Police are appealing for information after a club cyclist was pushed off by a motorbike passenger in Birmingham on Tuesday. Andrew Marsden, 67, said that as the men rode off, they also tried to push a friend he was riding with.
At about 7pm, Marsden and three other Cannon Hill Cycling Club members were riding through the traffic lights from Gregory Avenue onto Long Nuke Road in Weoley Castle when the unprovoked attack took place.
He told the Birmingham Mail that the motorbike rider deliberately manoeuvred into him so that his passenger could push him off.
None of the cyclists managed to get the number plate, but the person who pushed him looked back to see what he had done. Marsden said he was wearing black and had masked the lower part of his face with a white bandanna.
"I am not angry with the person who did this, just sad he thinks he has to do something like this to get his kicks,” he said.
Marsden escaped without broken bones, but suffered a gash sufficiently deep to leave bone exposed.
"I had three X-rays and after they cleaned out my wound down right down to the bone using something like a toothbrush, I then had nine stitches," he said.
"They could only anaesthetise it so much and they gave me morphine while I had three procedures done to clean out the wound, which involved cutting about 4cm of skin away in a damaged area about the size of a small tea cup.
"The nurses also gave me a sterile pack to bite on and I thought to myself, 'This is 2019, not 1819. I was almost expecting a bottle of rum to go with it.
"The injury was right on the elbow and they cleaned it out in about ten minutes. I've also got gravel rash on both legs and they were worried about my hip at first."
He also suffered “quite a lot of damage” to the Polygon bike he’d brought back from a trip to Australia.
"I just want to get back out on my bike again,” he said, before thanking all of his club mates for their support. “All of the members have been absolutely brilliant. I am so please I am a member of it."
West Midlands Police said: "Police are investigating after a cyclist was knocked off his bike in Gregory Avenue, Selly Oak shortly before 7pm on Tuesday, September 17.
“A man in his 60s was taken to hospital for treatment to injuries not believed to be life threatening or life changing. An appointment has been arranged to speak to the cyclist as enquiries continue.
“Anyone with information can contact us, quoting log number 2205 of 17/09 via Live Chat at www.west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight, call 101 anytime or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
We’ve reported on a number of cyclists being pushed off by passengers in passing vehicles over the years. In several cases, those responsible have subsequently posted footage of the incident to social media.
Earlier this month we reported that Kent Police were appealing for information after a cyclist was pushed off the road by a car passenger on Bank Holiday Monday. A series of similar incidents earlier in the year had led the local newspaper to brand it a “warped trend”.
In July, a Hartlepool cyclist suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractured collarbone after being pushed off. The local MP this week branded such attacks ‘tantamount to attempted murder’.
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17 comments
Hey, does this mean BTBS will be enlivening the helmet debates very soon.
Channel your emotions from this event and join an Extinction Rebellion protest to achieve a real revolution in our society's priorities.
or watch this and realise that climate change is bullshit
https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-282-the-ipcc-exposed/
take a look at this as well ,it’s bullshit extinct rebellion “ extinct bullshit “
http://www.habitat21.co.uk/energy151.html
look at the links and then comment otherwise you have no idea what you’re talking about .
Oh FFS - not that shite again... If you're listening to James Corbett you're waaaay beyond help...
Sorry, that's some weak sauce you've got right there.
Here's RationalWiki's page on James Corbett: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/James_Corbett
Oh Lord, sounds like another Alex Jones type? Anyone who quotes those guys is just announcing themselves to be a moron and a gullible dupe begging to be manipulated. Does this one also make money out of his idiot followers by peddling overpriced vitamin pills to pander to their insecurities about their manliness?
It's utterly depressing when this garbage infects British people. I thought we were smarter than that, and that only Americans could be that gullible. Of course, I suppose Xena could be one of those Russian trolls we hear so much about.
Really? Have you not been paying attention for the last three years!?
Given men's testosterone levels have been falling for decades maybe men really aren't what they used to be and any artifical help is needed?
As for the 'motorcyclist' this is the same level of motorcyclist as the chavs on BSOs in town centres are cyclists. The only people riding on motorbikes with bandanas are gang members in america or chavs on stolen bikes.
I always wear a thin scarf between my jacket and over my nose when riding a motorcycle. Keeps the drafts out. Probably looks bandana-ish. Pretty sure I'm not a 1%er or a chav tealeaf.
As you say, 'labelling', particularly by the media, is a problem.
Nope. If you ride with an open face helmet - y'know like all those weirdos on Harleys who think they're Marlon Brando or Peter Fonda - you tend to ride with a scarf over your mouth. I had the great fortune to be pillioned to school on my Dad's Yamaha moped - open face helmet, fighter pilot goggles and scarf knitted by me Nan. OK, so I was in a gang, but that was more about nicking sweets off 5 year olds...
Carried on that tradition (scarf-wearing, not nicking sweets) when I started cycling to school on my own, way before the invention of those snood things.
Used to wear a Buff around my neck on the motorbike - stopped my leathers rubbing my neck and gave my throat a bit of protection. Never been a gang member, definitely my own bike.
Being hit by flies/grit, at 70mph hurts!
or watch this and realise that climate change is bullshit
https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-282-the-ipcc-exposed/
take a look at this as well ,it’s bullshit extinct rebellion “ extinct bullshit “
http://www.habitat21.co.uk/energy151.html
look at the links and then comment otherwise you have no idea what you’re talking about .
You are Donald Trump an I claim my £5
I don't know... I think I want to hear from the Oxford Democratic Cyclists Republic too
Splitters!
Why do the Identikit, local paper shites leave comments open on stories where cyclists have been wronged, but close them on stories such as - Watch 'dangerous' driver overtake cars and speed through busy junction on red light in Walsall?
To all the newspaper and TV editors that have sanctioned anti-cyclist articles and programmes - this sort of crime is being encouraged and abetted by the inciteful nonsense you publish.
If only motorcylists were forced to display number plates and carry insurance, these things would never happen.
And to the motorcyclist- Big man, you must be so proud, picking on a 67 yr old fella.