‘Jeremy Clarkson-types’ carrying out attacks on Oxford cyclists – 11 July, 2006
“Jeremy Clarkson-types” who resent cyclists’ ability to dodge traffic could be to blame for a series of incidents in which riders have been attacked in and around a city, a cycling pressure group said today. The warning came as a 26-year-old man was shoved from his bike in Abingdon, south of Oxford, sustaining bruising and cuts to his knees, elbows and hips.

Now cyclists in Oxford, which has a long tradition of two-wheeled travel thanks to a combination of students and dons and heavy traffic, fear the attacks, mainly perpetrated by someone in a white van, could be a sign of a “worrying trend”. “It could be that the Jeremy Clarkson-types have taken umbrage to cyclists,” Cyclox spokesman James Styring said.

“There has been a lot of coverage about cyclists in the media recently, there are more people taking to their bikes because of summer and maybe motorists get annoyed with their ability to skip traffic queues. “Although it may seem like an amusing summer activity driving along and pushing people off their bikes, if someone breaks their neck you could be facing a murder charge.”

The latest incident happened around 10.30am as the victim was cycling near the Ox public house on the A4183 when he felt a blow to his shoulder from behind and fell from his bike. He remembers hearing a diesel engine and glimpsing a white vehicle, possible a van, passing him.

In mid-June, 68-year-old retired teacher Bonar Law was pushed off his bike by someone in a small white van on the B4009 just outside Princes Risborough. In an article entitled Terror in the Cycle Lane, he told the Oxford Mail: “It has made me feel very unsafe. I would like to see these people brought to justice and, as a person who has suffered this, I would like the punishment to fit the crime.

“To them it is like watching Buster Keaton on a silent movie. They do it for laughs.” Police linked that incident with two others in south Oxfordshire. The first known attack was on a 32-year-old woman, who had abused hurled at her and was punched by two men travelling in passing cars as she cycled on the Banbury Road in Summertown, north Oxford, on the morning of June 12.

Thames Valley Pc Lewis Boyce, investigating the Abingdon incident, said: “I am aware that there have been a number of similar incidents involving cyclists being pushed from their bikes and I will be looking into these to see if there are any clear links.

“This is no prank. Falling from a cycle could easily cause a serious injury and could even prove fatal, particularly if the cyclist were to fall into the path of an oncoming vehicle. “We are treating these incidents very seriously and doing all we can to catch and prosecute those responsible.”