The Conservative Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East, Tobias Ellwood, has suffered a broken hand after getting doored while cycling through the town on Friday. A Dorset Police spokesman said it was “not clear” if any other vehicles were involved in the collision from their record of the incident and that they would not be taking further action “at the moment.”
Ellwood, who famously gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR to police officer Keith Palmer during the 2017 Westminster attack, told The Bournemouth Echo that he was on his way back from a mayor-making ceremony at around 1pm when the incident took place.
“I was riding down Holdenhurst Road. The traffic light was on red so I rode to the front. A car passenger opened their door and I went over the door, trapping my hand.”
Police and paramedics were called to the scene and Ellwood was taken by ambulance to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital for treatment.
Ellwood is not the first MP to be involved in a dooring incident – although he may be the first to be on the receiving end.
In 2013, Barking MP Margaret Hodge apologised ‘profusely’ to a cyclist she struck while opening her car door. The cyclist was unharmed.
Rather more famously, Transport Minister Chris Grayling was caught on camera dooring cyclist in 2016.
The cyclist, Jaiqi Liu, said that when helping to his feet again, Grayling had implied he was cycling too quickly, “which was not true. That made me really upset. He made out it was my fault.”
Grayling has since said that people riding in cycle lanes are not road users. The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner was among those to criticise him for the comment. David Jamieson – a former transport and road safety minister – said there was “no place for attitudes such as Mr Grayling's.”
Add new comment
12 comments
Disappointing, but I can only think that at this time the M.P./victim hasn’t made a complaint and/or statement.
If that is the case, then poor comms from Dorset Police. It just doesn’t read very well, does it?
Throw a milkshake at an MP and get done for assualt, open you door on one and physically injure them and nothing. If only certain MPs rode bike.
“I went over the door, trapping my hand”
Does not compute.
Weak response from plod regardless.
Think about it, the door close to the car is a inverted triangle, has wing mirror in that area too, easy to see how your hand could get caught if as he says he went “over the door”
"A Dorset Police spokesman said it was “not clear” if any other vehicles were involved in the collision from their record of the incident and that they would not be taking further action “at the moment.”"
Words fail me
I think you mean the Police fail us all.
Standard approach by Dorset police, unless it's a cyclist causing the injury. He's lucky not to get prosecuted for damaging the car.
Surely this was a terrorist attack because of his views on Brexit?
If the police are turning a blind eye to an incident involving an MP what chance do the rest of us have?
So an assault occured and plod are doing nowt, fucking disgraceful, again, put a copper in the same situation and the actions would be massively different.
UK police in breaking their sworn oaths and perverting the course of justice shocker!
The article says that he was doored. Therefore, unless someone was chucking car doors about, Dorset Police, *of course* there was another vehicle involved: the one attached to said door by a couple of hinges!!!
Someone needs to point Dorset police to the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, which together state that “[n]o person shall open, or cause or permit to be opened, any door of a vehicle on a road so as to injure or endanger any person”.