'There’s no way he could have survived that': desperate 15-minute battle to save cyclist trapped under bus

 
Scene of a fatal accident at East Croydon Station today where a cyclist was trapped under a London Transport Bus....... ANDREW DUNSMORE/ PICTURE PARTNERSHIP 2013...TEL: +44 (0)20 8656 4024..pictures@picturepartnership.co.uk..www.picturepartnership.co.uk
David Churchill13 November 2013

Witnesses today told of the desperate battle to free a cyclist who died after being trapped for 15 minutes beneath a 10-tonne bus. The 43-year-old man is the 11th cyclist to have been killed on London’s roads this year, and the third in just a week.

Witnesses and police frantically tried to free the victim as he lay beneath the front passenger doors following the crash outside East Croydon station.

But it wasn’t until fire fighters arrived with a jack to elevate the number 410 that the victim was prized out from underneath.

He was rushed to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, but pronounced dead just over an hour later at 1.22pm yesterday.

Witnesses today spoke of their horror. Ken Brockhouse, whose office overlooks the scene, said: “I was walking along and then I heard a crash and another woman who saw it started screaming. It was terrible.

“I could see his leg was sticking out from underneath where you board the bus and his head must have been more or less underneath where passengers stand to pay.

“He must have been hit with some considerable force because his shoes were left way behind towards the back of the bus about 15 yards from where he was laying.

“The bus driver was very panicked and everyone was just in shock.

“Police were asking him to move but he wasn’t speaking and he was bleeding from either his head or neck. The emergency services were there very quickly, but it was probably about 15 minutes before he was out.”

Paramedics were seen pumping his chest for about 20 minutes following the crash just before noon at the junction between Cherry Orchard Road and Addiscombe Road. The driver, who was treated for shock, stopped and was not arrested. A cycle lane exists on the pavement but the markings do not extend across the junction.

Another witness, who gave his name as described how people tried to help. He said: “There was a lot of shouting and screaming and all the people got off the bus and were looking underneath and about four or five people were trying to help, but he was trapped below and not speaking. There’s no way he could have survived that.

“Police came, then the ambulances and then the fire engines and after about 15 minutes they managed to slip him out from underneath, but he wasn’t moving and he was face down at first.”

The victim is now the eleventh cyclist to die in the capital this year after architectural expert Francis Golding, 69, died on Friday following a collision with a coach in Holborn and 62-year-old Brian Holt was killed by a tipper lorry on Mile End Road, east London.

It also comes after the Standard yesterday revealed how fashion photographer Claire Pepper, 27, was rescued by a group of bystanders who lifted a VW Golf off her in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, on Monday night.

A London Ambulance spokesman said: “Our staff treated three patients. The cyclist, a man, was in cardiac arrest. Extensive efforts were made to resuscitate him at the scene before he was taken to St George’s Hospital.

“Our staff treated two further female patients, one of who was taken unwell to Croydon University Hospital. The other female patient was treated for shock.”

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