“This will do further harm”: Borough blames bridge closure for congestion despite soaring costs and active travel route; BMW driver accused of “forgetting what ‘give way’ meant” after collision; Dowsett altitude disappointment + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Council blames Hammersmith bridge closure for continuing congestion
We had the news come through earlier this week that Hammersmith Bridge, closed to cars since 2019, and open to pedestrians and cyclists since April last year, will remain car-free indefinitely.
In a report, Hammersmith & Fulham Council were told that conservative estimates for re-opening the bridge to cars were £300 million. In contrast, between 2010 and 2021, London councils spent a total of £100 million on all bridges in the city. So cost is clearly the overwhelming factor, but the net benefit of an active travel, car-free route across the river is maintained at a much lower cost. Surely a cause for celebration?
Not if you are neighbouring Wandsworth Council. In a statement, Cabinet member for Transport Daniel Hamilton said the report is “deeply disappointing.”
“Instead of moving us closer to reopening, it locks in years more of congestion across south-west London. This will do further harm to residents and businesses and put even more strain on local transport networks.
“We urge Hammersmith & Fulham to work with the Government to get traffic moving across the bridge again. Wandsworth will continue to champion its full reopening to vehicles.”
You might have thought that Cllr Johnson could read the tea leaves of people’s changing travel habits and adjusted accordingly. For example, rather than bemoaning the vehicular congestion, he could have used the bridge’s long-term closure to vehicles as an opportunity to tout the wonders of walking or cycling. But sadly Wandsworth Council doesn’t have that sort of record…
Wandsworth Park anti-cycling barriers (Image Credit: Becky Philip)
> Speed gun deployed to fine cyclists riding faster than 12mph in London park
PSA!
It’s the evening before the road.cc ride out, so if you’re wondering where your live blog is tomorrow morning, it’s in the heads of people out cycling around Bath, soaking up the sunshine before watching the pros do it all much better than us for the next month!
"Forgetting what the words give way meant"
Occasionally, you wonder if a BMW driver is aware of the reputation that precedes their choice of vehicle. Are they just excited by the funky-coloured quadrants of the circle on the badge spinning on the wheel as they move? I know I was, when I was six at least…
Today’s bit of BMW driver-lore comes from Ipswich Crown Court where a driver is on trial for causing serious injury by careless or inconsiderate driving. The incident occurred at this junction in the village of Beck Row, just west of Thetford Forest.
As reported by The Bury Mercury, Anna Sim pulled out of this junction in September 2023, hitting Harold Leper, described as a keen cyclist who had never suffered a road collision since he started riding regularly in 1978.
The prosecution told the court Sim was on her way home and “forgot what the words give way meant” when she pulled out at the junction.
CCTV footage from the nearby Londis was shown to the jury, alongside an image of Leper lying next to his bicycle after the collision. He has no memory of the incident and also suffered a fractured rib.
Sim for her part, told police in 2024 that she had looked both ways and believed she had enough time to pull out, blaming the cyclist for “coming onto the wrong side of the road.”
She told officers: “If he had carried on in his original direction of travel he would never have collided with the car.”
Based on Sim’s listed address and the court hearing that she was heading home, it seems likely that she would have turned right out of the junction. It is possible that Leper, seeing this suddenly, tried to swerve to avoid the car by moving out of the lane into the other side of the road.
Either way, the lane is narrow and so a collision may have proven impossible to avoid if Sim didn’t see the cyclist approaching. Still, it’s another frustrating, deeply preventable incident. The trial continues…
The favourites have arrived...
New hairstyles, and looking very toned. They’re ready…
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All the new stuff coming for 2026
For Le Tour, brands get dressed…
> A wave of new bikes, wheels and kit making Tour de France debuts in 2026
Ali Fielding retires
Track sprinter Ali Fielding has announced his retirement from the sport.
The 26-year-old won bronze in the team pursuit at the 2022 World Championships, and silver at the Europeans the following year. Announcing his retirement Fielding said, “I’m grateful for everything cycling and the Great Britain Cycling Team has given me. I’ve made memories, friends and family I’ll cherish forever.
“I’ll never forget the race day nerves and excitement, but I’m looking forward to the future and what it holds.”
