This is the moment a controversial motorist hating, cycling vigilante becomes a ‘pseudo police officer’ – and stops a driver for checking Instagram at the wheel.
Adrian Chapmanlaw’s helmet-cam footage shows him pedalling up to the stationary white car while in gridlocked traffic.
He knocks on the driver’s side window ‘like a police officer’ and when the woman winds it down he asks her: ‘Was that Instagram I just saw?’
When she denies checking her phone, he tells her: ‘I clearly saw it was Instagram.’
When the woman asks him who he is, Mr Chapmanlaw replies: ‘I’m just a member of the public with a camera but you will get six points.’
Mr Chapmanlaw, who is a Liberal Democrat local councillor in Bournemouth, Dorset, uploaded the footage to his Dorset Safer Roads Facebook page.
A second similar video shows him stopping his bike alongside a stationary car sat in traffic to tell the driver that he shouldn’t be using his mobile phone.
The driver asks him if he is a policeman to which Mr Chapmanlaw replies that he is a citizen before telling him: ‘Enjoy your six points’.
This is the moment Adrian Chapmanlaw became a ‘pseudo police officer’ – and stops a driver for checking Instagram at the wheel
A second similar video shows Mr Chapmanlaw stopping his bike alongside a stationary car sat in traffic to tell the driver that he shouldn’t be using his mobile phone
Mr Chapmanlaw, who is a Liberal Democrat local councillor in Bournemouth, uploaded the footage to his Dorset Safer Roads Facebook page
Mr Chapmanlaw, from Poole, Dorset, says he has reported almost 70 drivers to the police for phone use since 2023 through Operation Snap.
The UK-wide police initiative allows members of the public to submit video and photographic evidence of driving offences.
While many people have praised him for his work others have accused him of being a ‘snitch’ and a ‘snide’.
One motoring campaigner has accused Mr Chapmanlaw of being a pseudo cop, emboldened by Operation Snap to challenge drivers for wrongdoing.
Steve Moody, chair of the BCP & Dorset Motorists group, said: ‘We call him a pseudo cop. He isn’t a police officer but he thinks that he is.
‘He can’t talk to people like he is a police officer. He appears at a drivers’ windows and taps on the glass to accuse them of wrongdoing like a traffic policeman.
‘I think that he thinks he can tell people what to do but he has no authority.
‘This has safety implications not least for him because it is only a matter of time before he does it to the wrong person.
‘I am sure Operation Snap has its place but where it goes wrong is that it is open to individuals to abuse it.’
Mr Chapmanlaw’s two recent videos have sparked a backlash online among other drivers.
Wayne Nash commented on his page: ‘Aren’t you a grass.. Stopped traffic, hardly going to crash. Unlike stopping in a moving lane on a bike to have a chat.’
John Wilding said: ‘Surely their must be a better way of spending your time than a 2 wheeled sad guy moralising at others, like some failed traffic warden.’
Jue Bee said: ‘Is this what you do for amusement, drive around snitching! What a sad life.’
He responded to her comment by saying: ‘I was just cycling from A-B it was fish in a barrel.
‘What’s wrong with snitching? Don’t you think people that risk the safety of others should pay for it?’
Mr Chapmanlaw added: ‘The Highway Code is clear. Drivers must not use a hand-held mobile phone or similar device while driving. The law applies even when stationary in traffic or waiting at traffic lights.
‘I see drivers on their phones almost every time I leave the house.
‘I can’t always get the evidence for Operation Snap.
‘Since October 2023 I have reported almost 70 drivers for phone use.
‘Exposing the attitude of these drivers is part of the goal.
‘Many people are blind to just how little some people care about the rules.’
Other road users came to Cllr Chapmanlaw’s defence and praised him for his safety campaign.
Julien Seguin said: ‘Every week I see motorists using their phone while driving and most aren’t stationary.
‘I stopped confronting them because I systematically get abuse back even when I stay calm and polite.
‘It’s a plague. That and close passes are my biggest gripes.’
The councillor has previously been accused of deliberately trying to antagonise motorists to provoke conflict with them and make his YouTube videos more interesting.
He has had angry and sweary exchanges with several drivers and has called motorists who park on zig-zags outside schools ‘scumbags’.
Recent videos posted by him show him confronting motorists he believes are driving inappropriately.
Mr Chapmanlaw says he has reported almost 70 drivers to the police for phone use since 2023
In another he shamed a disabled woman who had parked her car on the pavement outside her house during a medical emergency.
And he butted heads with an ‘advanced driver’ last month when the pair clashed over who had to give way when they approached a crossroads from opposite directions at the same time.
He also posted a video of a row he had with an Iceland delivery driver he honked his horn at for overtaking too close to his bike.
For his part, the delivery driver accused Mr Chapmanlaw of riding his bike outside of a cycle lane.
