Dangerous biking authorized loophole breakthrough ‘shut’, says widower

A widower who has campaigned for nearly a decade for dangerous cyclists to be given harsher prison sentences after his wife was killed by a reckless teen rider believes he is near to making a breakthrough in closing a ludicrous loophole in the law.

Matt Briggs, 53, has tirelessly campaigned since his wife Kim, 44, was killed in east London in 2016 as she crossed the road on her lunch break. 

She was hit by Charlie Alliston as he rode his illegal Olympic-style bike at 18mph.  Alliston, a self-styled ‘anti-social’ cyclist whose bike was not fitted with a front brake, was locked up in 2017 for 18 months.

At first, the grief-stricken Mr Briggs says he was told by police they would only be able to prosecute Alliston for his illegal bike, which would result in a £100 fine.

But after scrambling around they managed to find a Victorian law based on ‘wanton and furious driving’ designed for horse riders to bring some form of justice. 

With the help of Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Mr Briggs’ campaign faces a critical week with a new law being discussed in the House of Commons tomorrow.  

Mr Briggs has campaigned for eight years to bring some parity to the legal system for cyclists to face similar laws as motorists for injuring or killing pedestrians. 

A programme running from 2016 to 2025 will see £6 billion spent on cycle infrastructure across the UK but as of yet there has been no change to the law since Mrs Briggs’ death. 

Mr Briggs told MailOnline: ‘The humble pedestrian lacks the support in law. In modern society we should have a law to deal with all eventualities. 

‘Any road death, whether it is someone killed by a cyclist or a motor vehicle, any road death brings an amount of unimaginable tragedy as it is so sudden.

‘The Road Traffic Act is very effective and focused law to deal with this incident yet someone who is killed by a cyclist that law doesn’t apply and that’s the problem. Your tragedy is compounded by legal confusion.

‘If you kill someone by dangerous driving you can get up to life in prison now, so there is a legal disparity. It’s hugely important there’s parity there as a road death is a road death. It seems to me to be an obvious gap that needs to be filled.’

His campaign will hit a critical point this week after former Tory leader Sir Iain tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act to create an offence of causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling.

The remaining stages of the Bill will be considered by MPs tomorrow in the House of Commons. 

Today, Sir Iain stood in Regent’s Park on the spot where retired nursery teacher Hilda Griffiths, 81, was knocked down and killed by cyclist Brian Fitzgerald who was fizzing along at 29mph in a 20mph zone. 

Ms Griffiths suffered multiple fractures in her skull, bleeding in her brain, and was vomiting blood. 

Fifty-nine days later, in June 2022, she died in hospital from her injuries. 

Mr Briggs said she had essentially ‘stepped onto a velodrome’ with Mr Fitzgerald having been riding in an aerodynamic ‘pace line’ race formation at the time. 

City banker Mr Fitzgerald, meanwhile, remains a free man as an inquest into Ms Griffiths’ death heard, under UK law, the speed limit only applies to ‘mechanically propelled vehicles’. 

And therefore, in the words of the police review: ‘There were no criminal acts which would allow prosecution.’

Just two weeks ago, dog walker Paola Dos Santos, 52, was hit by a cyclist in the same spot where Ms Griffiths suffered her fatal injuries. 

She too has got behind Mr Briggs’ campaign and says a change in the law will help to educate people.

She was left unconscious and bloodied on the floor when a rider smashed into her having allegedly strayed onto the wrong side of the road after overtaking a car.

Ms Dos Santos, who is from France but has lived in London since 2011, had entered the park on the morning of her 52nd birthday on May 1 to walk her pet cockapoo, Maya, as she has done every morning for several years.  

The mother-of-three suffered similar injuries to Ms Griffiths with multiple skull fractures to her eye socket, cheekbone, and jaw. 

Miraculously she survived, and woke up in the back of an ambulance as she was being rushed to St Mary’s hospital in Paddington at around 7.40am where she was given dosages of morphine to ease her pain.

Ms Dos Santos was then transferred to Northwick Hospital in Harrow before being discharged at 2am the next day. 

Her injuries mean she can only eat soft foods, while simple every day tasks such as brushing her teeth have become a struggle as she can’t fully open her mouth.  

She told MailOnline: ‘I can’t even comprehend that [I was hit in the same spot as Ms Griffiths]. My friends are more upset than me. I have one friend who every time she looks at me she starts crying like it is a miracle I’m still here.’ 

