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Notting Hill Gate with Eilidh Cairns' ghost bike on the central reservation (via Google Street View).PNGMother of cyclist killed in Notting Hill urges council to reveal identity of woman who "masqueraded" as aunt at cycleaway meeting
The mother of Eilidh Cairns, the cyclist crushed to death under a lorry in Notting Hill Gate as she rode to work in 2009, has written to the leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) asking to be put in contact to a woman who “masqueraded” as her daughter’s aunt at a public meeting earlier this month regarding a cycleway through Holland Park.
At the meeting, where RBKCannounced it would not support for the Transport for London (TfL) led scheme, a woman claiming to be a family member, and who objected to the cycleway, said: “Had Eilidh been alive today, she would not have supported the scheme.”
> Woman opposing Holland Park cycleway posed as aunt of cyclist crushed to death by HGV
Eilidh’s mother, Heather Cairns, has now written to Elizabeth Campbell, the Conservative leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, with a copy of the letter posted to Twitter by Dr Robert Davis, the chair of the Road Danger Reduction Forum.
Mrs Cairns, a former leader of Alnwick District Council, wrote: “I am the mother of Eilidh Cairns.
“I too have been the Leader of the Council all be it small and rural. Nevertheless at all public meetings in Northumberland participants are required to give their name and postcode to give their comments authenticity and eligibility. Is this not the case in RBKC?
“Had this been the case you would know the name of the woman masquerading as the aunt of Eilidh Cairns and be able to put me in touch with her despite GDPR.
“The person in question reportedly left with the Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad. So someone knows who she is. My request to you is that you ask this person to contact me to explain her behaviour and apologise for having the effrontery to claim to know what my dead daughter would think – no-one can make that claim, she is no longer here to blow out the candles on her cake and make a wish.”
“Secondly,” she continued, “should it ever be the case that Eilidh’s ghost bike, sanctioned by then Mayor of London Boris Johnson, is required to be removed, please make sure that I am contacted before my property is touched in any way.”
Mrs Cairns suggested that the council “might consider funding the play The White Bike written by Tamara Von Wetheren and inspired by Eilidh’s memorial, which constantly reminds people to look out for others,” adding, “whenever I visit the ghost bike some of the residents come and chat, are kind and considerate. I thank them for this.”
> Review: The White Bike - a play that will take you on an emotional cycling journey in London
She concluded: “Finally, please re-consider your decision. You may lose your position as Leader of the Council, as I did when I supported the controversial building of windfarms but I believed in the scheme and would not compromise. They were built.”
While RBKC said it had taken its decision to block the cycleway after receiving 450 emails expressing concern about the project, road.cc understands that TfL received around 5,000 responses to the consultation, and similar exercises on other schemes have shown overwhelming support for the proposals.
While the part of the originally planned route from Wood Lane to Shepherd’s Bush roundabout, which lies on TfL-controlled roads, is proceeding, the section from there through Holland Park to Notting Hill Gate is on RBKC roads. The council has said it wants to explore alternative routes using backstreets, but campaigners insist these are unsuitable for such a route.
Local supporters of the scheme have also written an open letter to the council asking why it decided to block the project before the consultation was closed, and why its lead member for transport actively campaigned against it.
The campaign group Better Streets for Kensington & Chelsea, made up of people who live, work or study in the borough, is asking for a meeting with the council and said: "We were hoping for safer and healthier streets. We were looking forward to crossing the roads more easily with our children and anyone being able to ride a bike. Now this idea seems to have been just a pipe dream."
https://betterstreets4kc.wordpress.com/an-open-letter-to-the-royal-borou...
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.
Latest Comments
- wtjs 17 min 24 sec ago
You didn't mention The Scottish Dodge, whereby if, by witchcraft, you manage to force your HD video upon the reluctant Scottish Police and they...
- mdavidford 54 min 31 sec ago
Not particularly sure that follows.
- mdavidford 1 hour 12 min ago
There's one that's always lurking outside our house at night.
- mdavidford 1 hour 30 min ago
When these were designed in to the new development near us the excuse was 'well if we didn't it would be impossible to get a rubbish truck in to...
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 28 min ago
I should get onto the Guinness Book of Records people then, as they have the world record slowest heart rate for a healthy person down as 26bpm,...
- Hirsute 4 hours 52 min ago
I made a complaint within an hour of the story being published. I have zero faith that they will amend anything....
- chrisonabike 5 hours 14 min ago
TBF I think that's before she saw the light and got on her bike. Not so great if her views have been informed by Mr. Briggs though.
