Video: Driver who knocked cyclist off bike falsely claimed rider had jumped red light

A motorist who knocked a cyclist off his bike in south London then falsely claimed  that the rider had run a red light has been sent on a driver improvement course.

The road.cc reader who sent it in to us, asking to remain anonymous, said it took place at the junction of New Park Road and the South Circuar Road in Brixton on 7 August.

It was 7:50 and a clear summer’s morning,” he told us, and “the end of the first half of my daily commute from Thames Ditton.”

The footage clearly shows the cyclist going through a green traffic signal and heading across the junction when a driver turns right across his path, knocking him from his bike,

“I had some a few cuts and bad bruising on my side,” he told us. “Nothing broken.”

But he continued:”I had some post-accident trauma. I got very emotional when I spoke about it.

“I’ve never been knocked off my bike before,” he said. “I consider myself an experienced cyclist - I think I’m very good at spotting danger.

“This came out of nowhere though, and it’s shaken my trust in other road users. I don’t use that junction any more.                                                                                        

“The worst bit about it was that the driver from the outset blamed me.

“In the aftermath of the crash he was arguing with me as I was still on the ground (I haven’t included this because there are a few witnesses and I don’t want to impose on their privacy).

“Later I saw him checking his car for damage. In his statement to the insurance company he said I had jumped a red light and ‘come out of nowhere’.

“The insurance company (Aviva) were pretty good and paid what I considered reasonable compensation.

“The police communicated well, he added

“The driver has been offered a day’s ‘driver improvement course’. I’m not sure if that will have any influence on him as he hasn’t accepted he’s in the wrong.”