HAVING some business to negotiate at one of the shops on The Avenue, Southampton, I pulled my car in to park outside the premises.

Seeing as a colleague had already parked in the space, I simply pulled up in front, got out and began retrieving my documents from the back seat. It was then when Mr Arrogant the cyclist arrived.

“Excuse me, can you not park here, you’re blocking the cycle lane”.

I looked over and could see nothing but a pavement. All the way up to the pizza shop, nothing but pavement.

Even the Dominoes delivery car had been placed in the same position as my own vehicle, and a lorry. I said: “It’s a pavement, use the road!”

It is well-known that drivers need to park here, the last thing we need is cyclists trying to dictate where and when we park when we’re not allowed to park on the road (for example there is a bus stop in the way).

I also think pedestrians need to stop whinging about the way drivers park – if you drove then you’d understand.

And the only way to avoid a parking fine is to avoid the yellow lines, that means sitting the car on the pathways!

It’s common sense.

Unlike Mr Arrogant, who decided to wheedle in and out of the pedestrians tying to walk around from A to B. He even has the audacity to sound his little bell at those he approached. If a driver did that they would face a fine for sounding the horn unnecessarily!

I agree with Michael Taylor’s letter – why are we spending a fortune on a few thousand cyclists in the city?

Hundreds whizz past you on the Itchen Bridge with a look of smugness. If politicians can’t afford to fix the potholes and provide parking, they should take a massive pay cut!

FIONA MILLER, Southampton.

Editor's note: The pavement along the of section of The Avenue referred to here is a shared path, meaning it is meant for both cyclists and pedestrians, and is marked as such.