Cyclist Escorted Off M1

14 October 2013, 12:31 | Updated: 20 October 2013, 07:28

Police have tweeted a picture of a man CYCLING on the M1 motorway.

They pulled up behind the cyclist on Sunday 13 October. He was heading to London.

He was branded a "dummy" by stunned traffic officers who stopped and escorted him off the M1 near Redbourn.

Cycling on British motorways is against the law. However, that did not stop this man taking to the highway in gloomy weather with no lights on.

He was spotted crawling along the hard shoulder on a rickety red mountain bike dressed in a dark green coat, black trousers and a dark rucksack.

Police officers quizzed the unnamed man, who was understood to have been baffled that he had been stopped and explained he was on his way to London.

He was slowly escorted off the motorway and told to catch a train instead.

The picture of the motorway cyclist (@roadpoliceBCH) was posted on Twitter by Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit.

An officer wrote: "Somebody thought it was ok to cycle to London on the M1, escorted safely off at Redbourn. #dontbeadummy."

A Hertfordshire Constabulary spokesman confirmed officers had been alerted just before midday to a man cycling south on the M1.

However, he was not fined or arrested for his idiotic behaviour.

The force spokesman said: "We did a very slow escort off with him at the next junction, which was junction 9 at Redbourn. We gave him words and advice, and I believe he's now getting a train. He was planning to go to London."

It is not the first time police have had to stop cyclists on the motorway.

In June, police spoke to another rider after escorting her off the M1 near Milton Keynes to an overhead bridge.

During the 2002 Commonwealth Games, two members of the Kenyan cycling team were stopped on the M61 near Bolton, Lancs.

Greater Manchester Police pulled over athletes George Ochieng, 23, and Arthur Kamu, 27, who had spent 45 minutes cycling in full kit on the hard shoulder at up to 40mph, travelling more than 17 miles.

Mr Ochieng said that he and his team-mate were unaware of British laws banning them from cycling on motorways.

Cycling on motorways is banned under section 253 of the Highway Code.

Other road users prohibited to travel on motorways include riders of motorcycles under 50cc, horse riders, slow-moving vehicles, agricultural vehicles and powered wheelchairs.