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Police launch appeal as cyclist pushed into Regent's Canal in East London

Woman was riding past group of youths on towpath when assault happened on Thursday evening

Police in East London have launched an appeal for information and witnesses after a woman was pushed into the Regent’s Canal as she rode her bike along the towpath.

The Metropolitan Police say the incident happened on Thursday evening at around 7.30pm, on a section of the canal at Limehouse between Commercial Road and Salmon Lane.

Officers say the 33-year-old victim was heading north on the towpath when she spotted a group of youths walking towards her.

After slowing down, she heard one “shout out an order to push her in,” according to the police, with a female among the group pushing her, resulting in the cyclist and her bike ending up in the water.

The group – numbering five or six people and including males and females, and described as between 16 and 18 years of age and Asian – then ran off under the Commercial Road foot tunnel towards Limehouse DLR station.

A passing jogger rescued the woman, who was grazed and said to be suffering from shock, and got her bike out of the canal before calling police.

Officers from Tower Hamlets as well as the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Policing Unit later arrived at the scene.

The cyclist’s assailant is said to have long hair and was wearing dark sunglasses.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tower Hamlets CID at Limehouse police station on 020 7275 4546 or the charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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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4 comments

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MRCONSIDERATE | 9 years ago
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NOT FOR WALKERS DURING THE RUSH HOUR

Especially the stretch each side of Victoria Park. If you think cyclists will give way to you they will laugh in your face if you suggest it! A very dangerous stretch for walking and I think a decision needs to be made whether to ban walkers or cyclists during the two busy times of the day - a serious accident is waiting to happen - the two don't mix.

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Sub5orange | 9 years ago
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And that is why after months of reading depressing stories like this, I finally invested in bike cameras' front and rear. I hope though that It will never document a disgraceful event like this and rather nice memories as when I was racing a fox that I came across last weekend. Would be surprised if they ever catch that scum.

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paulrbarnard replied to Sub5orange | 9 years ago
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Sub5orange wrote:

And that is why after months of reading depressing stories like this, I finally invested in bike cameras' front and rear. I hope though that It will never document a disgraceful event like this and rather nice memories as when I was racing a fox that I came across last weekend. Would be surprised if they ever catch that scum.

Why call the fox scum? Was it much faster than you  3

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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Absolute fuckers.

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