She will find out this week if she requires any surgery to repair her broken face with medics unable to make a decision at the time due to the magnitude of her swelling. 

Astonishingly, she shows no ill-will towards the man who injured her whom she was told was left distraught and in tears as he saw her lying unconscious and bloodied on the ground. 

She is yet to have any contact with the cyclist since she was ploughed into two weeks ago but told MailOnline: ‘I was told the cyclist stayed and he was very upset about what happened. He didn’t run away. 

‘He made a silly mistake but at least he has taken responsibility for what he did and I respect him for that. I don’t have any animosity against him and in another way I feel sorry for him as I’m sure he is not in a good place at the moment.’

She initially did not want to pursue a criminal charge but has since changed her mind having been told by police she has a ‘good case’. 

Speaking from her home in Marylebone, Ms Dos Santos said she should have been packing her suitcase today to board a plane to America for a reunion with some members of her family whom she hadn’t seen for 40 years.

That reunion is now left ruined with Ms Dos Santos unable to travel by aircraft as her broken body may not be able to withstand the pressure. 

She admits she is p***ed off and said: ‘My life is now on hold. I thank God I’m not working as I can take care of myself and sleep. I’m okay in the morning, but in the afternoon, as I’ve got constant pain I’m really tired and I need to sleep.’ 

According to data from NHS England, 331 pedestrians were admitted to hospital after a collision with a cyclist between 2022 and 2023. Six of these patients were over the age of 90 and 11 were under the age of four.

The total number of pedestrians hit by cyclists since 2020 increased by a third. Prior to that, between 2012 and 2021, on average, three people per year were killed by cyclists, with a further 138 seriously injured. 

On June 7, 2021, 79-year-old retired teacher and much-loved member of the Monmouth Choral Society, Jane Stone, was struck by a cyclist in Gwent, South Wales. She later died from her injuries. 

The perpetrator, 29-year-old Stewart McGinn, was sentenced to 12 months in prison (under the 1861 legislation), banned from driving for two and a half years and ordered to hand in the bike he was riding at the time of the crash.

On July 3, 2020, 72-year-old Peter McCombie suffered fatal head wounds when he was struck by 22-year-old cyclist Ermir Loka in London’s Tower Hamlets. Loka was sentenced to two years in prison after having fled the scene of the crime.

Twenty-three rules within the Highway Code apply exclusively to cyclists. These include everything from not wearing clothing that may get caught in your bike chain to equipping your cycle with lights at night.

One rule states: ‘You should avoid any actions that could reduce your control of your cycle,’ while another says: ‘You must not ride in a dangerous, careless or inconsiderate manner.’ 

On top of the code, the 1991 Road Traffic Act permits a fine of up to £1,000 for ‘careless cycling’ and £2,500 for ‘dangerous cycling’. If a cyclist causes harm to someone else, they can receive a prison sentence of up to two years for ‘wanton and furious driving’ under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. 

This Victorian legislation was quite clearly not designed for the ‘superbikes’ of the 21st century but, rather, for primitive push bikes, horses and carriages.

Mr Briggs added: ‘People need to feel there is a consequence to their actions – we all do. As decent members of society there are rules that bind us all.’  

Under Mr Duncan Smith’s plan, cyclists would be subject to the same scrutiny of other road users rather than expecting prosecutors to rely on a piece of Victorian-era legislation.

He said he has so far secured the support of 37 of his fellow Conservative MPs and was hoping for the backing of other members of the House.

Importantly, with 37 fellow Conservative backbenchers supporting his proposal, this is a greater number than the Prime Minister’s current majority.

He said he hoped his amendment will be chosen by Commons’ speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle so it can be voted upon and sent to the House of Lords for further scrutiny in order to close this deadly loophole.

He previously told MailOnline that members of the public are outraged that cyclists can operate without restriction.

He said a member of his team suffered a hand injury that left them in pain for seven days after she was struck by a cyclist who was riding without paying proper attention.

Mr Duncan Smith said: ‘I want to bring cyclists in line with other road users. I saw Matt Briggs this week has been campaigning for a change in the law following the tragic death of his wife, Kim. I thought “sod this, I can help”.

‘This is mainly a problem with male cyclists who do not think that the law applies to them and who think they can ride at any speed without consequence.

‘There are others who are riding electric bikes with big, chunky tyres travelling in excess of 30mph.’

Asked why progress on this matter had been so slow — despite an attempt to legislate by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in 2022 — he said: ‘I believe the cyclist lobby may well have something to do with it.’