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Cyclist killed in crash in Derbyshire still unidentified

Police appeal for help naming man in 50s who died after collision on A61 on Thursday

Police in Derbyshire are appealing for help to identify a cyclist who died after a collision on the A61 dual carriageway near Dronfield.

The male rider was involved in a collision with a a Citroen C3 about 3.20pm on Thursday, July 31, on the southbound carriageway. Despite local media appeals, police have as yet been unable to identify him.

The cyclist suffered serious head injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Northern General Hospital, in Sheffield, where he later died.

The man was white, aged about 55, 5ft 6ins to 5ft 8ins in height, and with short, grey hair. He had no tattoos but had a small scar to his abdomen. He was wearing black lycra shorts and red cycling shoes.

He was riding a a black and yellow Carrera TDF road bike a black saddle and black Carrera wheels. A small black and white saddle bag was attached to the rear of the seat.


A Carrera TDF similar to the bike the man was riding

The cyclist did not have any identification on him and police are appealing to anyone who may be unsure of the whereabouts of a friend or family member who went out for a bike ride and has not returned as expected.

Anyone with information on the identity of the man should call Derbyshire police on 101, quoting incident 451 of July 31.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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15 comments

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cs6xuk | 9 years ago
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Photo and more info on bbc page

I have shared it on facebook and twitter

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-28670953?post_id=682968831...

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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Why don't the police post of a picture of his face? He would be identified in hours or minutes if they did so as some one would recognise him. What numptees.

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oozaveared replied to Airzound | 9 years ago
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Airzound wrote:

Why don't the police post of a picture of his face? He would be identified in hours or minutes if they did so as some one would recognise him. What numptees.

Yep his mum or someone might get a nice little shock finding out like that great idea!

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CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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Sad indictment of British society, neighbour has unexpected dissapperance which goes un-noticed  2

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farrell | 9 years ago
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You wouldn't expect an experienced/committed audaxer would be using a fairly standard Carrera TdF, my apologies if that appears a bit bike snobby but I'm sure most people would agree its a strange choice of bike if he were to be racking up brevets.

As for neighbours not coming forward? It's the summer, someone being away for a couple of weeks probably isn't going to set alarm bells ringing.

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CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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I can't believe no one has come forward to say their neighbour is missing. You have to assume he lives alone. What about work? He can't live outside the area unless he audax specialist.

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notfastenough replied to CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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CXR94Di2 wrote:

I can't believe no one has come forward to say their neighbour is missing. You have to assume he lives alone. What about work? He can't live outside the area unless he audax specialist.

Being in Derbyshire, he could easily live in an apartment building in perhaps Manchester or Sheffield or whatever. Half the time those flats aren't occupied anyway, and no-one knows anyone. Still, no family/friends/colleagues missing him? At this rate, it's going to take until his direct debits start bouncing before anyone investigates. That is so sad.

Unfortunately it's a very common bike, you see them all over the place during the rush hour commute, so that's no use for IDing him.

I do carry ID, but I think a RoadID bracelet is probably something I should get.

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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A picture of the guy's face would be a real help otherwise this appeal to identify him is rather useless, unless his face/head suffered a really bad injury that makes it difficult, but even then he needs to be identified.

Who goes around without any id, record or device these days whether wallet, phone, etc, some way of tracing some one?

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trickydicky666 | 9 years ago
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my friend drove by the accident shortly afterwards as they were trying to resuscitate him. The a61 is a very busy dual carriageway, not the sort of road an experienced cyclist would undertake unless absolutely necessary. Its too early to say whats happened but the citroen could have been doing 60mph legally and any collision at that speed is going to be very unpleasant. Its quite steep at 6-8% gradient going uphill for about 2.5km so is also quite challenging on a bike when vehicles tend to get a run at the hill. Not having ID though is a definite no no. i always carry a wallet and a phone more for critical machanical breakdowns rather than anything sinister.

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cs6xuk | 9 years ago
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It is sad. I know that road and its wide there is an adjacent road thats would of been better aswell as its a quite road which for me makes it worst that it as happened we cyclist need to carry id unfortunately. I hope they find the guys family.

Its hard as well as its signed posted to go to chesterfield that way and I would say local would use the other road.

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workhard | 9 years ago
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Tragic.

Can I recommend RoadID bracelets/tags to anyone who rides alone?

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Metaphor | 9 years ago
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As always, deep sadness.

As there is no mention of the driver being arrested for outright dangerous driving, I can only rather crudely imply that the driver did not see the cyclist.

Lights on, front and back, day and night.

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Paul J | 9 years ago
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I bring my debit card with me on rides, partly for ID purposes.

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zanf replied to Paul J | 9 years ago
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Paul J wrote:

I bring my debit card with me on rides, partly for ID purposes.

I always have my debit card and my BC membership card/race license as its ID and has emergency contact details.

I also set up my phone so it has an "I.C.of E" number on the lock screen.

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smcc1879 | 9 years ago
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This tragic event shows the benefit of wearing some form of ID bracelet. I've got one just in case. As well as my name and contact details, it lists allergies and my blood group. I hope it's never relied upon.

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