Most of us would agree a reduction in private motor car use would improve our lives.

One way of achieving this is to promote walking, cycling and the greater use of public transport and I commend Brighton and Hove City Council for promoting these objectives.

However, on a recent August morning at 3.30am, on my way to catch the 4.15am coach from Pool Valley, Brighton, to Gatwick, I went sprawling over a bicycle which was lying on the pavement.

As I am visually impaired, I had no chance of seeing it. My white cane caught in the spokes and was bent at right angles (comical but unhelpful). I was not hurt but merely badly shaken.

More bicycles festooned posts and railings and I constantly bumped into their handlebars and pedals. I suppose most of them had been abandoned or stolen and then dumped there.

Later, I enquired about how the city deals with such bicycles.

Abandoned machines are removed. Owners are given seven days to remove others but there are too few staff to remove bicycles promptly.

The city's human resources department employs 220 people.

If ten per cent of them were transferred to tidying up the city, no one would notice and 22 more people would be making a useful contribution to society.

I used to be a keen cyclist but, in those halcyon days, most cyclists were gentle creatures who wore sandals when not in the saddle and were New Statesman-reading vegetarians.

We would stop at pedestrian crossings, help old ladies to cross and rescue trapped kittens from trees. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate.

Hove's bylaws prohibit all cycling on the promenade. These should be relaxed so children can learn to ride there. I believe most blind people would be in favour of responsible cycling by children on the promenade.

What better place to learn?

What we don't like are fast, silent adult cyclists who weave through groups of people who are doing what the promenade was intended for - promenading.

The law should crack down on them, and cyclists who do not have good quality functioning front and rear lights plus reflectors on their bikes.

I fear if responsible cyclists do not take control of their terrorist brethren, registrations and licenses will ensue.

  • Colin Bennett, Lansdowne Place, Hove