Meet the brand new ‘Cycling Mikey’: The ‘self-appointed busybody’ street security vigilante who’s caught dozens of drivers committing minor offences… however has he incriminated himself?

He’s a community leader who for the past two years has served as a Liberal Democrat councillor helping to improve the quality of life of the citizens of a seaside town.

But Adrian Chapmanlaw’s alter ego as a ‘snide, aggressive and vindictive’ cycling vigilante has led to growing controversy and calls for him to be booted out of office.

And Britain’s highest profile motoring lawyer and road safety campaigner believes the online crusader may have inadvertently incriminated himself by committing an offence on dozens of occasions.

Mr Chapmanlaw has been dubbed by locals ‘the new Cycling Mikey’ – the notorious helmet-cam warrior whose war on motorists has led to drivers being issued thousands of penalty points, banned from the road and slapped with fines of nearly £170,000.

The councillor’s critics say he is a more aggressive ‘swearier’ version of the road safety campaigner – with his own footage showing him launching into four-letter tirades at drivers and angrily banging on their windows.

After one incident he was forced into making an apology after he angered parents by filming children outside a school.

The ‘self-appointed busybody’ has posted dozens of videos on YouTube and has bragged of catching 80 motorists committing driving offences as part of his one-man crusade to make the streets safer in his hometown of Bournemouth, Dorset.

He has recorded offending road users overtaking too close to his bike, pulling out in front of him and parking on yellow lines and over zig-zag markings.

Mr Chapmanlaw sends his videos to Dorset Police’s Operation Snap which encourages people to submit footage of potential traffic offences so they can prosecute guilty motorists.

Controversially, many of the drivers he targets are committing technical breaches when they reach for their phones when they are sitting stationary in traffic jams.

He films himself peering inside their cars before often tapping on their windows so that he can chastise them – and inform they will be getting prosecution notices in the post within two weeks.

Other videos show him apparently ‘hunting down’ drivers he believes to be offenders so he can record their registration numbers and catch them in the act of committing an offence.

While Mr Chapmanlaw has received support for his road safety work his ‘confrontational and provocative’ attitude to drivers has led to him being accused of deliberately trying to antagonise motorists to provoke conflict and make his YouTube videos more interesting.

In one video, which led to a prosecution in June 2025, Mr Chapmanlaw filmed himself as he manoeuvred his bike in front of an oncoming car.

He shouts at the driver: ‘What the f****** hell are you doing? No, what are you doing? No, come on man.

‘Where did you get your driving licence – b***** Coco Pops. You can’t do that man. A******.’

In another angry confrontation he screamed at a driver in a people carrier: ‘F*** you – you t***.’

As the driver passed by he branded him a ‘c***’.

In another of his videos Mr Chapmanlaw filmed himself aggressively challenging a lone female at night when she edged out of a junction in front of his bike.

Lawyer Nick Freeman, known as Mr Loophole, said Mr Chapmanlaw may have posted evidence of himself committing a public order offence.

He said: ‘It’s threatening, abusive, insulting words or behaviour whereby a breach of the peace is likely to be occasioned.

‘In my view he is breaking the law. You would probably be quite upset if someone banged on your car, swore at you and made possibly a false accusation, or any accusation.

‘He’s inviting trouble and he’s clearly committing public order offences as well as other stuff.

‘The law doesn’t entitle him to behave in that way. The police should be having a word with him and telling him to desist.’

Branding cycling vigilantes ‘a menace’ he added: ‘I have been involved in several cases where the cyclist concerned cycles dangerously to get the shot that they are trying to get which in itself is an offence.

‘I don’t think they have a place on our roads. We need to use technology and we need to use the police rather than relying on these people who, for whatever reason, think that they can police the roads.

‘They are not trained properly, they don’t know how to interact properly and they antagonise motorists.

‘It’s not their business. They don’t really know the law – they are a menace.

‘The Government ought to legislate to prohibit them from doing it because they threaten public order.’

The incident at the school happened after Mr Chapmanlaw set up position opposite the entrance to catch parents parking on zig-zag markings at drop-off time.

He blurred the images of children’s faces when he posted the video on his social media channel ‘Dorset Safer Roads’.

But it prompted complaints to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) over safeguarding issues and the storing of images of children.

Although he later said he ‘regretted any alarm caused’, the council took no action against him as they said he was not acting in his capacity as a councillor at the time.

Further complaints made to the local authority’s standards committee that his ‘aggressive and vindictive’ attitude towards motorists was ‘unbefitting’ of a councillor have so far also fallen on deaf ears.

