Worcester is the UK’s second safest city for cyclists - but bike campaigners have called into question whether it is true.

Over 12,000 popular cycling routes across the country were analysed by Claims.co.uk, which placed the city in the second spot.

The number of bike accidents, average steepness, surface quality, and lighting across cycling routes, were analysed to ultimately assign a danger score for each UK city examined.

However, Danny Brothwell, chair of Bike Worcester, feels it may not be painting a true picture of the situation.

“The information from claims.com is probably factually accurate so I am not going to argue against that, but you could claim to have the safest city for cycling if no one cycles at all.

“A good yardstick is to ask whether a 12-year-old would be safe cycling through Worcester? The answer is probably no.

“There is no safe way to cycle across the city centre and good quality cycling infrastructure doesn’t exist."

READ MORE: Cycling across Worcester: The good and the not-so-good

Claims.co.uk found Worcester to have an overall danger score of 2.71 out of 10, second only to Chelmsford, 1.79.

At the other end of the scale, Birmingham had the highest overall danger score with 7.38.

Mr Brothwell pointed out the data does not account for the population, total km of bike paths, and percentage of journey share compared to other transport methods for each city.

He also noted that accidents are only counted if they occur on the bike routes.

Mr Brothwell added: “It would be interesting to apply the same scoring to a Dutch city, for example Utrecht, to see how it compares.

“That said, as the vast majority of bike routes in Worcester are shared use for bikes and pedestrians.

"It certainly implies that these are safe with very few crashes recorded in comparison to other cities.

“As such it would seem sensible to enable more shared use routes, notably allowing bikes to travel through the pedestrianised areas of the city centre during the day.”

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Worcestershire County Council was asked about Mr Brothwell’s concerns about a lack of good infrastructure and safe passage through the city centre.

Worcestershire County Councillor Alan Amos, cabinet member with responsibility for Highways and Transport, said: “We are pleased to see safe cycling in Worcester recognised.

“We are investing more on walking and cycling across the county, including schemes to improve routes in Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster and Pershore.

“You can find more about cycling in Worcestershire by visiting the county council website where there are  guides for safer cycling and information for suggested routes around the county.”