Under Section 72 of the Highways Act 1835 (as amended by Section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1888), cyclists must not cycle on a footway (pavement) and must keep to the cyclists’ side of a segregated cycle track.

The maximum penalty for cycling on the pavement is a £500 fine. However, in most cases the police will issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (or On-the-Spot Fine) of £50. The maximum would only ever be imposed if the Fixed Penalty Notice is contested and taken to court.

The total number of fines issued for pavement cycling reduced from 2,196 in 2003 to 1,644 in 2007. Donnachadh McCarthy, a spokesman for the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists, has expressed his belief that police officers have been targeting cyclists and issuing fines every time they have been spotted on the pavement. He claimed that in one instance, a cyclist was fined for riding one of London’s “Boris Bikes”, the short distance from the docking station to the road.

It is important to remember that Fixed Penalty Notices should not be issued to responsible cyclists who, on occasion, feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of the traffic and show consideration to other pavement users when doing so. This advice was re-issued to the police force in 2014 and was endorsed by cycling minister Robert Goodwill.

Fixed Penalty Notices cannot be issued to children under the age of 10 years old. Moreover, the police are asked to use their discretion so that unless a child over the age of 10 years old is putting pedestrians at risk, it should be the police force’s policy (rather than the law) not to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to children under the age of 16 years old.

In determining the law in this area, an important distinction to highlight is the difference between footways and footpaths. A footway is what is commonly referred to as the pavement (although they are not always paved) which runs alongside a carriageway or road, while a footpath is situated away from the road, often between buildings or in the countryside.

Cycling on a footpath generally only constitutes a trespass against the landowner, which is a civil rather than a criminal matter. This means the police cannot take any enforcement action, which includes the issuance of a Fixed Penalty Notice. It is important to note, however, that local authorities can make it a criminal offence to cycle on a footpath by means of a by-law or traffic regulation order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

Similarly, local by-laws can make cycling in pedestrianised zones or vehicle-restricted areas, such as shopping precincts, a criminal offence, and consequently enforceable by the police and punishable with a Fixed Penalty Notice. Not all Traffic Regulation Orders prohibiting the entry of vehicles to areas such as shopping streets prohibit cycling, but when they do, they must be observed.

It is generally considered that pushing a cycle in areas where cycling is prohibited is legal. There is no law that explicitly expresses this, but the general view is taken from the judgement of Lord Justice Waller in the case of Crank v Brooks [1980] RTR 441.

He said: “[The cyclist]…on her feet and not on the bicycle, and going across pushing the bicycle with both feet on the ground so to speak is clearly a ‘foot passenger’. If, for example, she had been using it as a scooter by having one foot on the pedal and pushing herself along, she would not have been a ‘foot passenger’. But the fact that she had the bicycle in her hand and was walking does not create any difference from a case where she is walking without a bicycle in her hand.”

Without the interference of parliament by introducing legislation which explicitly prohibits the pushing of cycles in areas where cycling is prohibited, it’s unlikely that such an activity would be found to be illegal.

On the whole, cycling on a pavement or footway is unlawful. However, the police are advised to, and should, exercise discretion when issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for the offence. In particular, it is emphasised that a distinction should be drawn between cyclists whose behaviour endangers pedestrians and those who act out of concern for their own safety, without being a threat to others.