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Cyclist sought in connection with Tower Bridge Road pedestrian collision CCTV imagePolice release CCTV image of cyclist who left London woman scarred for life
Police have released a CCTV image of a cyclist who knocked a London pedestrian over, leaving her scarred for life, and who is said to have turned and smiled as he rode away. The image has been made public after the victim urged police on Twitter to take action.
Andrea McVeigh, who lives in Bermondsey, was walking to a Sainsbury’s Local supermarket on Tower Bridge Road when she was knocked to the ground after the man, said to be aged about 30, crashed into her.
The social media manager sustained facial scarring, a broken nose, dislocated finger and head trauma as a result of the incident, which happened at around 6pm on the evening of Tuesday 14 April.
She enlisted the help of her local MP, Simon Hughes, to put pressure on the Metropolitan Police Service to receive CCTV images of the cyclist taken from a nearby apartment building.
Ms McVeigh gave a detailed description of the incident the day after it happened in a forum post on the London SE1 website:
I was walking to Sainsbury's when the cyclist, bypassing the traffic queued at the traffic lights, hit me from the left at high speed – on the pavement, in a very sudden and violent impact. I was thrown onto the pavement, face first, with the cyclist and bike landing on my back. My baby finger was sticking out at a right angle and my head was bleeding profusely, I thought my nose was broken too. There was (my) blood all over the pavement and I was probably concussed.
The police and an ambulance were called, and the cyclist knew this, but on the pretence of going to lock up his bike down the side of Sainsbury's, he cycled off through Bermondsey Square, across the road and through the graveyard (with my husband running after him shouting at him to stop). The cyclist turned around and smiled as he sped off.
She was given first aid in a nearby apartment block before being taken to St Thomas’s Hospital, where initially it was feared that she had sustained a fractured neck although thankfully that turned out not to be the case.
Source: Andrea McVeigh on Twitter
After engaging with local police on Twitter, including posting pictures of her injuries, borough commander, Chief Superintendent Zander Gibson, asked officers to review CCTV footage.
In an appeal launched this morning, he said: "On Monday this incident was brought to my attention during a Twitter chat. It must have been an awful encounter for the victim, both physically and emotionally and she has my heartfelt sympathy for what she went through. We sent an officer to the scene and they completed an investigation.
"There was a delay in following this investigation up but I am confident we are now taking appropriate steps to identify the person responsible.
"The vast majority of cyclists are decent honest hardworking people but in this case I think the person responsible for knocking the victim over needs to explain their actions to us. I'd encourage them to get in touch at the earliest opportunity."
Police Sergeant David Hunt, Cathedrals Safer Neighbourhoods Team, added: "We are keen to trace the man pictured in the image.
"The victim sustained significant facial injuries and If not for her husband and a member of the public stopping to help she would have been left on that footpath. I would encourage anyone who recognises him to contact us immediately."
Ahead of police launching their appeal, Ms McVeigh told the London Evening Standard: “I need to know that he’ll get caught and face up to what he’s done. I want all cyclists to be more careful in future and not break the law by cycling on the pavement.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over this and the forehead scar will be a daily lifetime reminder of what happened.”
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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The fact that the rider has his backpack in his hand in the CCTV picture seems odd. Unless it broke in the collision, which seems unlikely, it would suggest that he had stopped and removed it before riding off again with it in his hand.
Circumstantially this would support the idea that he did stop but decided to make a quick exit as the situation unfolded. Maybe because of an angry husband, maybe due to fear of prosecution by the police, we'll probably never know.
Cyclists shouldn't be on the pavements and we all know what the law says about leaving the scene of a collision but I wouldn't be inclined to hang about if I felt threatened with violence. I would report to the police after the event however.
I don't know what speed he was doing, but even 5mph is easily enough to knock somebody to the ground. (Momentum times his weight) I'm no expert, but if he was doing 8-10mph, she would really know about it.
What would happen to your face if you walked into a wall at 5mph? Think about what would happen at 10mph.
I have questioned 'pavement cyclists and found that they feel safer on the pavement. I have been hit three times, resulting in one of the offendesr being fined by a passing Police officer.
I now feel safer walking on the road, in case I get hit by a pavement cyclist
"most cyclists are honest and hard working", what, so this one must have been one of those imigrants blocking up our cycle lanes?
It's amazing what a trained police eye can get from a crappy CCTV image.
I note that Ms McVeigh describes her occupation as a 'social media manager'. She's certainly done a pretty good job in maximising publicity for this incident.
Until we hear the cyclist's side of the story it's impossible to know what really happened.
Indeed, if I had hit a witless pedestrian while normally cycling along the road (at a junction), I would probably stay around to see they were OK. So, an ambulance is on the way, the husband is fine and has it all under control, I consider this to be their fault and I've got somewhere to be. I doubt I'll get much joy in trying to recover damages/compensation from a pedestrian who walked out in front of me, so I guess I'll be on my way then. If the couple were trying to blame me and lying about me cycling on the pavement, I can imagine I wouldn't bother hanging around to take the blame for someone else's mistake. Staying silent is not an admission of guilt!
