The extent to which cycling offences such as jumping traffic lights has been allowed to grow is surprising.

In the past, offences such as these would have been restricted by means of warnings and the occasional arrest as a matter of routine duty by an officer on the beat. The layman must wonder if the several officers involved in mounting the operation (and similar ones planned for other sites) would be more effectively deployed on the beat and being seen frequently near traffic lights.

Their presence would also be useful in keeping law and order in other ways.

ROBERT SEPHTON, Kennington, Oxford