by The Telegraph can reveal for the first time the full threat to pedestrians posed by dangerous and illegal cycling in the country’s most famous parks.
The Royal Parks, which run eight London parks, have released a crash data dossier showing how elderly, partially sighted and children have been knocked down and injured by cyclists.
The file, released under freedom of information laws, logs “speeding” and “aggressive” cyclists engaging in hit-and-runs, ignoring zebra crossings, riding illegal bikes and hitting pedestrians as hard as possible they are “catapulted” in the air.
Richmond Park and Regent’s Park, which are used by cycling clubs to record lap speeds, were reported to have the highest number of incidents.
The document includes how Brian Fitzgerald, director of Credit Suisse, tackled 81-year-old Hilda Griffiths while she was walking her dog in Regent’s Park in 2022, resulting in “injuries which change her life” became a cause.
Cyclist Muswell Hill Peloton, riding at 29mph in a 20mph zone, could not be prosecuted as speed limits do not apply to bicycles. Mrs Griffiths died two months later from her injuries.
The dossier shows another pedestrian suffered two broken ribs after being hit by a cyclist “doing laps” after failing to “look properly” while crossing a nearby road a few months earlier.
Last year, a cyclist reported that it was “unsafe” because peloton cyclists were “riding their wheel”.
The file is not exhaustive, however, and does not include Paola Dos Santos, 52, who suffered serious facial injuries after being hit by a cyclist on the wrong side of the road.
‘The road is not the law’
In Richmond Park in February, a cyclist on a fixed-wheel bicycle hit a pedestrian “at speed” on a “busy” footpath with a 10mph speed limit. The bike, which did not have a front brake, is banned in parks and “is not road legal”, the file says.
In August, a pedestrian was taken to hospital with “multiple serious injuries to the arm, head and hip” by a “speeding cyclist” who then “fled the scene”.
The file contains a letter from a runner who said he would no longer visit the field because it was “getting so dangerous”.
He added: “I’ve almost been hit by a speeding bike four times. It is good that pedestrians have priority but it is clear that many cyclists (obviously) do not obey this rule.”
In January, another cyclist attacked a cyclist who was “throwing punches and kicking him to the ground”.
Over the past four years, Richmond Park has had numerous reports of cyclists going “at least 30mph”, “full blown” or “out of control”.
In 2020, a bicyclist whose head was “down because of the wind” “knocked the ground” on a sighted pedestrian. A “very fast” cyclist “on the wrong side of the road crashed head-on into another cyclist”.
In Hyde Park in September, a man was “thrown to the ground” with facial, hand and knee injuries after being “hit” by a cyclist near the Serpentine. A year earlier, a pedestrian was taken to hospital suffering from dizziness after being “hit” by Aoil’s bike near Speakers’ Corner.
In Kensington Gardens in July this year, a child was found “bleeding profusely” after being “badly hit by a teenager riding a Lime electric bike” near the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground Great Britain.
Since the summer of 2020, there have been reports of “near misses” near Kensington Palace, where bicycles are banned.
A Royal Park volunteer was “knocked” and left “shaken” because the cyclist was “shouting and being generally aggressive”.
In St James’ Park a cyclist hit a pedestrian who “failed to stop at a red signal” – the police were called. Then, close to the Mall, a cyclist among a group of 30 “collided with pedestrians” who “suffered a head injury”.
In Bushy Park, a cyclist repeatedly rode his bike into a herd of deer, “startling them” and scaring other visitors.
Gerard Griffiths, son of Hilda Griffiths, said the dossier showed the “scary attitude of some cyclists”, adding that he fears many more incidents go unreported.
He welcomed the Royal Parks’ request for ministers to try to find a legal way to enforce the parks’ 20mph speed limits on cyclists.
A source at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which has Government responsibility for the parks, said: “We have received a proposal from the Royal Parks to improve safety for park users and we are considering it.”
A Royal Parks spokesman said that while cycling has a “deep history” in the city’s parkland, “the speeds that can now be achieved when cycling in spaces like this are taking on new challenges that we are committed to face them”.
She added that the charity had reviewed its policies following “a number of cycling incidents involving a minority of people cycling at excessive speeds” and had “implemented physical changes to the parks, including larger or wider footpaths, additional crossing points to improve pedestrianisation. safety and additional signs”.
She continued: “Parks are shared spaces where pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife come together, and we have a responsibility to all park users to ensure we act in a way that protects and promotes their safety. We continue to work closely with cycling groups, community groups and the Met Police to do everything we can to ensure everyone can enjoy the parks safely, now and in the future.”