Sadly, Fielding’s retirement means we’re unlikely to see any more of his viral track stand videos…
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Cycling at sunset
Just stumbled upon this rather lovely footage from last weekend’s Critical Mass…
In case you missed it…
One year until Edinburgh 2027!
I feel somewhat for Sean Flynn, having to withdraw from this year’s Giro d’Italia a day before the end, not selected for the Tour de France by Team Picnic PostNL, then obliged to stand around Edinburgh Waverley train station in his kit whilst the Scottish Transport Secretary marauds about in a jacket and jeans.
But he does get to celebrate the Tour de France next year coming to his home city, and he was in Waverley with various dignitaries to mark the ‘public activation’ of next year’s race. Similar events are taking place at Cardiff Central (9th July) and King’s Cross (23rd July) with the aim being to encourage the public to register as a volunteer or to simply to pay attention to the race.
> Scottish Tour de France Grand Départ budget trebles to over £10 million
My favourite bike at the Tour de France
As someone who doesn’t care much for tech but has a soft spot for Piet Mondrian, this is tremendous…
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Alex Dowsett's altitude advice to England
Last night was really ropier than it should have been, with England’s blushes spared by the right boot of a 32-year-old man from Chingford. Now a 37-year-old from Maldon has ventured onto the cesspit of LinkedIn to offer some thoughts on England’s preparations (or lack thereof) for their next game against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca. Alex Dowsett’s unimpressed…
“I spent big chunks of my career living at 2000m in Andorra. Altitude camps were normal life as a pro cyclist. You went up, you slept high, the body did the work in the background, and you came down sharper.
“And the bit people forget is it isn’t only about racing high. Sleeping at altitude made me better back at sea level too. More red blood cells, more oxygen where you want it. For me the biggest change was recovery from anaerobic efforts spattered within threshold blocks, like a hilly Time Trial.
“Going hard, going again, and again after that, and still holding the quality. I’m no football expert but that’s every sprint and every press in a football match surely?
“So watching a team rock up to play at the Azteca with no real altitude in the legs, I just think, why isn’t this standard? A tent in your bedroom does most of the job. The science has been sat there for years.
“Makes you wonder how many known gains get left on the table, in sport and everywhere else, just because nobody made them normal.”
Doesn’t sound like a great omen that, from the 6-time British TT champion.
Tour de France ultimate stage-by-stage guide
This might well be Ryan’s magnum opus. Of this year so far at least…
Spiderman at the Tour de France
I don’t care much for Spiderman. I saw one of the recent-ish ones on a scout camp a few years ago. But thankfully I know who Tom Holland is, and he’s neither a historian nor a vicar.
I think you can get used to cycling being such a niche in the sporting world that it’s all the more shocking when people from the mainstream of the culture start talking about it. Like when LeBron James uploaded a video to Mathieu van der Poel courtesy of Canyon…
> I PROMISE, the Canyon and LeBron James back story
For many non-cycling fans in France, when the Tour de France comes to visit, the publicity caravan is a bigger spectacle than the 90 seconds of the riders and race convoy passing through. At last year’s Grand Depart in Lille, I managed to nab several hats, two t-shirts – including that polka dot one, a local newspaper with Van der Poel’s stage win on the front page, vouchers to the Asterix theme park, and several chilled lemonades. Sadly I missed out on the Haribo.
But it now seems there’s a new addition to the caravan…
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A Spiderman truck with tonnes of surprises? Tom Holland saying, “I’ll see you out there?”
I like this old school marketing, as befits an anachronism such as the publicity caravan itself. In truth I won’t be satisfied until we see Spiderman driving the little strawberry or bottle of bleach, or I’ll settle for him throwing out estate agent key rings from the top of the bus…
Err... how do the brakes work?
Spotted at the Whole Foods
by
u/DarnellaTheGreat in
Justridingalong
Reminds me of the AI monstrosity we saw a couple of weeks ago, only this appears to be real! Might need an Allen key or four…
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Interesting the article on e-bikes having the statement that many English councils encourage pavement parking at the same time Scotland is moving in the polar opposite direction of fining drivers that do. This isnt just in the major cities either, the area I live in, Houston, Bridge of Weir which are medium sized villages have had people fined for even marginally encroaching walkways with their cars. If only English councils would follow this common sense approach. If they want to bag on about cyclists being on the roads, you have zero argument if you then allow cars to block the paths and cycle lanes you want them them to use instead.
