Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has angered cycling groups by appearing to discount them as road users during a discussion in the House of Commons.
"Where you have cycle lanes, cyclists are the users of cycle lanes and the road users are the users of the road... It's fairly straightforward, to be honest," he told MPs, after Labour's Daniel Zeichner asked him to clarify "exactly who he thinks road users are".
The shadow transport minister was picking up on an in an interview Grayling gave last year, during which he said London's new protected cycle lanes would "perhaps cause too much of a problem for road users".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
His comments yesterday have already proved controversial, with Zeichner suggesting the Transport Secretary does not understand his brief.
Cycling Weekly reports Grayling's description "caused consternation among cycling campaigners", while national charity Cycling UK pointed out that the law defines bikes as "legal carriages" on the road.
Former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman, now policy adviser for British Cycling, said he "felt embarrassed" for Grayling.
He told The Guardian: "The Transport Secretary's comments demonstrate an astonishing lack of knowledge about how seven million people regularly use the roads in this country.
"If he truly thinks the roads are not for cyclists, then what am I paying my taxes for?"
This is not Grayling's only run-in with cyclists. In December, he was caught on camera knocking over a cyclist as he opened his car door. Junior transport minister Andrew Jones described it as "an unfortunate accident".
