Only one person has been arrested in Sussex in three years for being drunk in charge of a bicycle.

The revelation comes after an “inebriated” cyclist, stopped by police after officers spotted him riding through Brighton, was released without charge.

The force has admitted only one person has been arrested since 2010 on suspicion of being drunk in charge of a pedal cycle.

Officers are not able to breathalyse cyclists they suspect are drunk.

Last weekend a member of staff at Sussex Police’s Roads Police Central unit tweeted: “We’ve just come across a rather inebriated cyclist in Brighton. Having issued some polite advice, he’s off the bike and en route home.”

The roads police officers went onto to suggest he could have come from a Brighton bar, saying: “I think our wobbly cyclist has just come from that very location. He seemed to have enjoyed himself.”

They added a jokey winking face emoticon.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “Being drunk in charge of a pedal cycle is an offence under Section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

“Any such offences would be dealt with locally.

“No collisions have been recorded that have been as a result of a drunk cyclist however they can be a potential danger to other road users.

“The law does not allow for the drink-driving test equipment used for motorists to be used for pedal cyclists, and fixed penalty notices do not apply to this offence either.

“Officers would rely on their assessment of the rider’s condition in order to decide what action to take, ranging from words of advice to prosecution, depending on the individual circumstances.

“The most recent record of an arrest for such an offence was in 2010, but information about incidents resulting in other action would only be held locally.”

A spokesman from city-based cycling campaign group, Bricycles, said: “It is up to the police to prove a cyclist is drunk, but obviously cycling while drunk can be very dangerous.”