“And what would you say to motorists who think there are already too many cyclists on the road?” "Get a grip!"?
Agreed for the most part, especially on mileages. I took a punt and added a Silca Endurance chip AND 1/3rd bottle Synergetic to my wax pot (after seeing a Silca YouTube video suggesting trying this). Still runs clean like a good hot wax, but seems to ladt longer in the wet, I've managed ~200km of mixed gravel and tarmac in a ride, including rain and river crossings, with the chain only just starting to grumble. I would have topped up with pure Synergetic to get me the final few km but as you say, then I would have to deal with the black goo cleanup!
Media such as the BBC help fuel the resentment towards cyclists. Lizzie Deignan was on BBC breakfast this morning talking about a podcast that acted as a couch to cycle for about an hour programme to encourage people to cycle to get fit and lose weight. The BBC presenters were John Kay and Sally Nugent, who always seem to argue from Daily Mail readers' viewpoint. At the end of the interview, John Kay asked "And what would you say to motorists who think there are already too many cyclists on the road?" A totally meaningless argument, which translates as "What would you say to motorists who believe based on no evidence that any cyclists on the road, slow down their journey and mean they have to allow realistic journey times to reach their destinations while avoiding speeding etc?"
I'm a cyclist and many of my friends are house clearance auction specialists. Surprisingly they aren't all arses. Maybe it's the Grimsby factor? Wasn't it Grimsby where that tosser mayor banned all cyclists within 40 miles of the town centre?
Agree that cycle lanes are pretty poor "infra". But although that "taking away and suffocating the freedom of other road users" is a weird phrase *... ... there is a "fairness" perception at work here. But simply "riding like a car" won't fix it at all! That means cyclists fall foul of the psychological "cheater detection" mechanism: we're using the same space but not playing by the same rules (not paying "road tax", we can filter past etc. ) Cyclists are visibly an "other" and people have been shown to expect "respect" (submissive behaviour) in those circumstances. But cyclists can't help being "provocative" - we're "in the way"! People may tolerate cyclists where they're a rare occurrence. But for mass cycling either the cyclists have to be in their own distinct space OR motorists have to be cued to be "guests". So not many of them, cyclists likely to be in the majority, speed reduced to that of cycling, in environments where there isn't an expectation of rapid progress such as residential areas with plants etc. * I think that's not even in the heads of most who are irked by cyclists. Reminds me of Monty Python - "Help, help, I'm being repressed!" For one it sounds like that concern is only for the road users who are a lot "more equal than others" (by design) - the motorised ones. And in reality NO "freedoms" are being lost! In fact the reverse is true: the growth of mass motoring has literally taken away freedoms. Like the freedom to get places - other than by driving (dual carriageway in the way now). And the freedom from serious "inconvenience" - but not "being delayed by a few seconds" / having to walk a few extra tens of meters than the minimum possible - inconvenience to vulnerable road users includes injury to health or even death...
If there is an issue with water ingress as the review suggests, forking out another £500 on ceramicspeed bearings will be £500 down the drain. The response of Scope doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either.
The Grimsby man's views are symptomatic of the inherent unfairness of cycle lanes taking away and suffocating the freedom of other road users. If you're on wheels, you should generally share the same road space (except for designated off-road areas). It annoys other road users if cyclists don't use the rubbish, unfit for purpose nonsense that councils have installed at great expense. Because many drivers haven't experienced these awful facilities themselves, they mistakenly identify cyclists as self-entitled wind-up.merchants, rather than people just trying to avoid poor infrastructure.
And even swung in as they passed 🤦♂️ Police action - warning letter to the company, didn't even identify the driver. This is in Kent - they seem as bad as Lancs.
