Once again the city of Brighton and Hove ground to a halt with complete gridlock from midday because of the annual London-to-Brighton bike ride.

This was caused by a combination of numerous road closures to accommodate the cyclists and thousands of cars heading to the coast due to the hot weather.

As many as 27,000 cyclists arriving en masse will obviously cause delays on the roads.

This year's disruption was a carbon copy of last year's yet the council made no plans to solve the problem. Rather than address the problem, it is easier to blame someone else and Brighton and Hove City Council leader Simon Burgess and Councillor Ted Kemble choose to blame the rail companies for refusing to carry cyclists (The Argus, June 19).

This has been the default excuse for the past two years as well, as this is the third year riders have not been allowed to use trains.

However, everyone registered with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has been provided with alternative transport home each year.

And even when the trains did carry cyclists, they could only cope with about 5,000, which left 22,000 to make their own way home, usually by car or coach.

Incidentally, unofficial riders who don't want to pay their registration fee to the BHF also appear to be the riders who attempt to board trains claiming no knowledge of a bike ban.

This leads to the absurd heavy security presence at Brighton Station and I have witnessed some very aggressive behaviour from these cyclists.

It is a shame a charity event is marred by such confrontations.

Although I agree the railways should try to accommodate some of the cyclists, I fear this would not solve the annual traffic problems that occur every year.

But if cyclists were allowed on trains again, what excuse would our council offer then, I wonder?

-J Mitchell, The Copse, Haywards Heath