Cyclists fined for illegal crossing of Bosphorus

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Tour officials will pay the fine for cyclists not paying fees to cross Bosphorus. DHA photo

Tour officials will pay the fine for cyclists not paying fees to cross Bosphorus.

A top Tour of Turkey official announced yesterday that organizers will pay the fine for some 165 cyclists who passed over the Bosphorus Bridge without paying the fee.

Head of the organization committee behind the Tour of Turkey, Aydın Ayhan Güney, said cyclists who passed from the European section of the city to the Asian side by the Bosphorus Bridge on April 29 were detected as “illegal passers” by the tollbooths.

“We had purchased 10 OGS [Automatic Passage System equipments] and placed them on the cars, but of course they were not enough,” he said. “The ‘illegal passing’ light was on when the cyclists were passing. We will now see how much we are going to have to pay.”

In 2005, Formula One driver David Coulthard was slapped with a penalty of 33 Turkish Liras while performing an exhibition pass-through on the Bosphorus Bridge.