Recently, I had the pleasure of supporting 50 cyclists on a charity bike ride from Brighton to Paris.

During our journey to Newhaven, we encountered four separate bouts of road rage on top of the normal abuse which, as a cyclist, I have come to expect from the motorists among my fellow Britons.

We took the ferry to Dieppe, then cycled 150 miles, arriving in the heart of Paris on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Once in France we encountered nothing but waves of encouragement and we were given the room and respect most non-British European motorists give cyclists.

Perhaps some of the money awarded to Brighton and Hove recently for being one of Britain's five main pioneering cycling towns could be spent on an awareness campaign for impatient, grumpy motorists who feel the need to drive too close when passing a cyclist.

-Howie Blanks, Brighton to Paris Argus Appeal charity bike ride organiser