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Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)Hit-and-run driver moved unconscious cyclist off road before fleeing scene
A driver who collided with a cyclist — seriously injuring the woman in her 30s — then allegedly shouted at the unconscious rider before "dragging her to the side of the road" and fleeing the scene.
The victim needed six hours of hospital treatment after being hit by the driver in Oxfordshire, on Pulpit Hill between Sparsholt and Childrey on Sunday 25 September, with Thames Valley Police confirming no arrests have been made.
A friend of the rider said it is "quite unbelievable" that the driver of the Vauxhall Vivaro van was spotted by a couple walking nearby moving the unconscious rider. The driver then left the scene, prompting Thames Valley Police to appeal for any other witnesses to come forward.
"It is quite unbelievable," Paul Hayward told the Oxford Mail. "Unbelievable in the sense that not only did he hit her but then he moved her body away from the middle of the road, left her and drove off.
"It's beyond scary because she could have been paralysed – she is terrified that she was unconscious because she was so helpless."
The friend of the cyclist said a couple walking nearby recalled seeing the driver "shouting" at the woman before "dragging her to the side of the road". The couple then called an ambulance.
"She was going down a single-track road and the driver was coming up and I don't know if they didn't see her but they hit her head on," Mr Hayward said.
"It's really difficult as a cyclist to be fully on the grass verge so she would have been out a little bit but the driver didn't stop or slow down — her bike is completely totalled."
Her friend explained the rider suffered "horrific" cuts and "looks like she has been for a couple of [boxing] rounds" but is otherwise "doing fine".
"She needs to wait a few weeks to see if there is a bleed on the brain as sometimes it doesn't show up straight away," he said.
"But remarkably, despite the bike being destroyed, she's fine. She's terrified that she was unconscious and helpless. It's just unbelievable. It's bad enough to hit a deer or animal and not do something about it, but to leave a person?
"You always think it won’t happen to you but seeing what has happened to my friend has really drummed it home how helpless you are as a cyclist. I haven't cycled for a week because of it and I don't know when my friend will go out again – it's going to be a big thing."
Anyone with information or dash cam footage is asked to contact Thames Valley Police, quoting the reference number 43220430762.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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27 comments
Horrible story. Hopefully the witnesses got a number plate.
Given that the police are appealing for the driver to come forward, either they didn't get the numberplate, it's a clone, or the registered owner is refusing to identify the driver.
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/thames-valley/news/2022/septembe...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if the keeper refuses to confirm who was driving their vehicle then they should have to face any possible charges in lieu of their Unknown Driver.
What if the keeper provides the details, but the named driver says "wasn't me guv"
Get them both?
What if the keeper provides the details, but the named driver says "wasn't me guv"
The police give up, citing 'insufficient resources' and 'insufficient evidence'
well I'm sure that appeal will bear fruit. We are only talking about a driver that hit a cyclist, then moved their body out of the way and left them rather than calling an ambulance, I'm sure they will be quick to come forward.
It's a shame the witnesses didn't get the licence plate, they should easily be able to identify if the driver is question was t registered keeper.
It's the new strategy called "self-check-in" - rather than having the police locate and collect all the criminals they're now asked to bring themselves in. Handy for these under-resourced and unquiet times.
Unfortunately there aren't enough police to process all the evidence collected by members of the public (video reporting) either so they're hoping the criminals will turn up with evidence supporting their own confessions too. However since the CPS often doesn't think it'll get a conviction many of them will have to discharge themselves. It's hoped they'll send the
victimwitness a NFA note on their way out to save the police having to keep them up-to-date too.Thank goodness there were witnesses who were able to call an ambulance. That's awful and terrifying. Best wishes to the rider involved and I hope she can heal physically and mentally.
Definitely. No witnesses and it might have been hours before help was called depending on how obvious she was at the side of the road.
You cannot trust Thames Valley Police to investigate this for you.
You need to ensure that they check ANPR cameras around the area and this needs to be done within 90 days according to https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/autom...
Find this appalling creature and give him serious jail time.
Unfortunately, this appalling creature has probably told themselves that they were being a Good Guy by moving that injured person off the road. In their head, they're a bit of a hero. I would wager that, anyway.
I would love to be able to say "surely nobody could be such a scumbag as to think that being a scumbag did not constitute scumbaggery" but sadly the outright scumbaggishness of society precludes this.
Massively and very unnecessarily speculative
Fair enough, can we just called them:
Vile
Callous
Dangerous
Heartless
Scum
Speculative? Yes.
Massively and unnecessarily? Not so much... TBH I thought I sounded like I was giving them too much benefit of the doubt, joe.
I think you showed remarkable restraint. You could have said a lot worse and it would have been wholly justified.
I'd go much further. This driver shouted at the unconcious cyclist, as if it was the cyclist's fault that some inconvenience had been caused to the driver... and then moved the body out of their way as if it was roadkill.
Whoever did this needs to be removed from society.
From the account given, it was a head-on collision on a single track road. So the driver probably does think the cyclist was at fault for not launching themselves into the adjacent field to enable the approaching Superior Vehicle™ to proceed unhindered.
that's my guess. Some variety of - came from nowhere! Bloody cyclists in the middle of the road! Et.c to justify being a complete cnut of a human being.
Had a delivery van drive me off the road years ago on a narrow road in Priddy in the Mendips. I expected him to at least move a bit left or slow down, but no, he just came at me deliberately at 35mph. Can still remember him looking me in the eyes. Fortunately there was rough turf to my left. Kept the bike upright for a bit and then splatted. Truly there are psychopaths in some vehicles ...
Had a van nearly hit me and the car in the right lane today as they squeezed between us. They had been beeping me as I was in primary even though I was keeping up with other vehicles in front of me and then drove straight into traffic nearly hitting multiple cars already on the roundabout. Obviously it had no tax or MOT.
I see you decided the island rather then the broken glass filled "cycle path" through the center. I did the latter once so applaud your decision. As I'm normally going up Graveley hill when going that route, I will normally be in the centre lane at that junction as anyone in the left is normally already speeding up to get to motorway speeds before they join it.
Edit: Just realised that is Gravelly hill you are coming down. Never understood why they never installed lights on that exit like they did with all the others as it is a struggle getting out.
It was actually Slade Road I was joining the roundabout from but I have been nearly hit a few times by drivers coming out from Gravelly Hill. Given how busy it is though i don't usually have any problems on there although with no traffic lights I imagine it would be a nightmare.
Obviously it had no tax or MOT
Except that GF56 HXM was taxed and was covered by a valid MOT on the day of the offence against you. It's too late to do anything about the time when the vehicle was almost certainly on the road between MOT fails on 11.3.22 and 3.10.22 (previous MOT expired 22.3.22). It's likely the mileage was 'corrected' for the later MOTs to make it look as if it hadn't been driven, but they corrected it too closely
That's very strange. I checked on Tuesday evening and it was showing no tax or MOT but today it is saying that it was MOT'd on Monday and taxed on the previous Friday if I'm reading it right. I thought you couldn't tax a vehicle without an MOT. Seems pretty dodgy to me.