Police plan to repeat the operation

Four officers spent an hour a day from Monday to Wednesday at the junctions of Above Bar Street, Bedford Place and London Road in central Southampton, after alleged complaints from motorists and pedestrians about dangerous cyclists.

The dragnet caught 25 cyclists without lights, seven riding on the pavement and three riding through red lights.

Offenders were each fined �30 and given safety advice.

Police say they are planning to repeat the operation, which ran each afternoon from 1630 to 1730 GMT.

Sergeant Dick Partridge said: "The operation clearly had an immediate affect, and on the second and third night of the operation, my officers saw cyclists with lights on their bike where they hadn't had any the night before.

"We would much rather everyone cycled around safely than we had to issue them with a fixed penalty ticket."