VIDEO: Cyclist staring at Shard runs head first into BMW

A cyclist who was distracted by London’s landmark The Shard was caught on camera this week smashing head first into a BMW that was dawdling on the wrong side of the road.

The rider, who was peering into the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in the Shard, appeared not to notice the car, seemingly waiting to pick up a passenger.

The incident, which happened at around 9.15am on Sunday, saw the cyclist flung onto the bonnet of the car.

Appearing not to be badly hurt, he began shouting at the driver.

Kevin Portch, 53, captured the odd incident on the dash cam of his taxi, which was waiting nearby.

He told the Mirror: "I didn't see what happened live, it was only when I heard shouting that I looked out the window and saw the cyclist and the driver arguing.

"I immediately got called out to a job so I didn't see the end of it but they both seemed to be blaming each other.

"The only reason I could think that it could have happened is that the BMW would be parking up because it is a two-way street.

"If you look carefully, you can just see the cyclist take a quick look in the hotel because you often get quite a few Lamborghinis and posh cars in there so whether that distracted him or not, I'm not sure."

He added: "I've been a cabbie for a long time and you see a lot of things happen on the city streets between cyclists and cars as you drive around.

"But I've never seen anything like it with a car basically at walking speed on the wrong side of the road."

Last year, we reported how a video emerged of the moment when a cyclist riding through north-east London hit a pothole and somersaulted into a parked car.

The man is heading up Cazenove Road in Stamford Hill when a sudden jolt appears to jar his hands off the handlebars. Falling forwards, he goes head over heels and somehow flings the bike onto the bonnet of a parked Lexus in which the camera is placed.

Mr Filip, who captured the footage, said the cyclist was largely unharmed and in fact hurried off after the incident, saying that he was late.

“I just saw the bike flying towards me. I wasn’t sure what was going on and then I saw him pick himself up.

"It was shocking – he could easily have smashed into the windscreen and into my face. He didn’t need medical treatment but he had quite a bit of blood on his head and his hand. He was in a rush to get somewhere and he said he was quite late.”