Metropolitan Police are appealing for witnesses after a woman died following a collision with a lorry and cyclist on Battersea Bridge.
Firefighters from the London Fire Brigade and officers were called to the bridge, which does not have cycle lanes, just before 8am on Thursday.
The cyclist, a 27-year-old woman from Battersea, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her next of kin have been informed.
The lorry driver did not stop at the scene but was tracked down by officers in Fulham.
“The driver of the lorry has been spoken to by police. He has not been arrested and inquiries continue,” the Met said in an update on Friday.
Officers from the Met’s Serious Collison Investigation Unit are appealing for witnesses, further information or dash-cam footage.
Nearby Wandsworth Bridge is currently closed for repairs.
Transport for London (TfL) said it will be working closely with local boroughs and the Met to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Witness Richard Ollington told the Standard: “A lady had fallen off her bike, she was on the floor.
“The bike had been ruined, the front wheel was bent and… it was clear that the situation wasn’t good.”
Two men from a white van at the scene stopped and aided the woman, who had fallen on the northbound lane, before emergency services arrived, Mr Ollington said.
He said Battersea Bridge is “dangerous” and repeated calls for cycle lanes to be installed.
In May a man thought to be in his 20s died in Fitzrovia following a collision with a lorry.
Data published by TfL in May showed seven people were killed cycling in London in 2022, down from 10 in 2021.
But the total number of cyclists being killed or seriously injured is 39 per cent higher than the 2005-9 baseline used to measure TfL’s efforts to make the roads safer.
Between November and January 2023, TfL held a public consultation on proposals to make safety improvements to the Battersea Bridge area.
In June TfL announced plans to install â¯new pedestrian crossings, bus lanes, cycle signals and a section of protected cycle track, with work to begin in winter this year.
But in the consultation report, TfL said: “Unfortunately, due to the physical constraints of this listed structure, it is not possible to provide cycle lanes on Battersea Bridge.
“The priority is to ensure cyclists can safely navigate the junctions as this is where collisions are most likely to occur.”
London Cycling Campaign head of campaigns Simon Munk told the Standard: “We’re bitterly disappointed with the lack of progress on the scheme.
“We’re also bitterly disappointed with how weak the scheme is on the southern approach to the bridge.
“We need to make sure that fast moving vehicles aren’t mixing with people cycling wherever possible.
“This bridge has got enough of a collision history and particularly the northern side…that the scheme that was proposed here should have been done years ago.”
Mr Munk said if the bridge is too narrow for cycle lanes then a bus gate could be considered, or “levering out the edge of the bridge so that you can add on extra space for a cycle track and pavement”.
Commenting after the woman’s death, he said: “It’s a lurching sense of inevitability at the moment. It’s yet another life lost, needlessly.”
TfL’s safety improvements come after Jack Ryan was killed on Battersea Bridge in January 2021.
The marketing manager, 29, was thought to have been jogging when he was struck by a Range Rover near the northern end of the bridge.
The first phase of safety improvement work on the north side of theâ¯bridgeâ¯was completed in November 2021 and included a new pedestrian crossing, wider pavementsâ¯and a new lower speed limit ofâ¯20mph.
Lilli Matson, TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the person who was tragically killed after a collision with an HGV while cycling in Battersea this morning.
“Any death or serious injury is completely unacceptable and we’re working with London boroughs to do everything possible to eliminate it from London’s roads. We’re determined to make all roads safer and we will assist the police as they investigate the collision.”
