THE Government's decision to impose a £20 fine indiscriminately on pavement cyclists is both hypocritical and lethal.

A third of all accidents involving cars with pedestrians occur on the pavements, so why are pavement parkers not being fined?

Forcing cyclists off the pavements will inevitably mean a sharp rise in cycling deaths at the hands of the four-wheeled devastater.

Personally, on busy stretches of road, I would prefer to gamble on facing a £20 fine than risk ending up under the wheels of some idiot in a car.

The cyclists who are apt to cause problems on the pavements are kids and teenagers on rough and tumble mountain bikes. Serious cyclists are more likely to be ambling along on classic touring bikes and are a threat to no one.

The Government ought to get off the backs of serious cyclists and concentrate on getting the killing, maiming, polluting car swarms on to public transport.

JIM TODD, Grange Street, Accrington.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.