Death of cyclist leads to calls for safer roads

Woman in her 30s died at Victoria station in London today

The cyclist had been riding a public-hire “Boris bike” (Getty Images)

Cyclists have demanded urgent steps to provide them with better protection on Britain’s roads, following the death of a female cyclist who was crushed by a tipper truck in central London.

The woman, who was in her thirties, was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident, which occurred shortly before 8am at Victoria station, the Metropolitan Police said. She had been riding a public-hire “Boris bike”.

Nationally, there were 13 cyclist deaths in the first two weeks of 2015 – well above the average for the whole of January. Yesterday’s fatality was the fourth cyclist death in London in 2015 – all have involved heavy-goods vehicles.

Charlie Lloyd, the campaigns officer at the London Cycling Campaign, said he was “shocked and horrified” by the news – and called for better protection of cyclists.

“The four deaths have all involved large lorries, three of them tipper lorries,” he said. “We’ve said before these are unfit for city roads. They are off-road vehicles.”