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Road rage (copyright nikoretro via Flickr)Silver BMW driver & passenger push three Leicester riders off bikes
Leicester police are investigating a possible link between three recent incidents in which cyclists were knocked off their bikes by the driver of a silver BMW and his passenger, reports the Leicester Mercury.
In the most recent incident, on Saturday July 6, 55-year-old lorry driver Andy Limb sustained a broken collarbone after being forced off the road into a ditch.
He said: “The car pulled up alongside and then dived into me, forcing me on to the gravel and sending me over the handlebars.
“My crash helmet saved my life, but I didn’t even feel the impact, it all went so quickly.
“I didn’t really hear him coming and I didn’t see who was in the car because they appeared from behind. Before I knew it I was in a heap and in a lot of pain.”
They could kill
Colin Haynes, 48, was the first reported victim of the driver and his passenger.
On Monday July 1 he was riding home from work when a silver BMW came alongside him. The passenger leaned out and shoved him from his bike.
He said: “I landed awkwardly and thought I’d broken my ribs. Luckily they were only bruised.”
Colin Haynes later told the BBC: “I just can’t believe somebody could do that. They could quite easily have killed somebody.”
Bike shop owner attacked
Haynes reported the attack after reading about another victim, 49-year-old Martin Webster, in the Leicester Mercury.
Webster, a former international cyclist who now runs a bike shop, said he was going downhill at 20 to 30mph on Thursday July 4 when he was attacked.
“I heard a horn behind me and I looked behind and didn’t recognise the car.
“As it passed someone on the passenger side – either the front or back seat – leaned out and pushed me.
“They hit me on my thigh, so I didn’t go straight over but I lost control and bumped up on to the grass. The verge was pretty ploughed up and I was thrown off, bashing my shoulder pretty badly and grazing my right leg.
“It hurt my neck as well, but overall I think I got off lightly. I could have hit a tree or the fence or been catapulted into the barbed wire.
“I could have been killed.”
Colin Haynes believes the three attacks may not be the only incidents involving the silver BMW.
He said: “After it happened I was speaking to someone who told me they heard the same thing happened near the Shell garage in Broughton Astley. If it’s the same people, something needs to be done to catch them and put an end to this.”
Police say they are looking into the possibility of a link between the three incidents, which all happened in the south-west of the county and involved an old silver BMW.
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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31 comments
If anyone's not feeling sufficiently depressed about these incidents, the story has made the Daily Mail. Three guesses what the gist of the majority of the comments there is...
Anyway, back to the subject.
Jeeves, fair enough well said- I haven't been a CCTV operator so can't comment.
The whole situation is a complete joke and if enough resources were used to make a real example out of these people there would be less chance of it happening again.
They do it because they know they can get away with it, but if our legal system showed the world what happens if you assault a cyclist (properly, not a wrist slap), then things would change.
Anyone reckon that's ever going to happen though?
I can't wait to get a camera rear and front facing, it would cause me a lot of stress and sleepless nights of 'what if' if this happened to me and I couldn't get the person responsible. Capital Cycles
Good idea.
Do you know where I would be able to buy a bike camera from?
Hmm. Capital Cycles, perchance?
Watch http://road.cc/content/news/87694-tour-de-france-explained-animated-video it will cheer you all up.
He doesn't have a point. Race hate crime is higher profile than attacks on cyclists, period. That has nothing to do with muslims, other than to say that they probably have more experience of one than the other, REGARDLESS of who's at fault for what.
But the attacks on Mosques are not a race hate crime they are a religiously bigoted crime. One more time, Islam is not a race it is a religion.
The terminology used makes no difference - it's still a hate crime and a sad indictment on this country. Ignorant (white) bigots target Muslims of ethnic/racial minority, or whatever terminology you wish to use. It surfaced in Shrewsbury recently, simple blind prejudice on the part of pathetically ignorant, poorly educated EDL/BNP types.
The skin colour or religious preference of the car occupants is irrelevant, they just need a good hiding.
