Driver deliberately knocks cyclist off bike in Richmond Park

A ​cyclist says that video footage clearly shows he was deliberately knocked off his bike by a driver in Richmond Park earlier this week, leaving him with a broken collarbone.

David Williams, aged 53, is in no doubt that the driver hit him on purpose, and police are investigating the incident, which he captured on camera.

While David, who is a cycling instructor and bike mechanic, is unable to share the footage until any legal proceedings have run their course, he did share still photos online.

I don't always wear a helmet but this one did its job. #richmondpark #hitandrun @lazerhelmet pic.twitter.com/Ag4ptC3UL2

— Bigdai🍷🍺🚲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🤘 (@Bigdai100) November 11, 2021

The incident, which happened on Tuesday lunchtime as he was returning home to Long Ditton after a cycle training session in Mortlake, took place the day after he filmed an incident in Kingston upon Thames that we featured in our Near Miss of the Day series last week.

> Near Miss of the Day 656: Driver cuts across rider at cyclist priority junction

"I have had some close scrapes in my time, but this is one where we came off second best,” he told Kingston Nub News..

"I was heading along Queens Road in the park towards Pembroke Lodge. Traffic levels were fairly normal and several cars went past me at a safe distance, although maybe faster than they should have been going.

"This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close. I slapped the boot to let the driver know how close he had been.

“He immediately braked quite sharply. I wasn’t able to stop but filtered along the road between the car and grass and ended up in front of him.

"Immediately, he then accelerated and came alongside me – about a foot away. I rapped on his roof to make the point he was too close and get him away.

"He accelerated again and swerved in towards me, knocking me off balance and I fell right onto my shoulder into the road. He then sped off down the hill.

"I was lying on the ground in shock and pain. Several people, including the drivers behind, stopped and came to help me. Luckily an ambulance was coming up the hill towards me and they stopped.

"Within a couple of minutes the paramedics were helping me. I was lying on the floor for 20 minutes or so, they put a sling on my arm and I was taken to Kingston Hospital.

“The people in the other cars behind me were shocked. This was not an accident. They probably thought they wanted to scare me, but the consequences are very serious for me.

"My head hit the floor quite hard and my helmet is now finished as it has a big crack in it.”

Besides a broken right collarbone, he also sustained severe bruising when he crashed, and said: “My job involves being on a bike all day … It seems I won’t be able to get back on a bike for five or six weeks, at best, which means I won’t be able to work."

We’ve covered extensively here on road.cc a number of incidents in Richmond Park where cyclists have been put in danger by motorists, many of whom use it as a short cut.

David said: "The reason that cyclists are so vocal is because the consequences of any sort of collision are very much more serious for cyclists. In this case, I have got very clear video of what happened.

"I have given the police the video and the car registration details. At this stage, they have asked me not to share it."

He told road.cc that he has not yet heard back from the Metropolitan Police about how their investigation is progressing, but added that a new slow-motion edit of the footage “clearly shows the car diverting towards me.”