I'm just applying Occam's Razor, mayve the simplest solution is the correct one. It's difficult to find a way that the pedestrian's story makes sense. Probably best not to castigate either party until we hear the cyclist's version of events.
But you should hang around.
Highway code 286
If you are involved in a collision which causes damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property, you MUST stop give your own and the vehicle owner’s name and address, and the registration number of the vehicle, to anyone having reasonable grounds for requiring them
if you do not give your name and address at the time of the collision, report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within 24 hours.
Law RTA 1988 sect 170
Yep, that's what has intrigued me about this.
She's clever enough to know how to use the emotive language to whip people up:
"scarred for life" - are we sure? Doesn't look like she's even had stitches, it could still heal ok.
"suspected broken neck" - They've put a neck brace on her, no broken neck.
"Suspected broken nose" - No broken nose, why all the exaggeration?
She's also tweeted at cabbies, now I can fully understand why she would be angry and why she would want to find the guy but winding up cabbies to hunt down a cyclist seems a bit low to me and feels like it could lead to vigilante behaviour.
What the hell does 'hardworking' have to do with any of this? Meaning that the rider was an evil lazy probably unemployed person??? Weird.
How does he know that she would have been left on the pavement if the husband and a passerby had not been there? You don't know that the bloke on the bike would have ridden off and left her if there'd been no one else there, he might have stayed and helped her in that circumstance.
And how does the husband know that the bloke smiled, and what if he did, what it meant? It could have been a grimace, nerves, a mistake of the observer, mistakenly trying to placate, anything. The rider was most likely terrified of what might happen to him in that moment and ran away - obviously a bad thing to do, but doesn't necessarily mean he's evil and was grinning with sadistic pleasure at her injuries. He might now be cowering in terror in his house, having nightmares, dreading the day he gets caught.
@embattle
in London its often the cyclists in high-viz with flashing lights I see jumping red lights, cycling through pedestrian crossings whilst pedestrians are starting to cross, but then shouting abuse at any motorist or pedestrian who dare come near them!
Yesterday I followed at a distance a women on a hybrid wearing all bright yellow who jumped 5 red lights in a row, and then had a screaming match with a taxi next to Kings Cross station when she nearly got knocked over after jumping, guess what...a red light.
Perhaps donning all the "safety gear" makes you either incredibly thick or just self righteous?
I cycle tower bridge road every morning/evening on my commute. would be very surprised if there wasn't more CCTV at those junctions as not only is the route to a national treasure it's also on the edge of the congestion charge zone....
..to be fair the junctions in the area are an absolute nightmare. Peds gormlessly meandering into the road so they can convienantly avoid "pavement block" at bus stops. Construction works closing pavements without warning or proper signage. Buses, london black taxi's, addison lee's death squads, white van man and the speeding tipper trucks on their daily rumble through the city...On top of that some of the "scroatiest" cyclists I've ever had the distinct pleasure of sharing the road with.
If this was a car driver who had hit a cyclist from behind in a cycle lane causing similar injuries who then left the scene (feeling threatened or not) and failed to report to the police, I suspect that there wouldn't be so many people WHO DID NOT WITNESS THE INCIDENT posting on this board ready to defend the driver's actions.
You really are no better than the car forum guys who blame the cyclist for any incident involving car v cycle. I urge you to reject the notion that we are part of some sort of highway food chain with pedestrians being the plankton and cyclists 1 step up!
I don't think anyone has defended him cycling off. But the representation of the event is very one-sided. Her story doesn't quite add up - it's unclear where he came from and what he was doing to hit her - I can't quite picture the event, not without her stepping into the road without looking, or the cyclist flying through a red light. Though I suppose that is what you get when you don't stick around to put your opinion across.
I think you'll find, to a man and woman, that no one here thinks this is OK.
If it was a car driver who hit a cyclist from behind in a cycle lane then that would be a pretty clear version of events. Easy to visualise and to apportion blame.
In this case you have an explanation which isn't anywhere near as clear cut. A pedestrian who clearly knows what the cyclist is doing but doesn't see them do it. If they did they would or should have avoided them. Doesn't that make you question the story or want to know more? Doesn't the presence of a crossing with lights at the junction make you want to ask more questions?
Actually, had it been a car driver, there would be at least one poster, possibly more, giving their take on 'what the cyclist did wrong'. Probably while declaring 'you are the one responsible for your own safety'.
Pedestrians (to their credit) tend not to do that when this sort of thing happens.
We need to have a lot more info before we can make any judgement.
It could appear that he was a bit of a plonker for going off as it don't look good. But again an angry partner and a rattled cyclist could be part of a bigger story.
The lady certainly hit something hard and is clearly bruised and injured.
Be nice if he turned up and helped sort it all out.
We need to have a lot more info before we can make any judgement.
It could appear that he was a bit of a plonker for going off as it don't look good. But again an angry partner and a rattled cyclist could be part of a bigger story.
The lady certainly hit something hard and is clearly bruised and injured.
Be nice if he turned up and helped sort it all out.
I've looked at the location and I've got to say her story stinks... and it's her story, most of it is unproven.
