Woman involved in fatal collision with cyclist on Camden Road cleared of careless driving

A van driver has been cleared of causing the death of cyclist Ardian Zagani by careless driving after new material led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to conclude it was “unable to continue with the prosecution.”

Camden New Journal reports that at around 6am on August 29 2017, 61-year-old Rebecca Quartey was on her way back from serving food at Notting Hill Carnival when she was involved in a collision with Zagani on Camden Road near the junction with Hilldrop Crescent.

Prosecutors claimed she mounted the kerb before hitting Zagani’s back wheel. After hitting the windscreen and bonnet of the hired Ford Transit Van, he landed on the pavement and was run over.

Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu said: “Miss Quartey had been working at the Notting Hill Carnival. She had had a food stall at it. Once the carnival was over, she needed to move that equipment from Notting Hill, but could not do that until the early hours of Tuesday, August 29.”

He continued: “Shortly after the collision, Ms Quartey told police that she was tired and had been working at Notting Hill Carnival all of the weekend. She told the same police officer that she wasn’t feeling very well and that she was tired as she had been up all night and that she was diabetic.”

Sandhu said Zagani could be seen for 125 metres before the crash. CCTV from an office furniture store showed Zagani, with a red light on the back of his bike, riding ahead of the van up Camden Road.

Quartey said in a statement to police that she believed Zagani had come from a side road and “whacked” into the side of the van.

There was no footage of the collision.

At Harrow Crown Court this week, Judge Ian Bourne QC directed the jury with a not guilty verdict at the request of the prosecution.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “New material was recently brought to our attention and this meant that the case no longer met the evidential test. As a result of this we were unable to continue with the prosecution and therefore we offered no evidence in this case.”