A CYCLIST was stopped by the police in Stokenham last week, and reprimanded for using flashing rear red lights on the back of his bicycle.

However, it later transpired that the cyclist hadn’t broken any laws.

Kingsbridge Police responded to a message on social media to clarify the situation: ‘Our current traffic theme is ‘road user visibility’ which means we may stop pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders or cars to advise them about how visible they aren’t being to others.’

The comment went on to say: ‘I believe it is an offence to have any flashing lights to the rear - however to give a ticket is at an officer’s discretion.’

However, a few hours later, the police were back in touch, with the message: ‘Ignore what I said. We were curious and just googled it and it seems it’s now legal. Every day’s a school day.’