She says she crossed the road (at the traffic lights, where there is an ASL), with the intention of turning left at the pavement and following the pavement to Sainsbury's. She also states that the cyclist was on the pavement avoiding the traffic, so she has seen him traveling on the pavement towards where she is just about to step onto the pavement. So has she ignored the fact that a collision was impending and stepped into his path anyway?
The cyclist hanging around for a while to see that she's OK and then deciding he doesn't have a conscience also seems wrong to me.
Looking at the pavement, bollards, railings, 3 thick posts at the corner and (potential) advertising board, a cyclist hammering through there seems unlikely, especially as he'd probably be slowing to a stop because he'd need to crossing the road at that point
Or, perhaps she was crossing the road through the ASL area without looking while chatting with her husband?
She also says she was probably concussed... but remembers all the details of the incident, from my experience, you don't remember what happened immediately before you were concussed.
If only cyclists hit and injured by cars were taken this seriously by the police.
I don't condone the cyclist's actions, but scarred for life?
She has quite a bit of bruising, apparently a broken nose though that is not all that evident in the picture, and a couple of cuts on her forehead which don't appear to have merited stitches. I doubt there will be any visible evidence a month from now.
Meanwhile, reports of cyclists being actually and irreversibly killed by motor vehicles, particularly HGVs, come thick and fast.
it will depend how agricultural they were when they stitched it back up, Im still sporting a visible 2cm forehead scar from when I tripped and fell over on some concrete as a kid more than 30+ years ago.
as a woman you can cover them up with makeup/concealer and people will swear they cant see it,though some of my friends did give me the nickname Harriet Potter after I managed to sunburn my forehead on a bike ride and the skin dried and cracked right on it and it was visible,& quite painful for weeks long after the sunburn. but even if others cant see it, you always know its there
There are still some slightly weird phrases mind. Thrown onto the pavement means, for me, thrown from the road onto the pavement. Though, arguably, it's not incorrect to use it in the sense of "knocked me over and I feel to the floor (where I was already standing)."
Also, she says that he was bypassing traffic. How does she know this? He might just be a twat pavement cyclist.
Finally, there is a crossing there, it seems at that junction. She doesn't mention using this. Not that it matters, if he was on the pavement.
Reading the twitter feed she's done some great work to get it to this stage. It's sad for pedestrians and cyclists that an injured party has to go to such lengths.
There are some oddities and questions raised, but I guess that's what happens when you only have one side of the story.
She says he was speeding and wants him to be charged with furious riding because of this but the pavement doesn't look like the sort of place I would wanting to go hammering through, far too many obstacles around that overhang:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.497577,-0.079936,3a,75y,291.2h,72.08t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s11rzc-iRteEUK3m4QI95bg!2e0
Thanks Farrell. Did you get that from somewhere else? It's the left thing I was struggling with. It makes it sound like she never left the pavement. As you say, if she was crossing from the other side that puts her left into conflict with oncoming vehicles once she gets to the other side. It would be easier to follow with that detail (i.e. she was crossing).
Yes, from her Twitter.
Another write up here (also retweeted by her): https://twitter.com/julesmattsson/status/591538684572409856
Hope the scumbag will be caught, and made to pay for his crimes.
However, (apologies for making a political point ) if only the police could treat cyclist victims of assault as seriously as they have treated this case, the world would be a better place....
@must be mad: But they haven't taken it seriously from the off. She's embarrassed them into action by launching a social media campaign of her own and catching them in a twitter chat.
Good on her for her tenacity, I hope she doesn't think we're all like that & I hope the cyclist is found and dealt with appropriately.
"I want all cyclists to be more careful in future and not break the law by cycling on the pavement."
I'm glad that isn't a sweeping indictment of ALL cyclists!
Coward. He should stay, stand up and be counted.
Mind, I'm struggling to visualise how this happened from the description.
They were crossing the road, he has come down the left hand side of the traffic.
According to the victims recollection he was on the pavement and hit her as she just got on to the pavement. I don't know the road layout so I don't know if it's in anyway possible he was in a bike lane to the left of the traffic, or he could have looked like he was on the pavement but wasn't, but the victim has said he was on the pavement so we have to take that at face value.
There is no mention of traffic lights so I presume he hasn't jumped a red at a crossing, because if he had, you can guarantee that would have been heavily mentioned.
The cyclist has also hit the deck and come off his bike. When he got himself up he has told the victim and/or her husband he was going to lock his bike up.
Apparently the cyclist had been told the police and an ambulance had been called and the victims husband followed the cyclist which then turned in to the cyclist being chased and shouted at by the victims husband.
It could be that the cyclist felt intimidated or threatened (I know I wouldn't be Mr Nicey Nice if my wife had been clattered to the ground) and has got himself off. The description of him smiling as he rode off is super dodgy though.
Hmmm. We only have one side of the story here. True, running away does not speak of innocence.
If he's in the wrong then he's a douche for sure.
I hope they catch this fella, but I also hope the police will actively trawl through CCTV of the surrounding areas in order to get any shot they can and that they will also launch an appeal and that the MP, London Evening Standard and that SE1 forum will all fall over themselves to get involved the next time a cyclist is involved in a hit-and-run with a car.
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