42 thoughts on ““This will do further harm”: Borough blames bridge closure for congestion despite soaring costs and active travel route; BMW driver accused of “forgetting what ‘give way’ meant” after collision; Dowsett altitude disappointment + more on the live blog”
Another example of a driver’s actions that would have been a straight fail in a driving test but is barely likely to lead to a disqualification…
I’m wondering if having a driving licence is like a “Get out of jail free” card…
@mitsky Its another one of those things that makes no sense isn’t it. Someone was saying in another thread that we need a harder driving test. I don’t think we do. Everyone who has passed in the last 20 years has done a test that is more than happy to fail you for behaviour that 90% of drivers exhibit every time they get behind the wheel. The test is fine. The fact that getting your license seems to be considered some weird proof that you will continue to drive safely is the issue. The fact that when you prove that you cannot drive safely its not immediately revoked is the issue.
@mctrials23 Rendell said it in the other thread – why don’t we get re-tested? I have had a license for over 40 years purely due to the fact that I passed the test when I was 20. It makes no sense.
@kinderje Yep. Completely agree. People should have to do a retest every 10 years at most. People should also have to go online or take a test in person if they can’t do it online every year to keep them up to date on the latest highway code changes. How often do cars let you cross at a junction as a pedestrian? Most people don’t know about any changes in the highway code.
It is only a matter of time before someone uses this as a defence. “I didn’t know that the rules had changed, your honour.”.
I agree. 10 years, retake the test. If you can afford a car, fuel, insurance, etc., then paying a small fee every decade to re-test should be little burden on drivers and be at no cost to the state.
Indeed. I am now 60, although unlike many licence holders I have an assessment every 3 years. I am type one diabetic. Part of the assessment is proof that my eyesight is good enough. Why aren’t health checks part of being a licence holder?
@Andrewbanshee Yes, and at every age, not just at our distinguished and noble years (I’m 57). I’ve known several people who have been a bit vain about having to start wearing glasses and so put it off for years even when it was quite obvious that they wouldn’t pass the driving test “read a numberplate at twenty metres” requirement (which is itself inadequate, in my opinion). As I understand it, in the USA driver licences to be renewed every four to eight years, depending on the state (apart from Arizona and Massachusetts which are twelve years, for some reason), and an eye test is a compulsory element of renewal. High time that was introduced here.
Drivers regularly pull out in front of me and cause me to slam on the brakes or avoid them. Very often they have seen me and just assume I’m not going very fast or they assume I will slow down/stop (which I do). Too many drivers don’t look for cyclists, hate giving way to them or expect the cyclist to be moving slowly and just pull out.
I wonder if it’s a location thing? I live in Canterbury and, apart from the odd close pass, I find the vast majority of drivers are actually very considerate. In fact it’s a common occurrence for someone coming the other way to stop and pull in if we’re both on a narrow lane. I do the same if there’s a wide bit close to me, or someone’s been stuck behind me for a little while, and I almost invariably get a ‘thank you’ wave or flash of the hazard lights.
Incredible.
You could bé right. I live in a French Pyrenean départment with plenty of narrow, tight roads. About 80% of drivers either pull over to thé max or wait for a better space to overtake. Mind you, there’s always thé odd one looking at their phone…
@Jakrayan God knows. On the country roads here (Kent) people are usually good at not close passing me but the consistently overtake me on blind corners etc.
Oncoming cars on very narrow roads its 50:50 as to whether they will slow down at all despite passing me within 50cm.
Once I get back into civilisation its a different story. Bad driving becomes the norm.
@mctrials23 On the country roads here (Kent) people are usually good at not close passing me but the consistently overtake me on blind corners etc.
Ah! good- you seem to be the ideal person to tell us about the Kent Police policy that videos of offences against cyclists will not be looked at unless there’s a collision. Is it true, or just a rumour?
@wtjs I’ve sent in 2 close pass videos to kent police, never heard anything back.
I don’t drive often, and I assumed that drivers around us were pulling out on me when I’m cycling for exactly the reasons you cite.
But then I hired a car and, lo and behold, drivers still did this. It turns out it has everything to do with them being crap and aggressive, and not much to do with what it is they’re pulling out in front of (except possibly lorries!).
@AidanR I found the same until I started driving a White VW Transporter!
