I love it when an article grabs you with a riveting, powerful opening line. For instance, The Londoner’s profile of a hero named Michael van Erp begins with a powerful thesis statement, in the form of a quote—a shout, really—hurled toward the article’s subject: “Mikey, you f—king tosser!”
I’m in.
Van Erp is better known as Cycling Mikey in his neck of the woods. He’s made himself into London’s most persistent, camera-clad reminder that you shouldn’t be scrolling through Instagram at a red light. Since 2019, he’s reported more than 2,400 drivers to the Metropolitan Police. According to The Londoner, his footage has helped rack up at least 2,721 penalty points, £168,568 in fines, and 36 disqualifications.
No one is spared, not even celebrities like Guy Ritchie.
London Drivers Annoyed By Vigilante Citizen Traffic Cop Covered In Cameras
The man is a professional a—hole. The kind that you love to see from a distance and would absolutely love to pummel into a bloody pulp if he catches you staring at your phone in your car. He accomplishes his tattling through simple, direct confrontation. He spots a driver on their phone, rolls up to their window with his camera recording, and then submits the footage to the Metropolitan police through an online portal.
He also tosses them onto YouTube, where 120,000 subscribers eagerly await the next installment of his public shaming. If a driver were to try to appeal the infraction in court, that’s where they find out firsthand that Erp isn’t one of those no-show cops who will give you the ticket but won’t show their face in court. Erp will be right there, ensuring that justice is served.
Erp isn’t some random board loser who up and decided to be an obnoxious prick to everyone on the road, even if it is in the name of safety. Like any good hero, he has a tragic backstory that fuels his righteous campaign. Erp traces his fixation on road safety back to 1980s Zimbabwe, where his father was killed by a drunk driver.
Years later, cycling through London, he began filming dangerous encounters for protection. The cops didn’t care about his extracurricular police work until about 2018, when the Metropolitan police started accepting dashcam footage for prosecutions. That’s when Erp scaled up his operations.
Critics call him a snitch, a vigilante, and a series of significantly worse things if the opening line of the article is any indication. To be fair, Earp doesn’t necessarily disagree, judging on how he describes himself in the piece: “a demon on the shoulder of London drivers.”
As you can imagine, taking on the mantle of obnoxious traffic cop has led to an assault or two. One confrontation in 2025 left him bloodied. In another confrontation, a driver deliberately rammed his bike. To be expected, I guess. What is less expected, at least from the perspective of the people he annoys, is that he is effective at his primary role of reminding people that even the littlest traffic lapses could be a matter of life and death.
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