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Sir Keir Starmer interviewed by police after crash with cyclist while driving in north west London

Rider hospitalised following incident on Sunday lunchtime

Sir ​Keir Starmer has been interviewed by police after a cyclist was injured in a collision involving a car driven by the leader of the opposition in north west London on Sunday lunchtime. The rider was taken to hospital, but there has been no update on his condition.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police are continuing to investigate the incident, which happened outside the Grafton Pub, close to the Labour leader’s home in Kentish Town, reports The Sun.

Nicolas James told the newspaper: “I was walking and there was a bang. A loud bang.

“I didn’t witness it directly but could hear the impact.

“I saw what happened after. The cyclist was on the pavement, he was holding his arm. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.

“There were people helping the cyclist. He just remained on the floor in pain. They looked concerned for him.”

Another local described how two police cars and an ambulance attended the incident.

A spokesman for Starmer said: “Keir was involved in a minor road traffic accident on Sunday.

“He spoke to a British Transport Police officer who attended the scene and swapped details with the officer and the other individual involved.

“Keir stayed at the scene until the ambulance arrived.

“Later that afternoon, he reported the incident to a police station in accordance with the law.

“Since the incident, Keir has also been in touch with the other individual involved.”

To date Starmer, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, is not reported to have been charged with any offence in connection with the incident.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said that they were alerted by the London Ambulance Service “at around 12.20hrs on Sunday to a report of a road traffic collision between a cyclist and car in Grafton Road, NW5.

“The driver of the car had stopped at the scene and exchanged details with the cyclist but had left before officers arrived.

“The male cyclist received a minor injury to his arm and was taken to hospital by LAS as a precaution.

“Officers later attempted to contact the driver of the car and left a message advising him to report the matter to police.

“The driver of the car subsequently attended a North London police station. He was not arrested or interviewed under caution.

“An investigation into the collision is ongoing.”

A spokesperson for the London Ambulance Service added: “We were called at 12.08pm to reports of a road traffic collision involving a car and a cyclist.

“We sent an ambulance crew to the scene. A person was treated at the scene and taken to a hospital.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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36 comments

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mike the bike | 3 years ago
0 likes

Keir?  Who is this Kier?  I thought his name was Keith.

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zero_trooper | 3 years ago
1 like

Can I suggest that Roadcc has an article about what to do if you are involved in an accident. From some of the comments to this article there are alot of misconceptions out there.

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Secret_squirrel replied to zero_trooper | 3 years ago
1 like

There already is one knocking about, althoguhfrom memory it's more from the side of being hit than doing the hitting.

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zero_trooper replied to Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
0 likes

Possibly the same difference legally, if not physically 

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brooksby | 3 years ago
3 likes

The Sun now claims to have a witness who says that Starmer was attempting a U-turn while driving his SUV and a Deliveroo rider on an electric bike went into the side of him.

(Of course, the Sun isn't renowned as a source of genuine and/or impartial information.  They're probably only a day away from claiming that Starmer was driving a load of stolen hamsters at the time or some such sh!t...).

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Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

....They're probably only a day away from claiming that Starmer was driving a load of stolen hamsters at the time or some such sh!t...).

I have photos...

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Deeferdonk | 3 years ago
8 likes

Does Starmer drive a Kia?

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Richard D | 3 years ago
7 likes

If you care to check out the Daily Mail's website, it turns out that they hate Starmer even more than they hate cyclists!

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Cycloid | 3 years ago
2 likes

Compare and contrast

Kier Starmer VS Chris Grayling   https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/15/chris-grayling-sent-cyc...

Read the article for the details

I'm all mixed up. We don't know the details so we cannot aportion blame, But why do I feel sympathetic towards a politician who has just been in a collision with a cyclist?

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David9694 | 3 years ago
1 like

why don't people in his sort of position employ a professional driver?  I know the idea of a chauffeur is ideologically laden, especially for Kier,  but it always surprises me how many senior figures seem to drive themselves.  
Sit in the back, have some down time or take calls. 

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willnottolerate... replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Maybe he just likes to drive?

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spragger | 3 years ago
4 likes

Sir Keir turns hard left

As cyclist goes straight.angel

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Captain Badger replied to spragger | 3 years ago
14 likes

spragger wrote:

Sir Keir turns hard left

As cyclist goes straight.angel

Chances of Mr Starmer turning left are minimal - no wonder it took the rider by surprise

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Mungecrundle | 3 years ago
2 likes

He gets my vote.

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stueymcc replied to Mungecrundle | 3 years ago
10 likes

Maybe he was in the middle of the road. Corbyn would have been on the left. 

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Sriracha replied to stueymcc | 3 years ago
1 like

They say he was making a U-turn...

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Kendalred | 3 years ago
1 like

I'm confused. The spokesman (spokesperson, surely?) said “Keir was involved in a minor road traffic accident on Sunday. He spoke to a British Transport Police officer who attended the scene and swapped details with the officer and the other individual involved. Keir stayed at the scene until the ambulance arrived. Later that afternoon, he reported the incident to a police station in accordance with the law.

