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Cyclist killed in collision involving lorry at one of London's most notorious junctions

Fatal crash tool place this morning outside Holborn Underground station, where Alan Neve was killed in 2013

A cyclist was killed this morning following a collision involving a lorry outside Holborn Underground station at what is one of London’s most notoriously dangerous junctions for bike riders.

The Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed that the victim, a man aged in his 60s, was pronounced dead at the scene and that no arrests have been made.

 The junction is the same one where cyclist Alan Neve was killed when he was hit by a lorry driven by Barry Meyer in July 2013.

Meyer, who was unlicensed and uninsured, was jailed for three and a half years for those offences and for causing death by careless driving, and lost a subsequent appeal against his sentence.

> Tipper truck driver who killed cyclist Alan Neve fails in appeal against sentence

There have been several other cyclist fatalities nearby in the past decade or so, and the Holborn area remains one of the most intimidating part of central London for bike riders.

Holborn, and Theobald’s Road which runs parallel to the north, are very popular east-west cycle routes – on the latter, there are 2.5 bikes for every motor vehicle at rush hour – but are woefully lacking in safe cycling infrastructure.

That led the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) last year to call for a protected cycle route to be built from Old Street to the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road via Theobald’s Road.

> London Boulevard: Could 1.9 mile "scar across London" become a capital cycling icon?

Simon Munk, infrastructure campaigner at LCC, told road.cc: “It is shocking that notorious junctions, known to be dangerous, even lethal, for so many years are left untouched too often.

“How many people need to be killed or seriously injured at places like Holborn, Old Street or the Woolwich Road roundabout in Greenwich before the mayor and boroughs take action?

“The mayor promised LCC members and all Londoners he would fix the worst junctions in London more quickly. Time for him to get a move on."

He added: "We continue to campaign for far better cycling along the London Boulevard from Old Street to Tottenham Court Road.

“We are waiting for a scheme to come forward from Islington Council for their section that they have publicly promised will be soon." 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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Judge dreadful | 5 years ago
2 likes

R.I.P. to the cyclist. That is by far my least favourite part of London to cycle. Let’s hope something is done to improve the infrastructure around that area, and soon.

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ChairRDRF | 5 years ago
0 likes

London Cycling campaign are organising a demonstration at this location on 6pm on Monday. See their web site for details, meanwhile https://lcc.org.uk/articles/protest-monday-6pm-holborn-more-details-to-f...

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don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
2 likes

RIP brother.

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Master Bean | 5 years ago
1 like

Took place

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CygnusX1 | 5 years ago
8 likes

RIP.

Sadiq Khan and Camden council need to pull their fingers out and sort out these "accident" black-spots.

Quotes because they are not accidents.

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