back to article James Martin apologises for cyclist outrage

TV chef James Martin has apologised for unkind comments he made regarding cyclists in a Mail on Sunday review of the Tesla Roadster. James Martin Martin (pictured) ill-advisedly spouted: "God, I hate those cyclists. Every last herbal tea-drinking, Harriet Harman-voting one of them. That's one of the reasons I live in the …

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  1. druck Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Wimp

    At least have the courage of your convictions and stand by what you've said.

    Posted from Cambridge, the home of two wheeled, free loading, red light running, wrong way down a one way streeting, accident magnets.

  2. lansalot

    tsk

    Pansy. Stand by your comments, it's a laugh, tell them to grow a sense of humour and get over it.

    (Yesterdays comments about "what a pathetic species" etc still stands)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    No need to aplogise James

    The opinion of a cyclist about roads is worth as much as they pay towards the up-keep of those roads: nothing.

    They do not pay MOT fees, VED, insurance or any other kind of support; so they are just freeloaders. Once they have a training, licenses, plates, insurance etc and contribute towards the roads; then they can voice an opinion.

    As for the "Ooo, but I own a car, I do pay" idiots. Yes, that is your contribution for your *car*. You still pay dick for all the special measures put in to protect your lycra-lout-rump when on two wheels. You pay *NOTHING* for the costs and inconvenience your two-wheeled-torture devices cause, and yet you still think you have a right to complain. Sheesh.

    At least motorcyclists pay something towards the cost of scraping them off the roads when they get it wrong (most non-urban bike accidents are rider-only fault, urban are about 50/50). Luckily the new driving license directives will see their numbers decline heavily and the roads become safer for all. And that's good news for you freeloading cyclists as motorcyclist is more likely to kill a cyclist than a car driver.

  4. Daniel Voyce
    Thumb Up

    Top Gear James?

    Clarkson needs to get him on! Seems like they have a lot in common!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I hate him

    He really is the most tedious prick...

  6. Tom 15

    Boo!

    I've just lost any respect I had for James Martin (none) with his apology.

  7. lukewarmdog
    Badgers

    Ugh

    The only thing worse than a "celebrity" is an apologetic "celebrity".

    I wish a plague of Hells Angels on his street.

  8. James Micallef Silver badge
    IT Angle

    I have a better idea

    However trogloditic and obnoxiously expressed Mr Martin's opinion about cyclists is, he has his right to them. What he REALLY should be apologising for is his dangerous driving (and glorification thereof) which could have led to serious injury.

    Regarding his 'city-boy ponce' remarks, the way I see it no one can be offended by any remark unless they subconsciously agree with that remark or are afraid its true.

    Oh and one other completely unrelated thought strikes me - I love that El Reg puts up stories with no IT angle and are just simply entertaining, and I completely agree with our one and only Moderatrix flaming the clueless chumps who keep asking where's the IT angle. So why do we still have an IT? icon?

  9. Wun Hung Lo
    Paris Hilton

    Hah!

    Wait until the government introduces a driving test, road tax, mandatory insurance and an annual MOT for bikes; that'll cause uproar!

    As for me, I'll laugh everywhere I go in my large, environmentally-unfriendly car.

    Paris because she's a bike.

  10. mmiied

    sounds like somthing

    a certaoin top old topgear presenter with a bad back but he would have never apoligaised for the insenceitave stuff he said

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    lol

    I hate it when people apologies when they don't mean it, stick to your guns and tell them to get bent. I hate cyclists on the redways around here - basterds - zooming past you missing you by an inch - hope they get stuck in a bush >.>

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Gutless....

    He went up in my estimation....... now he's gone back down again.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Misjudged?

    Either he did or he didn't run other more vulnerable road users off the road. If he did he is a knob of the highest order and should be prosecuted. If he didn't, he claimed he did for some sort of 'petrol head' cudos and is therefore is a knob of a slightly lower order.

    (I walk, cycle and drive - I can't stand the idiocy that is exhibited by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers all of whom seem to have a holier than thou attitude.)

  14. Alan Wray
    FAIL

    You idiots

    Er...

    He risked doing some people some serious injuries. So because they were cyclists it's ok.

    So if it had been a group of black/asian/foreigners that he didn't like would it have been ok too?

