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Land's End to John O'Groats cyclist killed on charity ride

End to End rider who overcame ill-health to raise money for Help for Heroes killed on ride

Last week brought a grim reminder that riding from Land's End to John O'Groats can be a risky business with the death of a LEJOG cyclist in Shropshire. Arthur Platt was raising money for the Help for Heroes charity which supports disabled servicemen when he was killed on the A442 dual carriageway on the outskirts of Telford last Tuesday.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance service told the Shropshire Star, “When crews arrived they immediately started resuscitation on the cyclist who suffered very serious injuries.

“After the man’s condition was stabilised, he was airlifted to University Hospital of North Staffordshire.“Unfortunately despite all of the efforts of ambulance and hospital staff, it was not possible to save him and he was confirmed dead later on at hospital.

“The driver of the car, a man, was uninjured.”

37 year old Mr Platt, who worked at the Totton Leisure Centre in Hampshire, had previously ridden around the Isle of Wight for charity, and had overcome a spinal condition that had threatened to confine him to a wheelchair. Shortly before setting off on his ride he tols Sourthern Daily Echo: “While most people will be settling down to watch the World Cup I’ll be out there pedalling away.

“I chose Help for Heroes because ill health prevented me from joining the army and I’d like to support injured servicemen and women.”

Mr Platt set off from Land's End on the 26th of June and had planned to complete his ride on Saturday 10 July.

Bryn Parry, Help for Heroes’s chief executive, told the Southern Echo: “I would very much like to pay our respects to Arthur and to recognise his contribution. He died while raising money to help others and that is admirable and must be remembered.
“We would like to pay tribute to a wonderful man who will be missed by all who knew him.”

Last Tuesday was a particuarly black day for cycling on Shropshire's roads not only did Mr Platt lose his life another cyclist was also killed near Shrewsbury on Tuesday night, while a third man lost his foot after he crashed and then slid in to a tractor driven hedge cutting machine near Oswestry.

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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Martin Thomas | 13 years ago
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Well said Aaron - I was on a Lejog two weeks ago and felt very vulnerable at times too. Lots of busy, unfamiliar roads. We had some nasty near misses despite there being nine of us riding reasonably tight. Terribly sad news...

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timlennon | 13 years ago
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A big improvement to the PA story which basically seems to suggest that the accident was his fault: http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/national/charity_cyclist_killed_in_cra...

I quote: "... after his bicycle crashed into a car on the A442 in Telford..."

It sounds technically possible, but extremely unlikely.

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Aaron Cripps | 13 years ago
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My heart goes out to his family and friends. Myself and 5 others rode LeJog last week for Help for Heroes and this is a sobering reminder of how vulnerable we all are when out on our bikes. RIP Arthur.

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Riptide66 | 13 years ago
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RIP to all of those cyclists.  2

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Jon Burrage | 13 years ago
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I grew up in Telford, the 442 is a well known blackspot as drivers pretty much always drive at 80mph-100mph. It isnt a straight, clear dual carriageway either.

Awful incident.

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