A Deliveroo rider was last week snapped riding on the M32 in Bristol, with the food delivery firm saying that any of its workers caught cycling on a motorway face dismissal.
Bristol Live reports that a photo of the rider approaching a signpost for the turn-off for the B4469 towards Fishponds was posted on Reddit. That post has since been deleted, but the image is still hosted on Imgur.
Among the hundreds of replies to the Reddit post was one from a fellow “roo” – Deliveroo rider – who said: “ "As a roo this resonates with me so much.
“The guy was either trying to take a shortcut or the app classes this as a cycle lane. It could easily be any of these options.
“Tip your roos, it's a tough job,” he added.
Highway Code rule 253 states:
Prohibited vehicles. Motorways MUST NOT be used by pedestrians, holders of provisional motorcycle or car licences, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc, cyclists, horse riders, certain slow-moving vehicles and those carrying oversized loads (except by special permission), agricultural vehicles, and powered wheelchairs/powered mobility scooters.
A spokesperson for the company told the website: “Deliveroo takes rider safety extremely seriously and all riders have to abide by the rules of the road as set out in their contract.
“We also provide all riders with safety training before they work with Deliveroo.
“We are currently investigating this incident – any rider found to be riding dangerously or in breach of road law will no longer be able with work with Deliveroo.”
We’ve regularly reported on instances of cyclists ending up on motorways for reasons including sat-nav errors, poor signage or ignorance of the law.
One of the most high-profile cases happened the day before the opening ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, when four cyclists from the Sri Lanka national team were seen cycling on the M74 close to the exit for Motherwell and Hamilton.