But the Met say he left before the rozzers arrived?

Are the two statements contradictory, or does the spokesperson mean he spoke to the attending officer after the event (at the station)? Either way...Et tu, Keir?!

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Captain Badger replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
3 likes

I don't believe BTP would have been dispatched to that - it would have been traffic or locals as BTP jurisdiction is the rail network I think. 

It is possible that BTP happened to be there and attended, whilst the locals were dispatching.

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zero_trooper replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
3 likes

I think that you are spot on there Cap'n.

Some poor old BTP Officer has popped out for a sandwich and unfortunately (for them) come across the accident. Probably hadn't a clue what to do!

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squidgy replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
4 likes
Kendalred wrote:

I'm confused. The spokesman (spokesperson, surely?) said “Keir was involved in a minor road traffic accident on Sunday. He spoke to a British Transport Police officer who attended the scene and swapped details with the officer and the other individual involved. Keir stayed at the scene until the ambulance arrived. Later that afternoon, he reported the incident to a police station in accordance with the law.

But the Met say he left before the rozzers arrived?

Are the two statements contradictory, or does the spokesperson mean he spoke to the attending officer after the event (at the station)? Either way...Et tu, Keir?!

I presume because he spoke to BTP officer on the scene and not a met officer, the met were not aware of this at the time of the statement.

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Secret_squirrel replied to squidgy | 3 years ago
0 likes

it was clarified in a later article that the BTP person was an off duty PCSO so not a proper rozzer, but easy to see how that can get confused.

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jh2727 replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
3 likes

* deleted - basically said what Captain Badger said 2 hours earlier

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Awavey replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
1 like

well dont forget this guy is a lawyer & used to be head of the crown prosecution service, and yet has to be reminded by the Met he needs to report a road collision with a cyclist formally to the police. whilst no doubt claiming he was terribly confused having spoken to a BTP officer and thought he'd done it. The cynical half of me is expecting it to turn out the cyclist was the BTP officer, but thats just me being cynical.

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qwerty360 replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
1 like

To be fair:

Article wrote:

The driver of the car had stopped at the scene and exchanged details with the cyclist

Which would meet the requirements in the UK for exchanging details, only if you fail this do you have to report to the police... (n.b. in my opinion reporting accidents involving injury or damage to the police should be mandatory)

Requesting the driver attends a police station as they want to check whether the driving met criminal standards is separate. Normally this would be done by writing them a letter, but the quicker it is done the better as statements are more reliable the sooner they are taken... (It also wouldn't surprise me if the BTP officer can do some but not all of the processes due to differences in training etc...)

 

 

On a more general point, I have seen several comments now that from the articles on this, clearly the only person the right wing press hates more than cyclists is Kier Starmer. (And are clearly struggling to write an article on cycling that doesn't imply the cyclist was exclusively at fault as it can't possibly be the fault of the poor hard done by british motorist... /sarcasm)

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Awavey replied to qwerty360 | 3 years ago
0 likes

I believe when a person is injured though, as was clearly the case here,you must additionally produce your insurance certificate to the police or anyone who reasonably asks for it, and on the basis people rarely carry that document around with them,you must then report in person to the police to report the collision within 24hrs,and show the insurance certificate within 7 days, you cant do it over the phone. So exchanging details alone doesnt wholly cover this.

But if you think Sir Keir is getting a hard time on this,just imagine the press bonanza if the Rt Hon member for Uxbridge & South Ruislip had been involved instead

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Sriracha replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
0 likes

I think you are right, unless he fulfilled the requirements of the law at the scene, including (given the injury) producing his insurance to any people reasonably requiring it at the scene (unlikely) then he would have to contact the police within 24 hours.

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zero_trooper replied to qwerty360 | 3 years ago
0 likes

The driver only needs to report the accident to the police if someone is injured. They still have to 'exchange details', but reporting to the police is an additional requirement.

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Brightspark replied to zero_trooper | 3 years ago
0 likes

Not quite correct. The requirement is for a collision which causes damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property.

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Awavey replied to Brightspark | 3 years ago
1 like

The "any other person" in this case is the cyclist, yes surprisingly another badly worded piece of road legislation,but its meaning is that if anyone other than yourself is injured in a collision they might not be in a position to exchange details with you because they are injured,and certainly not whilst being actively treated and whisked away in an ambulance.

And FWIW the one time I've witnessed a cyclist hit by a car, the sound of crunching bones,scream of pain & seeing a body flung several metres isnt something you forget in a hurry,it wasnt even that fast an impact,but the cyclist was in no fit condition to exchange details after that,they were in shock,concussed and had some quite serious injuries as we discovered, fortunately the ambulance driver wrote them down on a post it so it could be followed up as the police didnt attend in time.

But that maybe why I'm less affable in cases where a cyclist has been hit by a car, however much people want to downplay it, it's always a collision that hurts

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zero_trooper replied to Brightspark | 3 years ago
0 likes

What I said was quite correct!

I just didn't expand my answer 

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