- Saracen888 5 hours 53 min ago
That's a great price. Just bear in mind Import duty and handling charges will be applied pre delivery.
- Griff500 7 hours 15 min ago
Yep, I appreciate your problem. I wouldn't buy a bike without at least sitting on the same frame configuration on a trainer in the shop, something...
- Secret_squirrel 8 hours 29 min ago
One less thing to clutter up your jersey pockets no? Though difficult to retrieve in a hurry...
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47 comments
The claim was
”We send the EU £350 million a week
Let’s fund our NHS instead”
No mention of ‘could’ there. We have the adverb ‘instead’ applied to the verb ‘fund’. Which clause does ‘instead’ relate to if not the only other one on the bus in really big letters?
Or are you trying to suggest that ‘instead’ means not “As an alternative or substitute”, but rather “with something else entirely or not at all”?
I agree it was naive for anyone to believe it, or any of the other unicorn promises. However, you need some pretzel logic to claim post hoc that no extra funding was implied.
Grauniad is running an article now that they've (the Cairns family) found out who this mysterious woman is.
I despair at the depths that politics will stoop to these days
Surely this is identity fraud is it not? They've clearly lied and being deceptive, they've made another shall we say spurious claim which is totally unfounded (AKA a lie), and all to sway the judgement of a local authority.
The police should investigate and prosecute as it's clear this person did it for political reasons and not in any way shape or form to represent the deceased who she is not related to, did not know and deliberately lied and mislead regarding that.
Disgusting pile of excrement!
re
This was tested in Court just last week. It is apparently perfectly legal to make spurious claims for political reasons; you can even display such claims on the side of a bus! Can't disagree with your closing assessment of those who so do, though.
What claim was that? You need to learn what "could" means and understand that no claim was made to spend all or any of the money on the NHS, so Johnson did not lie in that regard. It's naive at best for anyone to misread/misunderstand it and to think that every single penny of what we contribute to the EU would be spent on the NHS.
Johnson also did not steal someone else's identity.
(edited - Brexit)
Daft and deft have a letter of difference yet I like EA games: some are quite fun.
My condolences ma'am.
Cycling is tremendously fun. I used to ride 20-30 km to work at 4am; winter /summer.. Summer was nicer.. Visibility, body warmth.. Then was without bicycle lanes, near hits from lorries, winter was awful. Yet then was 20 years ago and done because I was broke. 15 years ago I used to ride uphill 40 km to university. Still broke but the trains were on at that time of morning.. Did such to think clearer and enjoy the days..
10 years without.. Now I ride again.. Is a lot cheaper.. Saves me a lot of cash and I love it.
Daft world pretending to knot understand deft abilities which are enhanced using bicycles rather than automobiles..
We now have 640+km of bicycle tracks and lanes in our little city.. They enhance the fun of cycling and help our community reduce pollution growth . I thank you guys that allow less constriction, greater flow of traffic, less pollution growth and an ease to commute via bicycles via the building and use of bicycle paths.
I ain't anyone other than just 1 bloke. You beauty to +1 bicycle lane.
Cool story, bro
There are forums I used to frequent with draconian swear filters that meant we used aunt to replace a word usually associated with hunting foxes around Reading. Hugely appropriate in this case.
I agree - this individual sounds like the very epitome of a Berkshire Hunt
It was also oft changed to Carrot...
[/quote]
I agree - this individual sounds like the very epitome of a Berkshire Hunt
[/quote]
I thought the current eupemism was Jeremy Hunt, which is still better than being called a BoJo.
Eilidh’s mother, Heather Cairns, is an example to us all, firm but restrained and dignified, unlike the fake aunt.
Has the council examined the 450 emails yet to prove their authenticity? And why did the transport leader campaign against it? And have they come up with any rational explanation of why they declared the scheme dead before consultation closed?
I thought my council was bad, but this shower......
According to Eilidh's sister on Twitter: "We discovered she is aunt of some1 who married into the extended family. Despite being “sure” that Elodie [sic] would have been “v. upset with...such a stupid scheme” she never met Eilidh, came to her funeral or visited her ghost bike. We don’t know her or consider her a relation"
Exactly: I'm pretty sure you don't get to call yourself "the Aunt of X" if you are actually the aunt of the spouse of the second cousin of X (or something like that). Thoroughly horrible person IMHO, only trying to claim that family connection to give their ill-thought out, er, thoughts more weight.
What sort of person would do this? Thoroughly disgusting behaviour IMO.
(They'll never get found/caught, I'd wager, but it would have been hilarious if they had tried it and one of the Cairns family had actually been there at the meeting...).
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