The Gutter Press
Moving Target,
Volume 3 Issue 2
March 20th, 10:20, Oxford St. junction of Holles St., a cc was run over by a TNT Garment Express artic, which was making a left turn off Oxford St. Four hours later he was dead. Reports from ccs who were on the scene seconds after suggest that the medics who arrived by helicopter within minutes had a hopeless case on their hands.
The accident sent a shiver through the cc community and there could not have been many who didn't have an idea of the basic facts by Friday evening. What took a little more time to find out was the identity of both the deadman and the company he worked for. It took a number of phone calls to track down Legit Couriers. They were, and are, in a state of shock. Edward had worked for them since October 91. He had lived and cycled in the West End for years and so was no stranger to the hazards of city centre cycling.
By the time all this had been discovered however, snowball had started rolling. The word had gone round that at 9.00 am Monday 30th, ccs were going to assemble at Marble Arch and ride along Oxford St., mimicking a ride of 2 l/2 years ago to remember Chris Shaw, an ex-cc killed by a reckless driver. The intention, unspoken, was clear: to show respect for the dead cc and commemorate him by stopping London's West End, briefly showing the city that some things are more important than getting to work on time.
The London Cycling Campaign heard it, and said they wanted to come. MT heard it from everyone and ask everyone "who started it?" Nobody knew. It was almost as if all London's ccs decided at the same time what was the right thing to do. The press weren't told before-hand for fear of involving the Police who would surely have stopped the event from going ahead. Come Monday, 100 ccs and other cyclists assembled Speaker’s Corner. Patrick Field, of Hackney LCC, had the honour of leading out the throng at funereal pace around the Arch on his Long John bearing the wreath commissioned by the LCC. Behind him London's ccs fanned out to block Oxford St. On either side ccs blocked side-roads to ensure safe passage for the cortege and leaflets explaining the need for the event were handed out to passers-by. At the fateful junction the convoy stopped. Many lay down their bikes in the road blocking the junction completely. For a few brief moments, while the wreath was being attached to the traffic light the junction was impassable to motor-vehicles and safe for soft vehicles and moving targets.
Eventually the gathering remounted and moved off, blocking Oxford Circus, creeping along at a snail's pace. At Dean Street we turned and made our way to Soho Sq finishing and dispersing in the Gardens after a collection had been taken. A grim day? Solemn perhaps, but uplifting in equal measure. Who started it?
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