Cyclists have been warned to take heed of road rules and remember to stop at red lights after a Norwich rider was fined.

It comes as a Norwich man was ordered to pay more than £300 by Norwich magistrates this week after he was caught cycling through a red signal at Red Lion Street in the city centre.

The cyclist, 32-year-old Jurjys Renins, from Rose Lane, Norwich, was fined £220 for failing to stop at the lights.

He was also ordered to pay a £22 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.

Police district commander Superintendent Dave Marshall urged cyclists to stop at red lights, as failing to do so was not only against the law but also risky.

He said: 'This is a significant issue. It's extremely dangerous because vehicles travelling through green lights don't expect to see cyclists going through ahead of them.'

Supt Marshall said the offence also led to animosity between road users.

He said: 'It does cause a lot of upset between motorists and cyclists.'

Mr Renins is not the only cyclist who has failed to stop at a red signal.

This newspaper conducted a survey of how prevalent cycling through red lights was at the Red Lion Street pedestrian crossing.

In an hour, 27 cyclists were observed, and of the nine who got a red light, three of them failed to stop.

Supt Marshall's warning follows the release of Norwich highways agency committee's annual report earlier this month, which showed there had been a 100 pc increase in the number of cyclists either killed or seriously injured (KSI) in the past 10 years.

The report showed that from an annual baseline average of eight KSI cases in the years 2004 to 2009, the figure rose to 15 at the end of 2015.

Norwich Cycling Campaign secretary Margaret Todd said the rise could be due the increase in cyclists using the roads, rather than the roads becoming more dangerous.

She said there should be more traffic enforcement for all offences.

She said: 'We think there has been a drop in traffic enforcement. We don't think cyclists should be treated any differently.'

Ms Todd said the report showed no injuries had been caused by cyclists running red lights, but cyclists should still obey the road rules.

Martin Woodhouse, Norfolk and Norwich branch secretary of road safety group IAM Roadsmart, said all road users should respect traffic laws.

Mr Woodhouse said: 'They are breaking the law but perhaps we should be looking at amending the interpretation of the law to make it safe for them to do so in certain circumstances.

'Cyclists going through red lights are probably more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. If they have a collision with a car, it's them who is going to come out of it worse off.'