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Boris bike rider killed in collision with tipper lorry in London this morning

Woman in her 30s pronounced dead at the scene - third London fatality involving tipper truck this year - police witness appeal

A female cyclist in her 30s has died this morning after a collision with a tipper lorry in London - the third London cyclist to die in a collision with such a vehicle this year. 

A picture in the London Evening Standard shows that lorry involved appears to be a tipper truck, a type of vehicle that has proved particularly lethal to the capital's cyclists in recent years.

The Standard reports that the woman was riding a London Cycle Hire 'Boris Bike', making her the second cyclist to be killed while using one of the ubiquitous rental bikes.

The victim was later named as Claire Hitier-Abadie, 36.  

The Metropolitan Police reports that officers were called at 07:59 to reports of a cyclist in collision with lorry on Victoria Street, SW1, near to Victoria Palace.

Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade attended and found an unresponsive woman in her 30s. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers from Westminster are currently investigating. Enquires continue.

Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing director of surface transport, said: "We are deeply saddened that a female cyclist using a Barclays Cycle Hire bike has lost their life after a collision with an HGV at the junction of Victoria Street and Bressenden Place this morning.

"We will assist in a full investigation by the police into the incident and our sympathies are with the family and friends."

In January this year 29-year old physiotherapist Stephanie Turner died in a collision with a tipper lorry in Seven Sisters, and earlier this month 34-year old Akis Kollaros, was killed in collision with a tipper lorry in Homerton High Street. 

In April 2013 climate scientist, Dr Katharine Giles was killed in a collision with a tipper truck on Victoria Street at its junction with Palace Street.

The first cyclist to die while riding a Boris bike, Philippine De Gerin-Ricard, was also killed in a collision with a tipper truck in July 2013.

From September London's Safer Lorry Scheme will ban lorries from the city's street's that are not fitted with safety equipment such as sideguards designed to offer some measure of protection to cyclists and pedestrians - the scheme is particularly aimed at construction lorries cush as tipper trucks which are currently exempt from having to fit such equipment. 

On Monday the Metropolitan Police launched the latest phase of its Operation Safeway road safety campaign in response to a threefold year-on-year rise in the number of road deaths on London's streets in the opening weeks of 2015. 

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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