Just days before Hilda Griffiths suffered fatal injuries in a collision with a speeding cyclist in Regent’s Park, the 81-year-old was uncharacteristically forthright about the perils she faced on her early morning dog walk.
“Those bloody cyclists are getting worse, you know,” she told her son, explaining how the famous London park owned by the Crown Estate had become a race track for middle-aged and invariably middle-class men dressed in Lycra recording, sharing and comparing their best lap times.
For 50 years, the retired nursery nurse had taken her dogs for walks there, ensuring that despite her advancing years, she remained fit and healthy.
Her son, Gerard, 52, now feels her words were almost prophetic.
“She was right, with 35 or more cycling clubs with hundreds of members in the park, it was only a matter of time before tragic outcomes occurred,” he told her inquest on Thursday.
Speaking from his home in Marylebone, central London, Mr Griffiths said he would now join the growing number of people – often relatives of pedestrians killed following collisions with cyclists – calling for laws to be updated.
The inquest heard speed limits do not apply to pedal cycles, because they are not mechanically propelled or have speedometers.
‘Wanton and furious’
Mr Griffiths also believes cyclists who kill while riding recklessly or dangerously but only face a maximum of two years imprisonment under a Victorian
“wanton or furious” riding charge, should face the same life sentence as motorists convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
“I firmly believe my mother was killed by the culture of cycling that has grown up around Regent’s Park over the last few years,” the caretaker said.
While the relatively flat and round park with “inner” and “outer” circles is popular with commuter cyclists on weekdays, Mr Griffiths said it becomes a “velodrome for those who take cycling seriously and have high-performance carbon fibre bikes, riding in groups sometimes as large as 25, and in full club kit.”
Explaining how the loss of momentum is any club cyclist’s worst nightmare, he said: “Many neither have the will nor obligation to slow or stop if someone, be they young or old, is crossing ahead of them.
“The laws are inadequate and need to change. If any other type of vehicles were travelling over the speed limit in that same formation – essentially tailgating – they would be committing an offence.”
On a pleasant Saturday morning in June 2022, Mrs Griffiths, who had early signs of dementia, left her Marylebone home with her dog Oscar, for their 6am stroll.
An hour and 15 minutes later, a 999 call was received reporting a pensioner having been “struck” by a cyclist who was later revealed was travelling up to 29 mph in a 20 mph zone.
‘There was a lot of blood’
Brian Fitzgerald, a young City banker and member of the Muswell Hill Peloton cycling club, was the third of four cyclists in a “fast group” travelling 1m apart and recording their laps. He said Mrs Griffiths did not look towards the oncoming cyclists as she stepped out on the Outer Circle road and he collided with her.
He told the court he was “devastated” and extended his “sympathies” to her family, adding how it was a “tragic accident which could have happened to any other cyclist in that park that day.”
He added: “We had little or no reaction time. She fell heavily. There was a lot of blood pouring from her head and she appeared to be unconscious.
Asked if the “responsible thing to do” would be to “slow down” near a pedestrian island, he said the group was cycling in an “orderly fashion” at a “normal speed” and “no one saw fit to reduce speed at that time”.
Mr Fitzgerald said he was aware the Highway Code warns elderly and young pedestrians - the most vulnerable in the hierarchy of road users - can step into the road without notice.
His Muswell Hill Peloton cycling makes much on its website about how “safety on the road is our number one priority” and members must “adhere to the rules of the road”.
They failed to answer whether Mr Fitzgerald was still a member or whether its cyclists routinely exceed speed limits.
In a statement, the group said “the safety of pedestrians, our cyclists and fellow road users is our top priority at all times”.
“This was a tragic accident, as the coroner recorded, and we are devastated by the death of Mrs Griffiths,” they added.
Mr Griffiths said: “Mum was taken too soon and these people seem to bear no blame or responsibility, which is fundamentally wrong.
“Regardless of a person’s good character and standing in life, when someone does wrong they need to be held accountable.”
Speaking after the inquest, a DfT spokesman said: “Everyone should be able to travel how they choose and we work tirelessly to improve road safety for all users.
“Local authorities are ultimately responsible for delivering infrastructure for safe cycling, but we are supporting them with over £3billion of funding for active travel by 2025 - more than any previous government has invested over one Parliament.”
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What matters is the cunt that killed her isn't doing time.
