been penalised by the officer on 5 March for careless and inconsiderate cycling under section 29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
The barrister, who is the founder of Lawyers for Nature, an organisation which seeks to represent natural work in the courts, later described the ticketing as 'utterly bonkers stuff'.
In a caption on X after the event, he argued that police time would be better spent tackling the scourge of thieves in London.
He wrote: 'With bicycle theft basically legalised in the City due to the complete failure of the police to bother investigating such thefts and people being regularly terrorised in London by e-bike phone muggers, it's good to see the City of London Police concentrating the resources on what really matters.'
In the first four months of the year, 213 phones were reported stolen in the City of London.
In the West End, 37 people report their phone stolen on average every day.
Home Office data released in May revealed that more than 365,000 bike thefts reported to the police have gone unsolved since 2019, which equates to 89 per cent of all cases.
And just three per cent of reported bike thefts in the past five years have led to a charge or summons.
Mr Powlesland had posted his encounter in response to the City of London Police's announcement of their summer campaign on 2 July, which they have dubbed 'Safer City Streets'.
The force said the campaign 'focuses on offences that matter to communities, like cyclists going through red lights'.
It added that nearly 300 cyclists had received fixed penalty notices for running red lights so far this year.
A City of London Police spokesman told MailOnline: 'We're aware of a social media post that shows a small clip from a longer interaction between a cyclist and a City of London Police officer on April 2 2025.
'The cyclist approached the officer and during their three-minute chat, the Human Rights Act was mentioned. The cyclist was not ticketed on this day, but he had approached the officer because she had issued him a ticket on March 5 2025 in the City of London.
'On March 5 2025, the officer observed the cyclist riding with his arms stretched out wide and off the handlebars during rush hour.
'The officer stopped the cyclist and issued him with a ticket for careless and inconsiderate cycling under s29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
'A ticket was processed on May 19 2025. Should the cyclist contest the ticket, officers will attend court and present any relevant evidence that we have obtained.'
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