When Tom Bosanquet contacted the police after cycling past a motorist who was using his phone, he hoped they would prosecute him. But the police want to prosecute Bosanquet and could fine him up to £1,000 for delaying the van driver behind him for a few seconds as he spoke to the errant motorist.
Bosanquet, 42, from Bristol, who runs a business that makes audio equipment, said he was perplexed by the decision, which police made after he sent them the video recorded by his headcam.
In the video, it appears that the van driver is delayed for no longer than nine seconds while Bosanquet confronts the motorist, asking: “Why have you got a phone in your hand? Put your phone away while you’re driving.”
Although the van driver hooted with impatience, there was no altercation.
Bosanquet feels bruised because the police encourage the public to submit video evidence of suspected traffic offences from car dashcams and cyclists’ headcams to help them prosecute drivers breaking the law. He has uploaded 500 videos taken on his headcam last year and a further 200 so far this year. The police have taken action in about 95 per cent of cases.
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A new era of road crime enforcement began with the support of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). Since 2020 it has recommended that all forces in England and Wales encourage the public to submit video to online platforms. On Thursday, Police Scotland announced that it would introduce a nationwide dashcam portal for the public to upload film of dangerous driving and other road crimes.
The public face of the phenomenon is Mike van Erp, 49, a cyclist who has reported more than 1,000 motorists to the police, including Guy Ritchie, the film director, and Frank Lampard, the manager of Everton FC. When he was a teenager, van Erp’s father was killed by a drunk driver.
Like van Erp, Bosanquet rejects any suggestion that he is a vigilante. “I’m not standing around at traffic jams and trying to catch people. I am going about my day and when I see dangerous behaviour I believe in flagging it up to police support. The police can’t be everywhere.”
Bosanquet, who has one son, said he was inspired to record headcam videos in early 2020 when he saw a man with a phone in one hand, driving down a busy street as children were coming out of school. “I felt shocked someone could be so damn thoughtless.”
Police are investigating the motorist in Bosanquet’s video for allegedly using a phone at the wheel and the van driver, who subsequently drove through a red light. “The proper culprits are being dealt with and I am sort of strange collateral,” he said.
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The incident occurred on March 4 in Bristol. A week later Avon and Somerset police sent him a notice of intended prosecution: “This offence cannot be dealt with by a fine payment and can only be heard by a court.
“As much as your civic efforts to make the streets of Bristol safer are to be commended, these actions have to be tempered and should not bring you into conflict with other road users, nor indeed with your legal requirements under the Road Traffic Act.”
It said he had breached Section 29 of the 1988 act, which is “the offence of riding a cycle on a road without reasonable consideration for other road users.”
In a separate email, he was told: “You blocked the road (the lights were on green ) in order to converse with the occupants, thereby preventing the van from progressing on his journey, who I would imagine in his frustration then decided to go through the red light.”
Bosanquet said it would have been fairer if police had given him a warning instead: “I think it would be ridiculous to try and take this to court. I heard that it might be a £1,000 fine at maximum.”
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Commander Kyle Gordon, the NPCC spokesman for national roads policing operations, said: “Whereas we would encourage the public to submit dashcam footage it is of course where that is safe and they don’t contravene traffic laws.”
On Friday, the law on using mobile phones while driving will become stricter across England, Scotland and Wales. At present the offence, which carries a minimum penalty of a £200 fine and six points, is specified as using a device for “interactive communication” such as calls, messages or using the internet.
It will be expanded to include other tasks such as using the camera, checking notifications, even unlocking the device. A new exemption will permit drivers to use the phone to make a contactless payment, although the vehicle must be stationary. It will still be legal to use a phone for navigation as long as it is kept in a cradle and not the driver’s hand.
