CYCLISTS should have identification like number plates so they can be prosecuted, a police boss has said.

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne said she thought bringing drivers and cyclists to book in an equal way might “make life easier for everybody”.

Speaking at a public meeting she hosted on Monday in which questions were repeatedly asked about cycling, she said: “I would like to see cyclists wear some form of identification like cars have.

“So when they go through traffic lights, you can actually identify them and then you can prosecute them for breaking the law.”

Mrs Bourne does not make policies and added the idea was “one for the legislators.”

She said this was a “debate that should be had” on the idea, adding it was the “few that ruin it for the many”.

Speaking to The Argus after the event, she added: “It is something that has been at the back of my mind for a long time.

“Because when you use the road, if you are driving a car you have your number plate. Other people register, they pay to use the roads.

“Cyclists don’t, admittedly.

“But there have been occasions when I have been sat at red lights and seen cyclists go through.

“And it is never the responsible cyclists that do this – the ones that belong to the clubs, they are great, they are the ones that adhere to all the laws, so it is the few that ruin it for the many.”

Tony Green, of the Brighton and Hove Cycling Campaign, said the idea was “totally unrealistic” for administrative and practical reasons.

The 67-year-old, of Fiveways, in Brighton, added: “Cyclists are seen as the easy target. I don’t really know what it is, but maybe people think they are getting something for free.”

He stressed car drivers do not pay to use the road, despite common belief. Car tax (vehicle excise duty) goes into the central coffers, not the roads; road tax was abolished in 1937.

He added: “I agree there are cyclists who break the law but then ten or one hundred times as many motorists break the law.”