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Mile End death cyclist named; another critical after coach crash

Police appeal for witnesses after grim day on London roads

The bike rider killed when he was hit by a tipper lorry on London's Cycling Superhighway 2 in Mile End yesterday has been named as Brian Holt, a porter at Mile End Hospital.

Mr Holt, a married father, was described by colleagues as a “wonderful man who would be sadly missed”.

The collision happened at the junction of Mile End Road and Bancroft Road at aboyut 4:50 on Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses said the lorry struck Mr Holt after pulling away from traffic lights at the junction.

The Metropolitan police believe that the lorry was not turning at the time of the collision.

Motiur Khan, 22, told the Evening Standard: “The lorry was behind the cyclist and sort of went into the back of him. He hit the cyclist who went under the lorry which just ran over and crushed him.”

Will Hutton, 41 said: “It was a horrible scene. A motorcyclist was shouting at a tipper truck, which I assume was involved in the collision, to stop. The traffic had been moving slowly, so I do not think the truck can have been going very fast.”

Police interviewed the driver under caution, but he was not arrested.

Brian Holt is the third cyclist to die on Cycle Superhighway 2, which was described in the inquest into the death of Brian Dorling at its Bow roundabout eastern end as “just a piece of blue paint” by a crash investigator and as “confusing” and “an accident waiting to happen” by the coroner.

Just hours after Brian Holt was killed another cyclist sustained serious head injuries when he was struck by a coach in Holborn at a junction where two other cyclists have died since 2007.

He was taken to St Mary’s hospital where a Met police spokeswoman said this morning: “He is still in a critical condition.”

The coach and the cyclist are believed to have both been turning left toward Euston at the junction of  Vernon Place and Southampton Row.

Sainsbury’s security officer Omar Sillah said: “I heard a bang and I rushed out to see what was happening. I saw the man on the floor bleeding. His body wasn’t moving.”

Anyone with information about the two collisions is asked to help police investigate by calling 0208 597 4747.

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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46 comments

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MileEndDweller | 10 years ago
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The main issue is that someone has lost their life again on a London road.

Thoughts to the family involved. I live round the corner and saw the disruption afterwards. I was hoping that whoever had been involved would pull through. Sorry to hear that it ended this way.

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bobinski | 10 years ago
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Dont read anything into the "failure" to arrest. Following changes to legislation last year it is not strictly necessary in many cases, especially as here, the driver remained.

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Re the holborn accident i had a running, well cycling, row with a dutch (dutch!) coach driver on monday night coming through brixton into Herne hill. Driving like an idiot in and out of 2 lanes without indicating just using the sheer sise of the coach to effectively push or scare other road users out of the way. He claimed all english cyclists jump red lights as if that gave him carte blanch to drive so dangerously.

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nod replied to bobinski | 10 years ago
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bobinski wrote:

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Common sense! Hallejuah! You should tell that to Zanf on the other thread. It's all getting a bit lively...

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zanf replied to nod | 10 years ago
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nod wrote:
bobinski wrote:

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Common sense! Hallejuah! You should tell that to Zanf on the other thread. It's all getting a bit lively...

Why dont you go making more victim blaming comments, you fucktwit?

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nod replied to zanf | 10 years ago
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zanf wrote:
nod wrote:
bobinski wrote:

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Common sense! Hallejuah! You should tell that to Zanf on the other thread. It's all getting a bit lively...

Why dont you go making more victim blaming comments, you fucktwit?

tut tut. No need to get all tetchy and resort to name calling. Perhaps you should save your wits for all that fast flowing traffic sitting behind you in an ASL?

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Elcustardo replied to nod | 10 years ago
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nod wrote:
zanf wrote:
nod wrote:
bobinski wrote:

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Common sense! Hallejuah! You should tell that to Zanf on the other thread. It's all getting a bit lively...

Why dont you go making more victim blaming comments, you fucktwit?

tut tut. No need to get all tetchy and resort to name calling. Perhaps you should save your wits for all that fast flowing traffic sitting behind you in an ASL?

Or perhaps the day after someone is killed, isnt the time for point scoring on a forum?

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zanf replied to nod | 10 years ago
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nod wrote:

tut tut. No need to get all tetchy and resort to name calling. Perhaps you should save your wits for all that fast flowing traffic sitting behind you in an ASL?

Lets review what you said, shall we?

nod wrote:

No disrespect to the dead and not to absolve the driver of any blame (he has killed someone after all), but with every hgv-roundabout-left-turn fatality I'm increasingly thinking "idiot cyclist".

You only have to go through some of the most publicised incidents (go and read the coroners report about Brian Dorlings death) to grasp that the blame lays at the feet of how the infrastructure is designed that creates fatal conflicts, yet time after time, idiot bellends like you pop up with the same victim blaming bullshit when you display such an incredible lack of the facts of any of those situations.

