James May is swapping four wheels for two - and championing cycling.

His Top Gear co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson may have been somewhat sniffy about cyclists, but James says that even he uses a bicycle for short journeys.

James owns three bicycles and uses a folding bike for short journeys near his home in west London.

He told The Times, which is campaigning for the Government to create an annual budget for building safe cycle routes: "I'm all for bicycles in cities. We need to get rid of road sectarianism.

"Car drivers supposedly hate cyclists, cyclists hate taxi drivers, taxi drivers hate motorcyclists, bus drivers hate lorries. I just think if everybody was a little bit more pragmatic, that would do more for safety."

He said he believed the roads belonged to everybody and although cycling was "not going to cure the world of all its ills" increasing the number of cyclists would ease conditions on Britain's "ludicrously overcrowded" roads.