@mctrials23 All those play out in Surrey pretty much every ride.
On one occasion when we went to watch the Tour on a cobbled stage, one of the sponsors in the publicity caravan was a chain of retirement homes.
My wife is somewhat younger than me; the lady leaning out of the open-top car took one look at us and made absolutely sure she actually passed one of the fridge magnets to her rather than throwing one on the ground as usual. We still laugh about it. Well, my wife does!
A driver in a BMW not looking properly at a junction? Who’d have thunk it?
I am sending this post from hospital. I forgot what “Danger! Tiger Enclosure! No Unauthorised Entry!”, meant.
Incidentally, ignorance of the law (which includes forgetting it) is not usually an acceptable defence?
For an increasing number of Southern French drivers* turn signals are becoming optional.
*plate numbers showing 13, 31 and 84
@MaxiMinimalist Really? So this applies only to drivers from Bouches-du-Rhône, Haute-Garonne and Vaucluse, drivers from the other sixteen départements that make up the south are fine?
@Rendel Harris After nearly 40 years in thé Ariège département it seems from my expérience cycling that it’s always wise to bé thé most careful when you see a 31 or 13 plate. Though now cars keep thé same plate when they or their owner changes département
I am the Harold Lepper of the BMW story, I don’t remember the accident nor the next 5 hours I have little flashes of memory in that time like snapshots. I was unconscious for a minute or two after I had wound up lying on the wrong side of the road after bouncing off the car.
I would never ride on the wrong side of the road nor cut a corner it is not the way I ride a bike. I would use my lanes width if safe to do so. I can only guess what happened, I have a flash of memory of checking behind just before the corner to check no car behind as I would be moving to primary thought he corner, another flash of memory going I need full brakes and it won’t be enough. I think I would have adjusted my line to the middle of the road hoping they would stop just over the give way line. They actually stopped right across my lane and about 2 feet into the opposite carriage way and the back of their car was just still in the side road. If I had stayed to the far left I would still have hit them. As the Judge said to Miss Sim if he was on the wrong side of the road why did he not cycle round your car? Surely where he hit you suggests he was veering away from your emerging car.
Prosecution pointed out that I was braking so hard my back wheel was off the ground, she said she didn’t think I had braked. Prosecution asked if she would pull out in the same situation again she said yes 4 times then the 5th time said perhaps not. Prosecution said that it looks like the cyclist was passing this sign on the CCTV about 8m from the accident on the left side of the road, she said it did but it was deceptive the cyclist was nearer the middle of the road. Prosecution paused then said so you deliberately pulled out into the path of oncoming traffic.
They tried to muddy the water because they said I overtook another cyclist before the junction, which I believe is correct I have a vague recollection that it was moving very slowly and was more of a moped looking machine. It bumbles into view several seconds after the collision. Navigates round her BMW and was never heard of again!
The verdict was reported to me just now that she has been found guilty has been banned from driving for 12 months and has been given a community order of 100 hours work. I think she saw me behind the moped as she approached the junction and before the junction had decided she had time to get out of the junction if the way was clear to the left, so she pulled out thinking she had time when she had given me about 10 yards to stop.
45 years without being hit wasn’t a bad run. I hope you are back on the bike and are dealing well with the fear.
I had actually cycled my first century the week before the accident. I got back on the bike straight away then a hip wore out and was replaced so I missed a lot of cycling in 2024 but I was back to my normal level in 2025 not so sure what has happened this year I am not as enthusiastic as usual I have been on the bike just not cycled far. I will have to do more as I will do a 50 mile ride in September the annual charity ride. Not sure fear is the problem exactly more a feeling that there is less enjoyment.in a bike ride than there once was.
@JLasTSR It takes time. I got knocked off nine years ago in broad daylight on a roundabout, by a driver who was wearing very dark glasses, I’m suspicious that he was actually visually impaired. No prosecution. It took me a few years to get my confidence back.
I wish you all the best in getting the enjoyment back.
