IN the centre of Oxford, I witnessed the following incident this week.

A young woman (in her 20s, I should imagine), was cycling down Queen Street, a pedestrian zone.

A stocky, middle aged chap shouted at her, informing her of this fact. She took no notice of him and cycled towards him.

Possibly feeling the need to protect himself (or maybe for more devilish motives) he clutched loosely at her arm as she went past him.

The resulting change of direction of the cycle was spectacular.

The bike careered off at an angle, finishing up in a knot of pedestrians. Luckily no one was hurt. But what intrigues me, though, is who is to blame?

Was it the stocky chap, who ostensibly caused the incident, or the cyclist (who initially, at least didn’t seem overcome with remorse), or the police and the local politicians, who are improving enforcement of the law with regard to cyclists, but still only do it sporadically?

Or is it the fault of the state itself for failing to insist on a conspicuous way of identifying cycles (in the same way as cars) so that blatant law-breaking can be controlled to some extent?

M SOUTHAN, Harley Road, Oxford