Man hit by a bus on Oxford Street dies on same day as road death demonstration

The 82-year-old pedestrian was struck outside Debenhams on London's busy shopping street

Traffic on Oxford Street in central London (Getty Images)

An elderly man who was hit by a bus on Oxford Street just over two weeks ago has died in hospital – on the same day as a protest over traffic deaths in London.

The pedestrian, 82, was struck outside Debenhams on 23 May and died on Friday.

He is the 12th pedestrian or cyclist killed on London’s roads since Sadiq Khan was elected mayor on 7 May.

The bus driver has not been arrested and is helping police with the investigation, according to the Evening Standard.

An 11-minute silence – one minute for each victim – and a ‘die-in’ took place outside Mr Khan’s City Hall office at around 6pm on Friday as news of the latest road fatality broke.

“Shocking number of cyclists [dead] in one month - I thank my lucky stars everyday as I #CycleToWork,” wrote one Twitter user in reference to the event.

A 72-year-old woman was also hit by a bus on Oxford Street outside Bond Street station just 24 hours after the collision involving the elderly man.

She was airlifted to hospital with serious head injuries and died days later.

After her death, road safety campaigner Tom Kearney called on Mr Khan for an acceleration of plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street.

“In 2015, pedestrian deaths from TfL bus collisions increased by 50 per cent and serious injuries by 16 per cent,” he told the Evening Standard.

“For TfL to send nearly 300 buses per hour next to tens of thousands of pedestrians with an operational safety performance record like that guarantees there will be regular casualties.

“During the mayoral campaign Sadiq Khan pledged to pedestrianise Oxford Street. London will hold him to that promise.”

Mr Khan has said he plans to turn the congested thoroughfare, which is currently only open to buses and taxis, into a “tree-lined avenue from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch.”