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Architect Francis Golding, injured at Holborn last week, dies of injuriesBroken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)

Architect Francis Golding, injured at Holborn last week, dies of injuries

Tenth cyclist to die in London this year
by John Stevenson
Mon, Nov 11, 2013 12:58
9

The cyclist hit by a left-turning coach at Holborn last week has died of his injuries. Francis Golding, 69, was hit on Thursday evening at the junction of Southampton Row and Vernon Place.

Mr Golding was taken to St Mary's Hospital for treatment, but was pronounced dead at the hospital on the evening of Friday 8 November.

He is the tenth cyclist to die on London’s roads so far this year and the third since 2007 to be killed at this junction.

The coach and Mr Golding are believed to have both been turning left toward Euston at the time of the crash.

Sainsbury’s security officer Omar Sillah said: “I heard a bang and I rushed out to see what was happening. I saw the man on the floor bleeding. His body wasn’t moving.”

Metropolitan police said that the coach stopped at the scene, but the driver was not arrested.

Francis Golding was an architecture expert and planning consultant who was head of the Royal Fine Art Commission 1995-1999.

Most recently Mr Golding worked as a townscape consultant, advising architects and developers on how new buildings should fit in with their surroundings.

Police have appealed for witnesses. The collision is being investigated by officers from the Road Death Investigation Unit at Northolt.

Anyone who can assist is asked to contact the appeal line 020 8842 1817.

Metropolitan Police
cycling death
Road Safety
Holborn
Francis Golding
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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9 comments

Avatar
ronin | 11 years ago
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OK, so I guess it's time to start a petition to get the Mayor of London to resign. Perhaps then he'll realize what his job is. One is too much, but ten?

I really wonder just what the death toll has to be until they realize that they need to make London safe for cyclists.

Avatar
A V Lowe | 11 years ago
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Very few large vehicles attempt to turn left at this junction it is well below the 'standard' 6 metre radius for the kerb at the corner. The problem for large vehicles is however that the other core routes North are Tottenham Court Road (bedlam even without the current road works), and Grays Inn Road (another lousy left turn).

The only safe way to turn left for Euston with a large vehicle is to carry on over to Theobalds Road and do a circuit round via Proctor Street/Red Lion Square and turn right from High Holborn into Kingsway. However when congestion is at its worst that could easily add 10-15 minutes to a journey, so guess what...

Avatar
Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago
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At the moment Holborn Circus is a bit of a mess with road works. Maybe they are trying to make the junction safer. One can only speculate as to what happened here - but a left turning long-vehicle is sadly a common factor in London cycling deaths.

It is not the same as the junction where the other cyclist was killed several months back. That was just towards the Kingsway/Southampton Row end of things (where the A40 meets High Holborn). But I believe it has been involved in other deaths. When my offices were based there one of my colleagues came into work saying that she had seen the results of an accident.

The one thing I would say about the junction is that the volume of traffic is high, and the complexity of the junction is too (it used to be a roundabout, but now is effectively a six point junction) which is no doubt confusing to lots of people.

I remember watching a program about Cambridge Circus - it was the no. 1 black spot for pedestrian deaths, primarily for the same reason. It is not a simple four point junction and cars can be coming from many different directions. The situation is similar is that both 'circuses' used to be roundabouts of sorts, but have changed to junctions.

My condolences to the bereaved.

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VeloPeo replied to Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago
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Colin Peyresourde wrote:

It is not the same as the junction where the other cyclist was killed several months back. That was just towards the Kingsway/Southampton Row end of things (where the A40 meets High Holborn). But I believe it has been involved in other deaths.

I didn't say it was - but that whole area is a mess though. Confusing road layouts and signage produces unpredictable driving from everyone (incvluding cyclists) - even worse than central London norms

Avatar
Guyz2010 | 11 years ago
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Oh man that's awful news. Will it ever end. If this junction has issues regarding cyclist then surely after 3 fatalities it really ought to be sorted, anything else is neglectful.

Use flashing lights, viz and careful cycling and avoid these troubles...better to arrive a minute late than never.

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mrmo | 11 years ago
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I don't want to predjudice any trial, but.

You can see in a few months, it was a tragic accident, one of those things, nothing could have been done to prevent it....

HOW MANY MORE!!!!!!!!!

Avatar
zanf replied to mrmo | 11 years ago
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mrmo wrote:

I don't want to predjudice any trial, but.

You can see in a few months, it was a tragic accident, one of those things, nothing could have been done to prevent it....

HOW MANY MORE!!!!!!!!!

That area is especially lethal for female cyclists. Nothing will change until people shut down that junction and force TfL to deal with it. Keep shutting it down every week in the morning then in the evening on a regular basis.

Avatar
Simmo72 | 11 years ago
0 likes

Horrific. What is it with the Holburn area. Surely Road Transport needs to pull their finger out, this area is lethal.

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VeloPeo replied to Simmo72 | 11 years ago
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Simmo72 wrote:

Horrific. What is it with the Holburn area. Surely Road Transport needs to pull their finger out, this area is lethal.

Exactly. It's the 3rd death at that junction since 2007 and just down the road from this one in July.

http://road.cc/content/news/88554-holborn-death-cyclist-named-alan-neve

TfL and the Mayor make all the right noises but action to improve things is moving way too slowly

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