There are now growing calls for Mr Chapmanlaw to be sanctioned for not acting and conducting himself in a manner that is appropriate for his role.

Local campaign group BCP & Dorset Motorists was set up to protect ‘all road users’ and encourage them to respect the Highway Code and not break the law.

But the group has accused Mr Chapmanlaw of unfairly targeting drivers and using ‘aggressive language’ and ‘confrontational behaviour’.

A spokesperson for the group said: ‘Serious concerns have been raised over the activities of a serving BCP councillor who operates a YouTube channel publishing footage of alleged driving offences.

‘There is an important distinction between supporting road safety and endorsing the behaviour of an individual who actively seeks confrontation in public spaces.

‘For a significant number of residents, the concern is not that traffic offences are being reported but that Cllr Chapmanlaw’s conduct, including deliberate provocation, aggressive language, and confrontational behaviour, appears designed to escalate situations rather than de-escalate them.

‘This is particularly troubling when incidents involve lone motorists at night or filming outside primary schools.

‘Regardless of whether he was ‘acting as a councillor’ at the time, the reality is that an elected representative cannot easily separate their public role from their private actions.

‘The expectation of higher standards of conduct does not switch on and off depending on the moment.

‘Encouraging a culture where individuals actively ‘hunt down’ fellow residents, while holding public office, risks undermining trust rather than building safer, more cooperative neighbourhoods.

‘Road safety is best improved through education, infrastructure, and proportionate enforcement, not through tactics that many see as performative, antagonistic and divisive.’

One member of the group said: ‘The way he is, his attitude, it is not befitting a councillor at all. He is snide, aggressive and vindictive. That overshadows the job he is meant to be doing.’

Simon Wilson posted: ‘Many people are increasingly uncomfortable with recent behaviour shown online, including footage where a lone female driver is sworn at late at night ‘what the f**ing hell are you doing?’

‘Whatever the context, that comes across as intimidating and unprofessional, and it is not what many residents expect from an elected representative.’

When approached, Mr Chapmanlaw, who works as a security engineer, declined to comment.

But he posted on social media about the success he had in catching offending motorists in 2025.

He said: ’80 prosecutions resulted directly from footage I submitted.

‘There were also numerous close passes that were not prosecuted.

‘What it does show is the variety of offences being committed – from close passes and phone use, to red lights and parking on zig-zags, including outside schools.

‘All of these are clear Highway Code breaches with real safety implications for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike.’

Mr Chapmanlaw highlighted how many police forces in the UK had set up Operation Snap initiatives encouraging members of the public to submit video evidence of driving offences to help them bring prosecutions.

He said: ‘Some like to paint me as a one-man OpSnap army. The reality is very different.

‘In 2024 there were almost 3,000 OpSnap submissions, and I was responsible for around 100 of them.

‘This isn’t about one person. It’s about widespread behaviour, limited enforcement capacity, and ordinary road users trying to make roads safer where they live.’

Local resident Susan Stockwell posted in reply: ‘Thank you. People who need to change their behaviour are noticing you which is why some are so unpleasant. Definitely shows you are making a big impact.’

Mr Chapmanlaw appears to have taken further inspiration from the antics of Cycling Mikey whose real name is Michael van Erp – a Dutch-born vigilante whose YouTube account has more than 120,000 subscribers.

Cycling Mikey boasts that he has reported 2,419 drivers to the police since 2019 leading to 2,721 penalty points being issued and 36 motorists being banned from the road.

His footage has captured public figures like Guy Ritchie and Chris Eubank committing infractions.

He was at the centre of controversy last year after he filmed himself pushing his e-bike into the path of a Fiat 500 as its driver ignored a road closure in west London.

In the clip, Mr van Erp was seen targeting drivers who failed to obey no entry signs as they approached roadworks at a junction in Hammersmith.

When a Fiat 500 driver ignored the signs, Mr van Erp challenged him saying: ‘What is that sign back there? You have to go back now. Very naughty.’

Shortly afterwards the same motorist decided to drive through the closed road as Mr van Erp pushed his 28kg e-bike into the path of the vehicle.

The bike collided with the car, sending his belongings flying across the road as the motorist drove off.

Critics said Mr van Erp ‘used his bike as a weapon’ and his actions risked causing injury to himself and as well as people travelling in the car.

Mr van Erp denied throwing the bike and said he wanted to block the motorist but found he ‘couldn’t brake’ his heavy machine once he realised the driver wasn’t stopping’.