    Last time I checked the "laws" it was illegal to intentionally endanger someone (which also makes a cyclist endangering peds or cars illegal too).

    The comments on here aren't terribly far from the type of comments that you would expect to hear from some loony religous fundamentalist (which should encompass most of the Mail's readership)

    It's good to know that such a large proportion of the El Reg readership would happily sign up to a lynch mob if required. Must be hard to fit passengers into your cars what with all the pitchforks and torches...

  15. Andy 79
    FAIL

    Fool

    Maybe the stupid sod will stop driving like a d*ck now and not try and potentially kill people on bikes now just because he is in an electric, quiet, car. Im sure Tesla are well chuffed to have pissed off loads of cyclists who, lets face it, are probably mopre likely to buy their products as they are perceived as being "green".

    Epic fail, I think he should be prosecuted for the grevious offence of using the horn between the hours of 8 and 22.30 or whatever it is.

  16. Simon C

    @ Lukewarmdog 09:08

    I was not aware the HA have traded in the trademark leather outfits and Chopper motorbikes for Spandex and Raleigh Grifters

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Hmmm....

    He has a point, most cyclists know sod all about the highway code nevermind any kind of spatial awareness! Shame he backed down so quick.

    Think he'll slag off other annoying road users next?

    Can I suggest the middle management / sales type idiots who have to go at 90+ wherever they are and get very aggressive and as close to your rear bumper as they can if you're going slower?

  18. Dammit
    FAIL

    AC above

    You got just about everything in your comment wrong- clearly you are too stupid to breath and walk down the street at the same time.

  19. Peter D'Hoye
    Thumb Up

    I hate them too....

    As somebody who uses his bike every day to go to work, I have to say that the guy is 100% right. Most of those cyclist drive as if they own the road, and give us (normal) cyclists a bad reputation.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TopChef?

    What the devil is a chef doing reviewing a car?

    Next up: Jeremy Clarkson on Masterchef?

  21. GrahamS
    IT Angle

    What a numpty

    He made a rather ill-judged attempt at a Clarkson-esque diatribe and left himself looking like a pompous arse who drives a overtly flash car and thinks that running people off the road with it is funny and will compensate for his poor sexual performance.

    As for the Anonymous Coward at 9:03: get a clue mate. Roads and road safety measures are paid for by council tax, not VED or MOT fees. Bikes pay the correct amount of VED: zero, because they have zero CO2 output. Or do you think electric cars should also be banned?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where do these commenter stats come from?

    "most non-urban bike accidents are rider-only fault, urban are about 50/50"

    True, cyclists jump red lights, and they don't pay road tax... but chill the fk out.

    Solution 1 - The Lycra Problem:

    Drivers - stop looking at their cocks.

    Cyclists - you can wear lovely cycling shorts over your lycras.

    Solution 2 - The Red light problem:

    Cyclists - Don't be pricks. I know it is difficult, but just try to imagine a red light as a symbol meaning "stop".

    Solution 3 - The Road Tax Issue:

    Drivers: Cyclists don't exactly contribute to the wear of the road, adn therefore don't exactly have to pay the same amount for its maintenance. Your Road tax isn't a shared ownership of the road - it is a contribution to its upkeep...

    Cyclists: ... it is also a tax, so doff your helmet at all the good cars which drive past.

    Solution 4 - James Martin:

    All: This man isn't funny AND has no balls. Boycott his cabbage steamer range.

  23. Hermes (nine inch) Conran
    Stop

    @ AC 09:03

    To continue your argument what about all those Pedestrians as well. They walk across the road all the time and don't pay a penny in tax or insurance! They don't pay for special measures to protect them or for the inconvienience of stopping ALL the cars while they totter across the road on their stupid "legs".

    What I'm trying to say is you really are a dick.......

  24. sig
    WTF?

    @the tedious cyclists-pay-nothing AC dullard

    Road maintenance, policing and ambulances are covered by Council Tax, business rates, Income Tax, National Insurance, VAT, Excise Duty and every other impost our beloved leaders dream up. There is no hypothecation.

