Yesterday I cycled to and from a client meeting twelve miles away.

If I’ve understood correctly, this means I can claim £4.80 in business mileage against tax (i.e. 24 miles at 20 pence per mile).

If I’d driven I would be able to claim £9.60 (i.e. 24 miles at 40 pence per mile).

It got me wondering. Perhaps it’s based on 10 pence per wheel.

Here are the rates (taken from the HM Revenue & Customs website):

Approved mileage rates

From 2002/03	First 10,000 business miles in the tax year	Each business mile over 10,000 in the tax year
Cars and vans	40p	25p
Motor cycles	24p	24p
Bicycles	20p	20p

How about giving cyclists the same rate as car drivers?

I understand it costs more to run a car – I have on of those too. But if we really want people to do more exercise and reduce their carbon emissions surely we need to be offering better incentives.

Of course the great news is that if you cycle more than 10,000 miles in a year, the rate stays the same. Hooray!