I WAS sorry to hear Marcus Mabberley had a near miss with a cyclist close to County Hall (Oxford Mail Insider, September 9).

This has nothing to do with the position of the particular crossing where this happened and everything to do with the behaviour of a small number of Oxford cyclists.

I have been here long enough to know that nowhere is safe for a pedestrian and that you need to exercise extreme caution anywhere in the centre of the city.

This may be on a pavement with a cyclist coming unheard and at speed from behind; it may be at traffic lights where the minority take no notice of the light colour or on a pedestrian crossing where the same dangerous minority seem to think they have carte blanche to carry on regardless.

There is only one rule for pedestrians – beware of cyclists. Keep your eyes and ears open everywhere and don’t assume they will behave reasonably, because there is a small minority who won’t.

Keith Mitchell, Leader of the Council, County Hall, Oxford