    Also, why is Martin apologising for offence caused? Most of the furore has been at his being a plonker, apparently confessing to dangerous behaviour, which he doesn't condone but still engages in.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Cunt

    "They do not pay MOT fees, VED, insurance or any other kind of support; so they are just freeloaders"

    err... Lot of cars damage roads because they travel fast and are heavy. MOT's are for the safety of your car and other road users. Insurance is for when you drive into the back of a truck while yacking on your crackberry. So its no surprise we don't 'contribute' as you put it.

    Bikes are environmentally friendly, carbon neutral, get you fit and would save the NHS millions if it want for twats like James Martin and you trying to drive them off the road.

    Just because your probably too fat from going to drive thru's and sitting in front of your computer doesn't mean you are entitled to have a go on a subject that you obviously know nothing about and are too stuck in you own world to see the benefits of.

    Do you get the rest of your mindless opinions from the daily mail as well?

  26. Neil 23

    @ Alan Wray

    Its not the same as doing it to "a group of black/asian/foreigners"* as that would be prejudicial discrimination based on a an element of their existence that is beyond their control.

    As people choose to ponce around on push bikes of their own free will this is not a prejudicial action but one based on inconvenience caused by this decision. Driving cyclists off the road for one's own amusement is not to be encouraged as it is indeed unlawful - but I bet it was bloody funny to watch...

    * maybe the collective noun for this should be a "political correctness of"

  27. Gresach
    Stop

    Here we go yet again again

    Why do we all have to divide up humanity into little groups and then hate the ones we don't think we belong to? It's so BORING. Please stop being so DULL and REPETITIVE.

  28. Ian McLaughlin
    FAIL

    meh

    So, did he frighten other road users into a hedge, or just fabricate it to look like a big man. Hopefully the police will want to get to the bottom of this.

  29. Pete 2 Silver badge

    disingenuous

    > It was never my intention to offend the many cyclists ... "

    Erm, pardon me for stating the bleedin' obvious, but this was EXACTLY his intention. Why else hurl so many insults at them? Now, I realise this guy (who I'd never heard of before - and probably will never hear of again) is a complete troll, and has now discovered that he can milk the earlier comments for even more free publicity. However, he's got to work out which side of the fence he's on - or in more basic terms: which group can he make more money from. Does he want to be the new Clarkson, or does he want to continue as the Daily Wail's poodle.

    Either way, in my estimation he's made a mistake by trying to weasel out of his earlier statement - especially as it's so obvious that he's not sorry at all. Maybe he really wants to be Prince Philip, in which case he should adopt the royal family's old adage:

    Never apologise, never explain.

  30. Alastair McFarlane
    Stop

    @James Micallef

    I agree. I said on the other article that I was just as annoyed at inconsiderate cyclists for giving us *all* a bad name, but it's the dangerous driving and/or incitement to dangerous driving that he should apologise for, not his opinions - which are his to do with as he likes and express in a humorous fashion if he wants. I'd have found it funny apart from the shit driving.

    He's still a d*ck though.

  31. Elmer Phud

    @Neil23

    I take it that if someone videos me taking out your windscreen with a bike lock then it'll be funny?

    Twat!

  32. GrahamS
    Thumb Up

    @Neil 23

    "Driving cyclists off the road for one's own amusement is not to be encouraged as it is indeed unlawful - but I bet it was bloody funny to watch..."

    Yeah, hilarious. Especially if one of them goes over the bars and is paralysed or killed.

    Cock.

  33. Daniel Voyce
    FAIL

    @No need to aplogise James

    You really are a tool of the highest order - how are any of those things you have cited anything to do with the upkeep of roads? Stop embarrassing yourself and go lick a window or something

  34. Naich

    Hello

    To all the people who don't want me to cycle to work tomorrow - tell you what, I'll take the car instead and rather than being held up for a few seconds, you can sit behind me all the way. Morons.

  35. Robert Grant

    @Gresach

    Exactly! I HATE people who do that!

  36. Paul Hates Handles
    WTF?

    Fucking pussy

    The ponces are obviously making themselves a nuisance in the village cycling round showing the locals a view of their balls like they're in training for the fucking tour-de-tosspots.

    On the other hand the twat's comments don't have to be taken as an insult to all cyclists everywhere. Just the spider-twats that drive their BMWs to the countryside.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    He's a cock of the highest order, but he's right.

