Video: Cameron on his bike (Daily Mirror)

The last time David Cameron was caught jumping a red-light on his bike he made a joke of it. He may or may not have been loutish, he said, but he denied categorically that he’d ever wear Lycra.

Having been caught by a tabloid newspaper flouting traffic regulations again, the Conservative leader opted for outright contrition. "I know it is important to obey traffic laws – but I have obviously made mistakes on this occasion and I am sorry,” he tells the Mirror today.

The newspaper had despatched one of its finest to follow Mr Cameron on his 25-minute cycle to work from North Kensington to Westminster. With camera mounted on handlebar the intrepid reporter trailed Mr Cameron on his journey across London logging all the while his multiple misdemeanours.

The resulting video – “Cameron’s cycle shame” – shows the Tory leader cycling the wrong way up a one-way street, jumping a red light and ignoring a ‘keep left’ bollard.

Friends of the Tory leader say that while he had to admit to wrong-doing he had done no more to bend the rules than most cyclists.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), criticised Mr Cameron for his “disappointing” behaviour, however.

He said: “It is essential that all road users, including cyclists, obey traffic laws. The laws are there for everybody’s safety and, as always, it is disappointing when someone in the public eye sets a bad example.”

A spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said: “The rules are there to protect everybody - all road users, including motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, have to stick to them.

“People are dying on the roads every day, and we can’t afford to become complacent, because more people are going to be hurt if we start to break the laws.

“As a role model Mr Cameron must be aware that if he does break them, it is going to send out the wrong message to those he hopes to inspire.”

It is the second time this week that a Conservative politician has been caught out on film breaking travel laws. Nicholas Soames, Tory MP for Mid Sussex, learnt that he is to be prosecuted after hunt saboteurs filmed driving children on his quadbike without seatbelts.

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