Cyclist killed in Mitcham Road crash named as Neil Turner
THE cyclist killed in a collision with a car on Mitcham Road in Croydon on Tuesday has been named as Neil Turner.
The 31-year-old, a Northern Line tube train driver from Sevenoaks in Kent, was fatally injured in a collision with a Peugeot 307 at about 5.10am.
Police and paramedics were called and London Air Ambulance attended, but Mr Turner was pronounced dead at 5.51am.
A post-mortem gave his cause of death as a serious head injury, and an inquest was opened and adjourned at Croydon Coroner's Court yesterday.
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Nigel Holness, Operations Director for London Underground, said: "Neil was a professional and hard working train operator who had worked with London Underground for many years.
"His death is a tragic loss which will deeply affect his colleagues and our thoughts are with his loved ones."
Police are appealing for a 'significant witness', who stopped at the scene and spoke to another witness but left before the ambulance arrived and did not speak to police.
The driver stopped at the scene and has not been arrested.
Anyone with any information about what happened can contact the Metropolitan Police Service's Road Death Investigation Unit on 020 8941 9011.
Comments
by Dracia
Sunday, July 15 2012, 11:29AM
“I wish cycling was a safe option. Many cyclists make it to and from their destination unscathed, but just one wrong move, intentional or not, from a driver can just end it all. They're so unprotected, even with a helmet. My thoughts are with Neil's family at this time.”
by mummykas
Saturday, July 14 2012, 4:42PM
“if u know any thing plz come forward he was the best partner my sister could have he was a amazing stepdad and a top dad to my 5 months old nephew archie i am asking anyone who knows anything to plz plz plz come forward we need to lay him and ourself to rest!!! many thanks karen (neil's sister in law)”
by CuppaTeaPlz
Saturday, July 14 2012, 12:04AM
“Very sad.
Thinking of the family.”
by Got_Any_Quo
Friday, July 13 2012, 10:42PM
“I regularly cycle along Mitcham Road and can say that it falls within the top five most dangerous roads for cyclists in Croydon.
Croydon Council do not give a damn about cyclists' safety. I have been emailing them for nearly a year, I started last September, over cycle safety at a specific junction. Nothing has happened and I have been given feint promises that an engineer will visit the junction the next day and report back. Has he? No and the junction still remains untouched.”
by jmizereck
Friday, July 13 2012, 2:11PM
“My deepest condolences to the family and friends of Neil Turner.
Accidents happen, but some accidents can be prevented and each one offers us an opportunity to learn. Let's figure out what happened here, learn from it and in Neil's memory make any changes we can to make our roads safer for all travelers.
And I plea to all motorists that when passing a cyclist from the rear, please give that cyclist at least 3 feet or 1 metre clearance.
Thank you.
Joe Mizereck
Founder, The "3 Feet Please" Campaign”
by Austen_CR_LCC
Friday, July 13 2012, 1:34PM
“We don't yet know the exact circumstances of Mr Turner's tragic death, and our thoughts must be with his family at this sad time.
What we do know is that compared to other London boroughs, Croydon has chronically under-invested in cycling (we've lost out to the tune of £Ms), has seen a 90% drop in issuing speeding tickets in recent years, has an out-of-date Council Cycling Strategy and no targets to improve it and overall has done very little to make our town a safer, easier and more inviting place to cycle.
Earlier this year, over 40,000 people signed a petition calling for the Mayor of London to copy what the Dutch do so well - make riding a bike in London as easy as, well, riding a bike.
Cycling is in fact quite safe - but in Croydon it is definitely harder, scarier, more difficult and dangerous than it need be – and unnecessarily so.
We need to see a lot more effort and support from politicians, planners and developers to give Croydon people the freedom of choice to use a form of transport that is cheap, reliable, healthy, fast and pollution-free.”