‘We’re not the Stasi!’ Parry slams road safety cyclist for filming drivers on their phones

Mike Parry appeared on Jeremy Vine on 5 and raged at Mike van Erp after he discussed his campaign of filming drivers breaking the law on the roads. Mr Van Erp made headline news after he captured Frank Lampard with a drink and mobile phone in his hand while driving around Kensington, London. The cyclist has a large archive of videos on his social media of catching people out but Mr Parry believed the campaign was “overzealous” and compared it to “East Germany” as he was uncomfortable with people recording others when they are driving.

Speaking on Jeremy Vine on 5, Mr Parry talked about the Frank Lampard video which was captured by Mr Van Erp and attacked the vigilante cyclist for his actions.

He raged: “Look, I admire your campaign, but I think you’re overzealous in the way you pursue it.

“Because we’re not East Germany and we’re not the Stasi and we shouldn’t go around filming each other to the degree that you do in my view.”

Mr Van Erp replied: “First thing I’d say is there are tens of thousands of cyclists with cameras out there.

“As a cyclist, Jeremy will tell you how often you encounter bad driving on the roads and it’s, it’s quite motivating to want to do something about it.”

Mr Van Erp has a YouTube channel under the name “Cycling Mikey” where he records drivers breaking the law.

The cyclist has managed to capture celebrities in his videos including former boxer Chris Eubank, director Guy Richie and recently Frank Lampard.

In these videos, the famous faces are seen on their phones while stationary in traffic.

Mr Van Erp told Jeremy Vine on 5 he believes there was not sufficient evidence to prove Mr Lampard was interacting with the phone to warrant laws being broken.

Mr Parry attacked the cyclist and accused him of enjoying the “publicity” attached to catching out celebrities and asked how many non-celebrities have been prosecuted.

Mr Van Erp smiled at the question and proudly said around 600-700 people over the past three years.

Those who break the law could see six penalty points and a £200 fine.