More on the story of a local bike crash!

Some of you may remember that in April last year I was involved in a serious bike crash while crossing Seven Sisters Road. This was when I was knocked down by another cyclist who was riding at speed across a red light. I was hospitalised with a smashed collar bone that had to be reconstructed and this whole experience disrupted my life for months. Although my assailant admitted that he was at fault, I felt I had been seriously let down by the police who, although they were at the scene, failed to take any witness statements or any action against the cyclist concerned.

 I was so angry about this I raised a formal complaint against the police, which was essentially that they had failed to take a bike crash (not involving a pedestrian or a motor vehicle) sufficiently seriously.  I also wrote up the story and this created some interest on the ‘Haringey on Line’ forum and elsewhere. I referred to my assailant as “Vlad the Impaler” so as not to give the real culprit any grounds for saying he was being victimised. The story as at June 2013 is still viewable on the HoL website – see http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/story-of-a-local-bike-c...

 The formal response from the police to my complaint was evasive and unsatisfactory. With some help from on our local MP Lynne Featherstone I pursued this with the Haringey Borough Commander (the very impressive Victor Olisa), and I met with him in December – he understood my concerns and promised to raise the matter with senior collages. However, by this time Vlad the Impaler had left the country and there was no prospect of any action against him. Supportive as he was, I was not convinced that the Borough Commander could bring about any change in police attitudes.

 In April this year I discovered that Vlad had returned to live in north London and I again opened the case for some police action. It was evident from Vlad’s facebook pages that he was still bragging about cycling at high speed in London on a bike without brakes and there was every prospect of further victims to his recklessness. Another police officer, Natalie Shaw, who had been assistant to the Commander was very helpful in eventually getting the police to confront him – she emailed me on 4 September with the following message:

 I can confirm that on the 4 th August officers from the Borough Tasking Team located Mr (‘Vlad’) at a new address.  He was spoken to by police at length regarding the accident that involved you and the subsequent impact this has had.  The bicycle was examined by police and he was instructed to fit brakes to it.  Officers stated that he was genuinely very apologetic.  He was also given words of advice relating to bicycle road safety and his use of social media.

 My reply included the following:

 I am pleased that Vlad has been contacted and reprimanded. I note that you say he was apologetic, but I am not over-impressed by that. He was apologetic to me when I confronted him last year, but it was after that meeting that he was bragging on Facebook about high speed runs across London and taking part in the London Alley Cats Race.

 Also pleased to see Vlad "was instructed" to fit brakes. I wonder if he will - hopefully an officer will check up on this. I am tempted to! Also, I hope the "words of advice about social media" weren't simply guidance to avoid posting incriminating stuff.

 I would also like to think that there will be some action by the police to stop any further Alley Cats Race. With or without brakes these events are seriously dangerous. (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWum-yZBJws )

In my original write-up of the story I concluded with the following:

My messages to fellow cyclists (and pedestrians too) are:

1. Beware riders of “little-fixies” (fixed wheel bikes) with no or minimal brakes - they could do you serious damage and think it’s all part of their culture
2. have no confidence in the police in cases like this – they seem to regard cyclists as willing victims
3. if you are involved in a crash, injured as you might be, try to get details of witnesses and be prepared to take your own legal action
4. don’t rely on lawyers who offer to act on a “no-fee-no-win” basis (such as the one on the LCC lists) – they quickly lose interest when the culprit has no assets and there is no money in it for them.

I am sorry to say I think those conclusions are still valid.

I should add that I am motivated to write this story because I am a passionate advocate for cycling and I strongly object to the antics of the lunatic fringe who give us all a bad name. Also to explain that in trying to get the police to take at least some action against my assailant I said that I intended to lock up his bike (I know where he works) and call the police to talk with him before the bike could be released. I think this helped push them into meeting him. There was also the threat that with a cordless cutter I could disable his bike for good – I am pleased it didn’t come to that!

Colin