Police are looking into a moped rider who attacked a cyclist in London this week, attempting to kick him off his bike for taking the lane.
Chi Yong La was riding on New Kent Road between his job as a systems engineer for publisher Condé Nast and his home in Greenwich.
Conditions were very wet and slippery and the road is notoriously badly potholed so Chi was following Transport for London advice and taking the middle of the lane.
At about 6:45pm, a man on a moped rode up on Chi’s left “shouting something about ‘is the middle of the road yours...’” Chi said on the YouTube video of the incident. (The time stamp on his cam is an hour out, he says.)
When Chi pointed out the potholes and invited the motorcyclist to pass him properly, on the right, the man attempted to kick him as he pulled away.
Chi told the Metro website: “I was trying to cycle in the middle of my lane because that’s what I’ve been advised when it’s wet and there are potholes.
“The motorcyclist came up beside me and accused me of owning the middle of the lane. I said he could overtake on the right.
“But he suddenly whipped past and kicked out at me – he kicked my front wheel but luckily I managed to cling on.
“It was a close call but very worrying. I hope he can be traced.”
Chi contacted road.cc this weekend to telll us he'd filed a police report under the category of "Road Traffic Collision/Accident". He accompanied his report with the video below.
The police have forwarded the report to the transport department for further investigation.
"I hope they at least have a word with him," he said.
The incident left him unsurprisingly rattled. "I was really shaken up," he said. "I was really holding on for dear life, making sure I didn't topple over."
Shortly after the incident, another rider caught Chi. "The cyclist behind me pulled up [with me]," he said. "I think he was even more rattled than me."
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63 comments
Shocking and depressing behaviour. What is wrong with some people that they would endanger someone's life like this?
Easy to enough trace. Surely?
I ride this bit of road every day and it's a nightmare. Fast traffic and lots of bus stops and parked cars forcing everything into one (the right hand) lane. It's a terrible road surface too, so this guy was riding exactly as he should have been to avoid potholes, drains etc and stop traffic that's trying to undertake the cars in the right lane from pushing you into the curb or cutting you off - i.e. taking the lane. Did that guy on the moped sound like a certain well-known Top Gear presenter...?
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