@eburtthebike Sorry to hear that. I had a very worried wife who saw me being a goldfish. I kept going round the same loop of 4 statements. My shoulder really hurts, what happened? My watch is broken, I suppose the bike is fu***d? Apparently I did that for about 2 hours. I eventually came back to near normality about 5-6 hours later. I was on the phone to my wife and I suddenly realised I had cold feet. I looked at them and they were bare as were my legs, I said Bear this is a bit embarrassing I haven’t got any trousers on, er nor a shirt what the hell is going on? She said you have been in an accident and you are at hospital.
The bike had fingernail marks in the bar tape, a scuff to the back of the front mudguard, and a broken quill pedal. now all repaired. Somehow I managed to stop the bike but not me. The Helmet was cracked right through. I had a broken tooth a bust rib and a lot of bruising. Someone came out of a house and put me in the recovery position in the road until I came round.
For me not remembering what happened is really quite frustrating. I have bought a go-pro clone to go on the bike but I haven’t actually fitted it yet. It would be sensible to just to have a bit of evidence if the same should ever happen again. After all there aren’t always Londis shops with CCTV in just the right position are there?
@JLasTSR A 12 month ban seems pretty lenient to me but better than nothing. Will she have to do a retest before she can drive again?
It seemed enough to me.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8l5gme7lyo
Judge wants to avoid banning motorcyclist from driving cars… why???
Given how rubbish Wandsworth Council is for active travel they actually did surprisingly well on the Healthy Streets Scorecard: https://www.healthystreetsscorecard.london/results/your_borough/wandsworth/ but this score seems to be mainly based on the roll out of (widely ignored) 20 mph speed limits.
I suspect this is a temporary lull and the score will shortly plummet as even other similarly apathetic car-centric boroughs will start to outperform WBC.
And the Blade Mews debacle is just ridiculous institutional anti-cyclist bias.
Well this looks ominous: real possibility of Tour stages being cancelled due to extreme heat. I’ll put the link in a reply otherwise this whole comment will be quarantined – it’s on the Guardian if anyone wants to search for themselves.
@Rendel Harris https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jul/02/tour-de-france-historic-stage-cancellations-44c-european-heatwave-cycling
@Rendel Harris I had wondered how they might be preparing to deal with the expected heat. Got to keep them as safe as possible.
My excitement is building, always a nervy first week, too many crashes in the peleton and no amount of down gearing is going to prevent that.
From my cloudy memory, the pogecar lad is very rarely caught out on the wrong side of a crosswind split.
@Brompton rider Thanks
TVP deploying fancy new anti-speeding motos:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly76dzjqzpo
I see Froome is deliberately baiting the road.cc team by announcing his retirement when he knows they’re all going to be out of the office.
“In a report, Hammersmith & Fulham Council were told that conservative estimates for re-opening the bridge to cars were £300 million. In contrast, between 2010 and 2021, London councils spent a total of £100 million on all bridges in the city. So cost is clearly the overwhelming factor,…”
Tell us that motorists don’t pay enough for the damage done to roads, without telling us.
(Yes, I have a driving licence.)
And given we know that if the motor vehicle has more mass, the far greater the damage done… should businesses pay more?
I won’t say road tax, but something that contributes to the general tax pot that funds road repair.
And needless to say: the business owners need to pay more tax too rather than hoard the profits.
@mitsky To be fair (through gritted teeth), hasn’t the main damage to Hammersmith Bridge been from IRA bombings and boat strikes, though obviously exacerbated by heavy traffic in the subsequent years?
@Rendel Harris According to LBHF website it would seem to be just age and and poor maintenance. The IRA attacks aren’t mentioned.
“Engineers employed by Hammersmith & Fulham Council discovered that the microfractures are a consequence of decades of unchecked corrosion that is riddled throughout the suspension structure.”
See https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/hammersmith-bridge#how-did-this-happen
“Instead of moving us closer to reopening, it locks in years more of congestion across south-west London. This will do further harm to residents and businesses and put even more strain on local transport networks.”
Wandsworth council demonstrating the delusion and fallacy that
transport = motor vehicles and only motor vehicles.
But there is a cure! The Dutch did it fifty years ago at their DfT equivalent HQ, by cutting the car parking by half and prioritising alternatives. The chances of Wandsworth doing anything to affect the petrolhead councillors would appear to be less than England winning the world cup.