The terminology used makes no difference - it's still a hate crime and a sad indictment on this country. Ignorant (white) bigots target Muslims of ethnic/racial minority, or whatever terminology you wish to use. It surfaced in Shrewsbury recently, simple blind prejudice on the part of pathetically ignorant, poorly educated EDL/BNP types.
The terminology does make a difference under the law, religion and race are not the same. You then commit your own bit of bigotry by saying, "pathetically ignorant, poorly educated EDL/BNP types". could you imagine saying the same about Muslims ?
It's quite pathetic, but the police will be able to do next to nothing. A couple of years back, I got slapped on the a**e by someone leaning out of the window of a passing car. Obviously, it caused much hilarity to anyone I told! But, actually, it was quite frightening.
I had the reg number, a description of the assailant and driver, yet nothing happened. The police went round to see the driver and she just refused to identify the assailant. Maybe I could (or should) have continued for the police to press the case further. But, I value my sanity...
I hope these guys have more luck. It really is frightening.
"He said: “After it happened I was speaking to someone who told me they heard the same thing happened near the Shell garage in Broughton Astley."
The Shell garage would have CCTV...
clearly the cycle shops need to start supplying lightweight Glock pistols to cyclists
Lets not be so hard on the police, they are very busy.
How did race become part of this? What a bigoted society we have become.
Islam is a religion not a race.
It wasn't until Racyrich mentioned it. If by 'society' you mean the road.cc forum then I take everything said by anyone with 25 posts or less with a pinch of salt.
If only the victims had been Muslims the police would be working on this full bore.
Of course, this being Leicester, there's an over 50% likelihood it's actually the assailants who are Indian. That'd be interesting.
You do know Islam is a minority religion in India, right?
That's probably the stupidest statement I've seen on this forum in a long time. Perhaps you should change your tag to 'racistrich'
Edit: Damn, someone beat me to it, still who says shit like that anymore??
If he is changing his name he should change it to "Religiously Bigoted Rich" as Islam is a religion not a race. He does have a point, look how the police responded to attacks on Mosques recently compared to their attitude to the many more attacks that happen daily to people who ride their bikes.
P.S. I don't expect the imaginary fairy someone believes in to be a factor in any legal process.
Quite the opposite.
I'm fed up with certain sections of the country getting preferential treatment. The police follow instructions to pursue certain categories of crime in preference to others. 'Hate crimes' are prioritised. While as cyclists we all know we are victims of 'hate', we aren't a defined group. If we were coloured or goths we would be. I think all crime is equal and would expect a serial and continuing assaulter to be investigated post haste. Unfortunately I know that under the current system that won't be the case.
Doesn't explain your original comment about the assailant being Indian though. That's the problem with bigots, unable to provide viable explanation or justification for sweeping generalised statements.
Hate crimes are determined based upon 'Protected Characteristics' which are identified in the Equality Act 2010. I have looked very hard but have not been able find 'Cyclist' as a protected characteristic, neither are 'Goths'.
Proof that internet access should only be provided to people who pass an IQ test.
"Do you watch a lot of CSI?"
Erm Jeeves, this is actually a really succesful method of catching criminals.
They could quite quickly identify possible suspects based on the info available, CCTV footage etc.
It's essentially attempted murder, at the very least 3 counts of GBH. If I walked around Sheffield pushing people over and injuring their bodies, I'd be apprehended pretty sharpish.
'Only a cyclist'
'They bring it upon themselves'
Sound familiar?
As a former CCTV operator, I know how good it can be. But there's a misconception (portrayed in popular TV) that you just push a button and instantly 'find' the vehicle you're looking for. You have to consider what sources of footage there are (if not in the immediate city centre then there's probably no single source), and have to cross reference footage until you can find an identifying reference. Just ask the FBI how many man hours were spent looking at footage for the Boston bombers. Your local Police force are unlikely to put that much effort in until this becomes a fatality (unfortunately).
Most effective use of CCTV is when a human operator notices something occurring and is able to follow the action live - for example if they spotted you walking the city centre pushing people over...
How about looking at the timing of the incidents, then checking CCTV footage in the area around those times!!!
Do you watch a lot of CSI?
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