Four gardaí needed to put ‘arrogant’ cyclist in cell, court told

A circuit court judge said yesterday he had never come across a more arrogant witness than the 33-year-old cyclist appealing a case where gardaí had to handcuff him when a row about his cycling escalated so badly.

Previous environment minister, Leo Varadkar, was repeatedly referenced by the accused cyclist, Justin Shorten, of Salem, Blackrock Rd, Ballintemple, Cork, during the incident as he insisted on his right to cycle in the manner in which he insisted he had cycled.

The appellant’s cycling came to the attention of gardaí when he cycled on the main traffic lane on Anglesea Street through a red light on the traffic lane when there was a green light on the cycle lane. The cyclist was not in the cycle lane.