Dame Joan Collins has called on the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to “do something” about cyclists after one allegedly crashed into her on the pavement earlier this week, almost knocking her over.
The 89-year-old actress, who in 1983 was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was walking along Maiden Lane in Covent Garden at the time of the alleged incident on Thursday, on her way to dining with her husband Percy Gibson, Mamma Mia creator Judy Craymer, actor Christopher Biggins, and Stuart Machin, the chief executive of Marks and Spencer.
In an Instagram post, Collins said she was dropped off by a black cab driver and forced to walk to the restaurant Rules after discovering that Maiden Lane was closed to traffic.
“However, that didn’t stop a masked cyclist with no lights and weaving on the pavement from crashing into me, almost knocking me over,” she wrote.
The actress then turned her attentions to London’s mayor Sadiq Khan – who has faced criticism in recent weeks concerning his plans to expand the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) by the end of August – and called on the Labour politician to deal with what she believes to be the danger posed by cyclists, as well as the apparent inability to be dropped off at her destination by motor vehicle.
“How much longer must we live with closed roads and cyclists who consider themselves above the law?” she continued.
“Why don’t you do something, Sadiq Khan, before this beautiful city of London is ruined?”
In response to Collins’ post, a spokesperson for the London mayor said: “The mayor is committed to making London as safe as possible for both cyclists and pedestrians.
“Walking and cycling have boomed in the last couple of years and the mayor has built hundreds of kilometres of new or upgraded cycle routes since the pandemic, and completed work to make some of the capital’s most dangerous and intimidating junctions safer.
“The mayor encourages everyone using London’s roads to do so safely to help make London the best city in the world to walk and cycle.”
> Transport minister: Responsible cyclists CAN ride on the pavement
Between 2016 and 2021, 2,472 pedestrians were injured in collisions involving cyclists in the UK, accounting for just over two percent of the total reported pedestrian casualties (122,961) in that period.
50 thoughts on “Joan Collins calls on Sadiq Khan to “do something” about dangerous cyclists before London “is ruined””
In other news, I came all the
In other news, I came all the way to the Isle of Wight to do some cycling. Stopped in to see some relatives and was pleased to find some dedicated cycle parking. Loads of room & free from cars…….oh
Clem Fandango wrote:
That driver was doing you a favour and making sure you couldn’t lock your bike to those wheelbenders.
Yeah no way I was using them
Yeah no way I was using them anyway ?
Their reputation is way worse
Their reputation is way worse than reality.
Racks like those have been in use everywhere here in The Netherlands for decades. Are they the best thinkable design? Certainly not. Have we been plagues by masses of bent wheels. Also certainly not.
Probably not plagued with
Probably not plagued with banjaxed wheels as the average Dutch bike appears to be pretty much bomb proof.
I thought the point was that
I thought the point was that in the UK bike theft and vandalism mean that cyclists favour very heavy bike- securing facilities which make it easy to lock both wheels and frame to with a D- lock (and also support the frame). In NL the much greater need for bike parking everywhere and thus cheaper and space- efficient systems means racks like this are almost required?
Nuance – apparently there’s also LOTS of bike theft in NL but possibly an individual has less chance of experiencing it. Plus the most common bike types are different. Unsentimental bikes for transport in NL, very often equipped with ring lock build in for rear wheel and stand. I’m guessing the few with expensive carbon-fibre pride and joys tend to keep them as carefully as we do in the UK.
When this story was on the
When this story was on the live blog earlier in the week, wasn’t it raised that Maiden Lane is closed to motor traffic but still open for cyclists and horsists (and rollerbladers and scooterists) as well as pedestrians?
Thats what the sign says…
Thats what the sign says…
https://maps.app.goo.gl/g9VR3Es2eFB2xCCeA
What were we saying about
What were we saying about groundhog day yesterday ?
Awavey wrote:
Even at 78, she still looks better than groundhog. Sorry, Cristo.
Christ, how entitled does
Christ, how entitled does this old woman sound. Khan, clear the plebs out of my way!
Lame dame without a brain.
Lame dame without a brain.
Hazard-prone Joan has a moan.
Hazard-prone Joan has a moan.
Ah, now I get it. After
Ah, now I get it. After reading her instagram post, the issue that she discusses first and foremost is that of the road being closed. Was she perhaps a tad annoyed about having to walk a short distance to the restaurant?
The ‘weaving cyclist’ on the pavement story is a weak argument for the removal of modal filters, because cyclists just ride on the pavement anyway? What a load of entitled nonsense.
If you can’t bear to walk such a short distance from your vehicle, I suggest you only visit restaurants that have a drive-thru.