    I drive a very large vehicle almost daily (it's my job). Those two wheeled suicide jockeys are NOT accountable. They cause accidents (I've seen two directly attributable to a pedal cyclists disobeying red traffic lights, one of which was a near fatal that lost a man his leg), and they don't give a screaming **** about other road users - not even other cyclists.

    They have no registration numbers, which is why they blow through red lights, they scream blue bloody murder when they've got no lights at night, wear dark cloths, and you never notice them until the last minute, and they're having a dig at a kitchen captain for stating the bleeding bloody obvious?

    No sense of humour, obviously.

  38. Sampler

    Dangerous Driving

    Points on his licence and a fine please.

    Had some tw@ do this to me yesterday because the car in front of him wouldn't overtake me yet you could fit a bus through so he decided to drive inches from that cars rear and then blast the horn next to me - luckily I can spot a crap driver a mile off so was expecting it.

    And for the record I don't wear Lycra or drink tea (herbal or otherwise).

  39. LucanUK
    Stop

    Where does it say.....

    ... he drove them off the road???

    What he did was overtake in a very quiet leccy car and then used his horn to let the cyclists know he was there.. perfectly legal as far as I am aware....

    That the cyclists had not noticed there was a car approaching from behind and were startled enough to ride and fall into a bush is their problem!

    As for why he was reviewing a car... well thats mainly due to him been a petrol head too... the Guy owns and can drive quite well a Formula 1 car, has taken part in many many cross country rallies and been quite sucessful.

    No one really follows the highway code to the letter.. even if you think you do you most likely dont! So just pay each other some respect, leave enough space (both bikes and drivers) for each other and there wont be any of this :)

  40. Jason 71
    Joke

    @Where do these commenter stats come from?

    87.25% of statistics are made up on the spot

    ;0)

  41. this

    Never heard of James Martin..

    but now I have. Damn.

  42. Ray0x6
    Flame

    reg motortards hating cyclists

    it's actually a bit disappointing. i'm no road user - neither cyclist nor driver - but i find the degree of animosity levelled against cyclists by drivers astounding, particularly on these pages (which i normally consider reasonably free from such base, idiot rhetoric). don't the drivers amongst us realise that cyclists are legally bound to share roads with motor vehicles? i'm sure the cyclists wouldn't wish to, given a choice - but they don't have one. can't the fearsome motortards railing against these fleshy, lightweight co-commuters display any degree of empathy toward their fellow travellers? drivers ride in a powerful, half tonne or more of steel and aluminium at no physical risk to themselves, unlike cyclists who risk death from angry motor manoeuvrings daily. many, many times in my city have i seen cyclists forced from the road or hit by buses, lorries and fucking idiots driving bmws. cyclists are quiet, non-polluting, non-congestion causing and inherently less dangerous to other road users (unless you count the danger to the cyclists themselves. from whom? why, motor vehicles, of course). so, who has the most to lose, and who has greatest potential for damage? who here is doing the shouting? who is concerned they may lose their no claims bonus because they didn't open their eyes and look? what a worry that must be!

    it would seem to me that the only reason for such invective to be directed against cyclists is that cyclists simply prevent drivers from getting to where they are travelling quite as quickly as they otherwise might - thus rendering the single, self-serving, narcissistic reason for owning a motor vehicle obsolete. no wonder it pisses you off. you spend all this money to get somewhere really, really quickly and then somebody gets in your way. big fucking whoop - my heart drains blood for you. as for the road tax argument, AC, that is total, total bullshit. road tax goes toward maintaining the roads - cyclists don't wear them out, cars and lorries do. end of story. cyclists may be an inconvenience to you as drivers, but that is all. you will still get to where you are going, and in comfort. get over yourselves, show some patience, show some respect and behave like fucking human beings, you simple-minded, self-obsessed cocks.

  43. Alastair McFarlane
    Joke

    @Jason 71

    ...and 73.9% of people don't believe them

  44. Steven Jones

    Quite simple really

    It's extremely simple - either this guy did what he said - that is attempted to scare a bunch of cyclists into having accidents, or he made the story up. In the first case he is a dangerous idiot who ought to be prosecuted for dangerous or reckless driving. Intentionally trying to cause accidents is an offense and needs to be treated as such. I don't care what anybody thinks of any other class of road user, or what they are offended by or what others of their ilk might behave like or how much they pay. It's dangerous, and if you support this then you have no place on the road either. Period - full stop. Just grow up.

