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Cyclist says his shoulder was broken when bus driver veered into him on purpose

Passengers pleaded with driver to stop after incident in east London last Wednesday

A cyclist ​says his shoulder was broken when a London bus driver deliberately knocked him off his bike in a hit-and-run crash in east London.

Transport for London (TfL) says it is investigating the incident, which according to the Ilford Recorder happened in South Woodford last Wednesday 16 September.

Ikbal Hussain told the newspaper that he had been riding towards the Charlie Brown’s roundabout with his friend Moz Ali when a bus driver beeped their horn at the pair, who are both experienced riders and members of a cycling club.

Mr Hussain said that “words were exchanged” at the traffic lights, with the bus driver telling them to get on the footway.

The cyclist said that he and his friend continued to ride on the road, as they are allowed to do by law, and that shortly afterwards “the bus sped past and seemed to deliberately veer towards me and I then clipped the bus and went flying.”

The driver failed to stop at the scene and, with the cyclists saying that a woman who got off the bus at the next stop told them that other passengers had urged the driver to stop after he hit Mr Hossain but he refused to do so.

Mr Ali said: “The lady who got off the bus told me that the driver had missed her bus stop because he was trying to chase us.”

A friend took Mr Hossain to King George Hospital, Goodmayes, that day but he left after waiting for three hours to be seen.

The following day, he went to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, where he learnt his shoulder had been fractured as a result of the crash.

Speaking of the incident, he said: “I felt traumatised and it felt like someone was deliberately trying to kill me.”

Claire Mann, director of bus operations at TfL, said: “We are concerned to hear of this incident and are working with the bus operator, Stagecoach, to urgently investigate 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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19 comments

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didsthewinegeek | 4 years ago
4 likes

I find it hard to understand why he hasn't reported it to the police and has only made a complaint to the bus company. This presently only makes it a civil matter. Where if the offense did indeed take place, the driver should lose his licence and job.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to didsthewinegeek | 4 years ago
4 likes

Hmmm, we had an article a few years ago where a cyclist was rammed head on, ended up in hopsital and the Police required him to try to get CCTV footage himself.

At a guess, there is a chance he contacted the Bus company (well TFL) for these details as he had nothing on camera himself to prove who it was. No reg, no footage, nothing but the bus number and time and location of the accident. Then went to the papers to ensure there was publicity so less likely to be swept under the carpet. 
 

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didsthewinegeek replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 4 years ago
1 like

He had witnesses though, the member of the public who was on the bus, his own friend. With these alone a charge of leaving the scene of an accident would have been levelled at him. He could have stayed at the scene of the accident and had an ambulance called and therefore recorded the incident. In this case he would have got better medical treatment than trooping up to A&E and waiting. With the incident recorded, Police would have been involved. Doing that would have helped securing the main piece of evidence, the bus drivers CCTV. As that would have happened (hopefully) the same day, so it could never have "disappeared", if even it has. Buses always have CCTV pointing forward so as to record cars in the bus lane. Such images would have shown the cyclists, and the buses direction viz a viz them. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to didsthewinegeek | 4 years ago
0 likes

As mentioned, the Met Police had the incident reported for the head-on the same day it had happened and the Ambulance was called. Still needed him to ask around for the CCTV and this incident was no where near as serious in consequences as that one.

From the pictures supplied, he was walking wounded and adreneline was probably stopping him feeling some of the pain. I doubt an ambulance was initially called as his bike was still rideable. It appears they might have gone back to the car and then driven to hospital. 

Now I would argue that the difference between an Ambulance visit and walking into A and E is to jump the triage queue. Once you are triaged, the long wait is the treatment. Triage would have been cuts and bruises and pain to the arm but nothing else obvious. So towards the back of the queue unfortunately no matter whether arrived by ambulance or car. 

I think the actual sequnce of event will actually will out anyway. 

 

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Billy1mate replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 4 years ago
2 likes

Bus number, location and time are plenty to establish who was driving, the bus would have CCTV as well, there is enough there to prove there was an incident.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Billy1mate | 4 years ago
0 likes

Which is what TFL is investigating. Hopefully they can then report it to the Police once details are released. 

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EK Spinner | 4 years ago
5 likes

on a wider level, all these witnesses (passangers) on the bus to an alleged hit and run, surely they each called the police to report the incident. !!

Or did they simply get off at thier stop further up the road and go about thier day.

"Transport for London (TfL) says it is investigating the incident", Surely this should be invetigaed by the Met Police, this is an allegation of a serious crime, why report it to the employers ?

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Awavey replied to EK Spinner | 4 years ago
3 likes

Its London, people dont choose to get involved in things, unless they are forced to,so yep they simply got off and ignored it happened.

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eburtthebike replied to Awavey | 4 years ago
1 like

Awavey wrote:

Its London, people dont choose to get involved in things, unless they are forced to,so yep they simply got off and ignored it happened.

Or they were all immersed in the game on their phone and saw nothing.

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Projectcyclingf... | 4 years ago
9 likes

This is not just with intent to cause serious harm (potentially even attempted murder), the crime is also on a par with hate crimes, on top of using the bus as a deadly weapon.
The problem we have the punishments (if any, as cops fail to take action) are much too weak and hardly ever fit the seriousness of the crime to be of any deterant.
Thus, giving dangerous or maniac drivers and careless drivers green light to continue their rampage of death & destruction and, occasionally, attacking vulnerable groups - this as an example.

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cidermart | 4 years ago
10 likes

No doubt they'll have "an issue" with the CCTV on the bus going by past experience. Clearly premeditated but not going to hold my breath.

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Eynsham replied to cidermart | 4 years ago
6 likes

I hope the CCTV is working.   Like you I fear it isn't.

I had a similar issue with a bus in Streatham some years ago, where I was pushed into the railings by the side of the road by an angry driver.    One of the more scary bits of my cycling life.

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PRSboy | 4 years ago
17 likes

Presumably all on the bus's CCTV. 

At the minimum, in my view 'using a vehicle as a weapon' should be a specific offence, above the usual dangerous driving etc.  Utterly indefensible, particularly by a 'professional' driver.

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Sriracha replied to PRSboy | 4 years ago
16 likes

The fact that it was a deliberate calculated act should indeed set this apart. The element of intent should lead to prison.

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OnYerBike replied to Sriracha | 4 years ago
8 likes

I agree.

"Dangerous driving" should be used when there is no intent to injure (or even intimidate) anyone, but the driving is just reckless as to that likelihood.

The moment someone deliberately uses their vehicle to injure (or intimidate) anyone, then that should be treated no different to waving a gun in their face or shooting them. 

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brooksby replied to PRSboy | 4 years ago
3 likes
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OnYerBike replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
2 likes

Better than some convictions, but there still doesn't seem to be any recognition of the potential lethality of the weapon used.

I also note that the sentence was 17 months - when the maximum available for causing GBH with intent is life imprisonment. There's also no mention of what, if any, driving ban was imposed.

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morgoth985 replied to OnYerBike | 4 years ago
0 likes

It was also a long time ago.  I rather suspect that every day sees someone somewhere in the land using their vehicle as a weapon.

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OnYerBike replied to morgoth985 | 4 years ago
0 likes

On average, there's over 100 knife crimes per day and 18 gun crimes per day (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50080236) - being all too common doesn't mean that "car crime" shouldn't be treated in the same way.

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