This is demonstrated further when you completely miss what I said about ASL's in the other thread and yet you continue to make "hurr-duur, Im really funny pointing out my own stupidity" comments.

You're an asshat.

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Stumps replied to zanf | 10 years ago
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zanf wrote:
nod wrote:

tut tut. No need to get all tetchy and resort to name calling. Perhaps you should save your wits for all that fast flowing traffic sitting behind you in an ASL?

Lets review what you said, shall we?

nod wrote:

No disrespect to the dead and not to absolve the driver of any blame (he has killed someone after all), but with every hgv-roundabout-left-turn fatality I'm increasingly thinking "idiot cyclist".

You only have to go through some of the most publicised incidents (go and read the coroners report about Brian Dorlings death) to grasp that the blame lays at the feet of how the infrastructure is designed that creates fatal conflicts, yet time after time, idiot bellends like you pop up with the same victim blaming bullshit when you display such an incredible lack of the facts of any of those situations.

This is demonstrated further when you completely miss what I said about ASL's in the other thread and yet you continue to make "hurr-duur, Im really funny pointing out my own stupidity" comments.

You're an asshat.

Well said Zanf  41

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nod replied to zanf | 10 years ago
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OK Zanf.

I'm not blaming the victim - I said that. I do think as cyclists we need to be aware of what's around us. Getting crushed by left hand turning vehicles has happened enough unfortunately that cyclists should be aware of that by now.

ASLs are just painted boxes and if you're relying on them that much to keep you safe, then you're the asshat and you should fuck off and consider some cycle training. You say you/everyone stays on the left or in the gutter of an ASL? Why not use the middle of the box and be more visible?! See? Common. Fucking. Sense. Get. Some.

I don't care if people like you think I'm a twat - I think you're an idiot who blindly follows blue paint. What I am is a realist. I want to survive. I take responsibility for my safety. I think for myself.

You? Come on! Reply with something better than name calling and moaning about how infrastructure should work. Refute the meat of what I'm trying to say - as cyclists we should be aware of what's around us and take as much responsibility for our own safety as possible.

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kie7077 replied to nod | 10 years ago
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nod wrote:

Getting crushed by left hand turning vehicles has happened enough unfortunately that cyclists should be aware of that by now..

Did I miss the public information campaign? No, because there wasn't one and the vast majority of people don't read road.cc.

Perhaps it should be required by all people selling bicycles to ask the buyer if they would like to be crushed to death by a left turning vehicle, clearly people do need educating. .. Normally education is the schools job, it looks to me like they are failing their pupils by not teaching them Road safety, Do they even do the green cross code these days?

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guyonabike replied to kie7077 | 10 years ago
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kie7077 wrote:

Normally education is the schools job, it looks to me like they are failing their pupils by not teaching them Road safety, Do they even do the green cross code these days?

Last time I checked, road safety was one for the parents...

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jollygoodvelo replied to guyonabike | 10 years ago
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guyonabike wrote:
kie7077 wrote:

Normally education is the schools job, it looks to me like they are failing their pupils by not teaching them Road safety, Do they even do the green cross code these days?

Last time I checked, road safety was one for the parents...

True, but most people are 'discovering' cycling in adulthood. When my mother asked me if I wore a helmet I just laughed (because I do, natch). How to educate adults... that's a mystery.

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mrmo replied to bobinski | 10 years ago
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bobinski wrote:

I am trying to get into the habit of looking behind me at the drivers whenever i am waiting at a junction. Just so i know whats there. And they know i am there. On odd occasion have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Which if you go by the court case currently going through could actually mean you have broken the law!!!! I do the same, but crossing the stop line is illegal regardless of why!!!!

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congokid replied to mrmo | 10 years ago
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mrmo wrote:
bobinski wrote:

have pulled further infront when larger vehicles just a little too close for comfort.

Which if you go by the court case currently going through could actually mean you have broken the law!!!!

I wonder what the legal position on this is if, having crossed the ASL box, you dismount and stand beside the bike while you wait for the lights to change. Clearly you'd need to hop on again and move off rather quickly once they do...

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A V Lowe | 10 years ago
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Sounds like what could have happened with me about an hour later - fortunately truck driver was made to feel well aware of cyclists being present and not to be driven through.

When you see some of the near crashes (and crashes) on CCTV/headcamit beggars belief that the claims "out of nowhere" hold any credibility

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nod | 10 years ago
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"Police interviewed the driver under caution, but he was not arrested."

WTF? I know I shouldn't be surprised given what we know of the police's attitude towards cyclists, but this is a new low.

That's it. I'm just going to cycle around Richmond Park from now on and join the rapha-mamil clan.

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