Visiting cyclist 'stopped three times' by police over Mountain Road

Officers prompted by 'concerned callers' due to foggy conditions

A visiting cyclist claims he was stopped three times by police whilst cycling over the Mountain Road this week.

Chris Glencorse was travelling between Ramsey and Douglas in foggy conditions, when he was stopped by officers who said they'd been 'dispatched to check on his welfare'.

The Isle of Man Constabulary says they had received a number of calls from concerned people, several of which said they had nearly hit him due to the adverse weather conditions. 

The cyclist says, upon being stopped the third time, he was asked to put his bike in the back of the police van - which he refused.

Mr Glencorse told Manx Radio: "I had no problem with the police checking with me first time but to be forced to pull over and told to get in the van isn’t the way I’d want any visitor who was doing no wrong treated where I live."

Video footage of the interaction has been viewed on Twitter over a million times.

Unbelievably the @iompolice thought it was appropriate to stop me 3 times while cycling over the mountain the last time to tell me to put the bike in the van because of complaints by car drivers. That’s not how the Highway Code works. I didn’t get in the van 🙄@100Climbs pic.twitter.com/VGXXmq3E3f

— Chris Glencorse (@chrissyglenc) March 16, 2023

This afternoon, we received a number of calls from members of the public in regards to concerns for a cyclist on the A18 the Mountain Road. Several of the concerned callers advised that the weather was adverse (heavy fog) and stated that they had nearly struck the cyclist. pic.twitter.com/so4tOtMVXG

— TweetbeatIOM #RespectIOM (@TweetbeatIOM) March 16, 2023

'Conditions didn't look great in fairness.' - Manx cyclist, Peter Kennaugh.

The conditions didn’t looks great in all fairness, however I did get stopped once by the @iompolice. I had a big tail back behind me and jumped on the pavement with no pedestrians in order to let the traffic past, was pulled over and asked if I knew what I had done wrong 😂

— Peter kennaugh (@Petekennaugh) March 16, 2023

The interaction has been shared by broadcaster Jeremy Vine:

“You have to stop cycling because a number of bad drivers have called us to complain about you” https://t.co/Y1CYAPaXz3

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 17, 2023