Charges against a man caught cycling on Hampstead Heath were dropped after he spent a night in a police cell.
The cyclist was stopped by two heath constables riding in a sign-posted no cycle zone, in breach of a local bylaw.
When asked for his name and address so that constables could issue a formal warning, he refused to reveal the information and was taken to Kentish Town Police Station where he spent a night in the cells.
At Highbury Corner magistrates’ court the next morning he still refused to reveal his identity and had to be handcuffed to a warder to be brought into the dock.
District Judge Robin McPhee invited the City of London Corporation to withdraw the action against him on the grounds that a night in a cell for cycling on a prohibited path seemed punishment enough.