    If, as seems more likely, he's made it up for the column and to let off a bit of steam, then he's just an idiot. If the judgment he showed in propogating this dangerous tripe pandering to the worst instincts of some of the less intellectually advanced members of the human race (for which this site has a fair number judging by the comments) then one wonders he can tie up his own shoe laces.

  45. Paul 4

    Better Idea.

    Hate people who brake the law, or ride/drive with no care for others, like the cyclist who pulled out on me when overtaking without looking to see I was overtaking him, or the car that was 2" behind me going up a steep hill because my little 125 won't go over 55 up that hill, or the bike that overtook me in to oncomeing traffic who must have been doing over 90 (I was doing 60 and it was like I was stood still).

    Oh, and ideots like James Martin. Not so much for his comments, but because he is creepy. He was on "The Big Food Fight" the other day, and he was just slimy and horrible.

  46. Alan Wray
    FAIL

    @Neil23

    I think you'll find that I was referring to an act of bigotry....

    "A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one who regards or treats members of a group with hatred and intolerance"

    So you're a bigot. Happy now?

  47. Richard Jukes
    Go

    Ban them all.

    As a person who tends to pay an awful lot in road tax, insurance, fuel duty, MOT's...parking fines...SORN fines...and just generally seem to be paying through the nose. I am of the firm opinion that if it doesnt pay tax, then it shouldnt be on MY bloody road. (Any road on which I am driving at that time, is considered 'mine' - regardless of what side of the road I may be on...)

    But seriously, Im sick to death of being stuck behind cyclists who dont contribute at all - often they ride three or four up (thats in rows of four, essentially taking up the entire one lane) thus making it nigh on impossible to over take.

    I personally like to get behind them, red line the engine, dump the clutch and wheelspin past them shouting 'Buy some bloody road tax you freeloading, road hogging, lycra wearing *naughty word meaning female sexual organ*!'

    On the same track I also dislike horses, again they pay no road tax, they are dangerous on the roads and whats more they always take a shit on that dangerous bend where 100% traction is needed!

    And while Im on the subject, can we also ban old people, chelsea tractors, young drivers, women drivers, BMW owners, Audi owners, Merc owners, Jag owners, Rice Boys, ugly cars and also the police.

    Essentially, ban everyone apart from me. Except Reg Readers.

  48. Iggle Piggle

    TV Cooks

    It does seem that cyclists have really pissed a few people off here and my experience has been that it is the lycra wearing brigade that seem to bring the reputation of the average cyclist into disrepute. Either they are wizzing by in the traffic jam (the bastards) or they going too slowly round country lanes (the bastards), so logically creating lanes dedicated to these people should please the country drivers and keep the cyclists at a safe distance from the irritable city commuters too.

    The AC who thinks that they deserver no opinion because they do not pay road tax is just an idiot. Indeed I believe that everyone from pedestrians, through scooters for the disabled, and up to A class emission cars also pay no tax so why get so high and mighty about one group?

    On the negative side it does seem the lycra brigade are also guilty of a certain amount of Martineque behaviour. I remember once being out on a local cycle path between home and the shops with friends and we had our daughters with us when a bunch of lycra clad clowns came whizzing along shouting verbal abuse because the girls were travelling slower than they would have liked.

  49. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    Liar!

    Quite apart from anything else the man is a liar. At any reasonable speed (like over 20mph) the loudest noise coming from a modern car is that of the tyres on the road. So any cyclist would hear a Tesla coming up behind them.

    When you're next walking (or indeed cycling) next to a 30mph limit road listen out for the cars coming up behind you. You'll notice that what you hear is road noise, not engine noise. This is the reason they can't really lower the noise limits for cars any further.

    It's a big head he's got on him, but it appears there's fuck all in it.

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    They seem perfectly reasonable comments to me. What's up with him?

    Anyway, for H&S reasons, cyclists should be limited to racing at their local cycle stadium, not putting themselves in danger where vehicles are trying to get from A to B.

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