Between 2016 and 2021, 2,472
Between 2016 and 2021, 2,472 pedestrians were injured in collisions involving cyclists in the UK, accounting for just over two percent of the total reported pedestrian casualties (122,961) in that period.
But no indication of who was at fault in those collisions, and having been knocked off three times by pedestrians stepping or running off the pavement without looking, I’m fairly sure who’s to blame.
I can see why the hypocrisy
I can see why the hypocrisy card gets played on here so many times. Pedestrian’s hit by cars – driver should have been paying more attention.
Pedestrian’s hit by cyclist – pedestrian should have been paying more attention.
What’s to say some of these instances of pedestrians hit by motorists aren’t exactly the same situation as pedestrians hit by cyclists where the pedestrian wasn’t paying attention and walked out from behind parked cars etc.
Yes, I’m well aware that the consequences are far more severe involving motorists, but the initial cause is the same. You see it all the time, people transfixed on their phones, not aware of their surroundings…is the green cross code even a thing these days?
eburtthebike wrote:
Well done you for being “fairly sure” of where the blame lies in those nearly two and a half thousand incidents, based on your 3 encounters, impressive. That said, surely you should have been travelling in a manner, and at a speed, such that you could safely stop if someone did step out, even if for some reason you failed to spot them initially ?
That’s right cyclists are
That’s right cyclists are blameless. Any wonder so many people have such a dim view of cyclists with attitdes like this? SMDH at 10 people clicking like this, though not really surprising here.
Adam Sutton wrote:
A pathetic straw man. Nobody is saying cyclists are blameless and you are using whataboutery to try to distract from the issue…
The issue here is the highly questionable veracity of the Dame’s claim, it simply does not stack up, at all. Picture posted earlier shows road is closed to motorvehicles… but it is blocked, forcing non-motorised traffic onto the pavement. Also, where was the taxi, how was her getting out of the taxi relevant? Or, the mask, or the lights, or weaving? Her story simply isn’t believable, clearly some of the facts are entirely incorrect (the road is NOT closed) and the fact that she wasn’t knocked over really shows the problem is not what she claims it to be at all. It’s all so questionable that one of sound reason and logic would question whether anything in her statement was true at all. Why would the cyclist even be one the pavement when there is a perfectly good road that motorvehicles are banned from.
File under: old person shouts at sky.
Not a valid reason to start bashing people using bikes.
Hmmm. Delighted that Insta is
Hmmm. Delighted that Insta is not letting me in; I’m not downmarket enough.
*If* the claim is accurate, I have some sympathy for La Collins here. It’s a walking and cycling street, with a clear distinction between ‘street’ and ‘footway’.
In those circs, I don’t see why someone on a bike would be on the footway. And I don’t see why anyone should be travelling at a speed to put a pedestrian at risk, as per the highway code.
But OTH Collins may be exaggerating.
And the general stuff about “dangerous cyclists” being an existential problem for London is baloney.
Most sensible comment here.
Most sensible comment here. After all isn’t there a hierarchy of road users with pedestrians ABOVE cyclists as more vulnerable.
Likewise I expect this is somewhat an exaggeration, but cycling in London myself I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an element of truth on the matter. The standards from many cyclists in London is subpar to say the least.
why ? Im not going to claim
why ? Im not going to claim the cyclist was a saint, but theres a whole bundle of stuff that Dame “Alexis” claimed thats nonsense, so why would you believe she was in mortal peril ?
I was once on a shared path and saw a group of mums with kids in pushchairs walking towards me occupying the whole width of the path there was no route past for me,so I stopped and shifted left to let them by, they still criticised me for being in their way & basically being a cyclist moving towards them when they passed even though I wasnt even flipping moving!!!
More reasons why I’m down on
More reasons why I’m down on “shared space” – have had similar experiences of people getting shouty at me (once also while dismounted…) Sometimes in front of the “shared use” signs. People gonna people of course but there is a better way. Of course that would mean more money (than blue signs) AND taking space from the carriageway / parking. So that’s a no for most places because then the local authority would have people shouting at them!
chrisonatrike wrote:
A few years back I had a gammonish chap railing at me for riding on a local “footpath”. When I asked him what he was standing on he looked down to see a five-foot-wide stencilling of a bicycle. He was momentarily nonplussed but rallied strongly to claim it meant bicycles forbidden…
Some people are definitely on hair triggers and it’s getting worse thanks to the Clarksons et al; just last week I had a rear puncture in Battersea, I slowed to walking pace, pulled over a dropped kerb onto the completely empty pavement and stopped immediately. As I dismounted a passenger in a passing van shouted “Get off the fucking pavement, that’s why people hate cyclists!”
