Barclays Cycle Hire bike rider seriously injured after being struck by lorry

A male cyclist aged in his 20s is in hospital with multiple injuries after being struck by a lorry in Central London while riding a Barclays Cycle Hire Bike on Friday lunchtime (19 April). It is believed to be the most serious incident involving a cyclist using one of the bikes since the scheme was launched in July 2010.

BBC News reports that the incident happened a little after at 1pm at the junction of Gray’s Inn Road and Theobald’s Road – a junction that was on the route of the ‘Tour du Danger’ in November 2011, attended by hundreds of cyclists calling for improved safety for bike riders in the city, although it was not in itself one of those identified as the ten most hazardous in London.

The lorry driver, who stopped at the scene, was arrested on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving. From pictures circulating of the scene on social media, it appears the vehicle involved was a high-sided tipper lorry.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: "We sent a motorcycle responder, a responder in a car, an ambulance crew and London Air Ambulance to the scene.

"Staff treated one patient, reported to be in his 20s, for multiple injuries, to the head, face, chest, pelvis.

"The patient was taken as a priority to Royal London Hospital in an ambulance escorted by the doctor from Air Ambulance."

A spokesman for Transport for London told the BBC: "Serious incidents involving Barclays Cycle Hire bikes are thankfully extremely rare and we will assist the Metropolitan Police and the local highway authority with their investigation into this incident."

Today's incident comes 11 days after polar scientist Dr Katharine Giles, aged 35, was killed by a left-turning tipper truck in Victoria.