Great whataboutery.
Great whataboutery.
As for the why, read again, it wouldn’t be at all surprising seeing the standards of cycling in London. However I even stated it’s highly likely exaggerated.
Some of the comments here are pretty shameful. I only hope it’s representative of some kind of malaise towards Collins because of her status rather than a disregard of the safety of someone approaching their 90’s in general.
Adam Sutton wrote:
I thought that precedent had been set at the beginning of the Covid outbreak when the elderly were discharged into care homes
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-older-people-care-homes-abandoned-die-amid-government-failures-during-coronavirus
hawkinspeter wrote:
I thought that precedent had been set at the beginning of the Covid outbreak when the elderly were discharged into care homes
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-older-people-care-homes-abandoned-die-amid-government-failures-during-coronavirus— Adam Sutton
I was looking for a definition of whataboutism for Awavey and found a copy of this post in the Oxford dictionary definition.
Adam Sutton wrote:
I knew I’d get famous for something, one day
*YAWN*
*YAWN*
Adam Sutton wrote:
Keeping you up are we? Have a quick nap – they’re underrated you know.
Ain’t that psychological
Ain’t that psychological equivalent – but in reverse – of those drivers who are in such a hurry that when they feel they’ve been held up for a few seconds are happy to have it out with you for 10 minutes?
Or our revenants complaining that they’re being trolled and bullied?
if you think its whataboutery
if you think its whataboutery just to not accept someones account of something at face value, when the central thrust of their issue about it being illegal to cycle on that road, can be demonstrably proved wrong, so be it.
Err whataboutery would be
Err whataboutery would be harping on about an unrelated incident you yourself had on a shared infrastructure, or I dunno maybe bringing in the treatment of eldery during Covid into the fore.
I mean sure why should we take someones account at face value. Why should we take your account of your run in with mums at face value. I reckon there’s a chance you were riding like a twat, I mean it’s just your word isn’t it?
.
.
Ive not seen this film, and
Ive not seen this film, and feel I need to now 🙂
Awavey wrote:
Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnSYoy4RKAU
It’s not great, though one of the stories is about a haunted penny farthing. Also, it’s Jack Hawkins’ last film although he had to be dubbed as his larynx was removed a few years earlier.
Wonder where our DLF is.
Wonder where our DLF is. Would have thought he would have been over this like a rash.
giff77 wrote:
Saturday, cello lessons with the best teacher in Kent, innit.
And therefore the best in the
And therefore the best in the world.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Thanks for that… nearly spat out my Châteauneuf when I read that.
Is anyone else having
Is anyone else having difficulty reconciling the idea of a cyclist “crashing into” a petite 89-year-old woman and it “almost” knocking her over? A smallish lady cyclist misjudged a gap on the Thames path some years ago and hit me (pedestrian, 6ft, 13 stone) at probably not more than 15 mph and I went base over apex. One suspects it’s a bit more “brushed me in passing” than La Collins is claiming.
Were you wearing a helmet?
Were you wearing a helmet?
eburtthebike wrote:
No, nor bright clothing either, only myself to blame.
4 decades of cycling in
4 decades of cycling in London and only 2 semi serious incidents. 1 was me cycling too close to a van in Holborn and in the driver’s blind spot and the other . . . a pedestrian, on his phone, walking out between parked cars without looking. I swerved and ended up splattered on the road. ‘Zomble’ pedestrians are a hazard in London. But I also appreciate that pavement cyclists are more so. Though there are less of the latter.
I was crossing the road once
I was crossing the road once and a woman with a pram ran over my foot.. we should make children illegal! I’m going to ring the mayor…
It’s terrible, it’s one event
It’s terrible, it’s one event, one cyclist and is not representative of cycling or being a pedestrian in London. So Joan should really get this in context.
Also London is not in danger of being ruined by cycling, no by streets being closed.
Completely coincidentally, I
Completely coincidentally, I happened to walk past Maiden Lane yesterday. You can kind of see why a cyclist might have nipped onto the pavement.
Shurely the cyclists should
Shurely the cyclists should have stopped and waited – that cart has right-of-way!
If someone on a bike hits a
If someone on a bike hits a nearly-90-year-old pedestrian I can quite imagine the pedestrian being quite annoyed about it. I’ve no qualms with Dame Joan having a go.
Extending that to the cycling population in general is a bit of a stretch though – as is claiming that London is being ruined in its efforts to clean up its air a little.
Maybe she could call on hime
Maybe she could call on him to tackle knife crime too?