2009-11-19 - Rider Down, Bethnal Green

Hi,

My friend was knocked of her bike on Tuesday morning in Bethnal Green/Shoreditch area, by all accounts right outside the Tea building, just down from BLB/tres garcon/club row /shoreditch house. The guy was pulling out of the building site that is part of the rail link works.

He pulled out and hit her a glancing blow I presume, as he hit her so hard he knocked one of her shoes ten feet up the road, and knocked her out cold. How she isn't more damaged I am amazed and very very relieved, though she is super tuff...she is a punk drummer and general hard ass. She was out cold for about 4-5 minutes during which time a crowd had gathered and were helping her. When she came to, she, I presume was in a little shock as she got straight up, and decided not to be late for work. She got the guy to give her £50 for her wheel and she left. ( as it is it has fucked her wheel, crank and forks...)
I am not sure what happened next as she decided to lock up her bike and go and catch a bus to work. Later on that evening she went to brick lane bikes (I think)to get a front wheel to cycle home, When they saw her front wheel (26' mtb) they were like WTF?

I am just appealing to anyone that may have witnessed it as when I saw her tonight she recanted the story whilst I looked on incredulously. She doesn't have the details of the driver, the make of the car, the number plate ...anything. She doesn't seem hurt or dazed at all (just heavily bruised) and worked a long shift for the rest of the day it happened, so think she is ok...however now she has accepted £50 I don't think she can ask/get anymore money, and the forks are twatted and the left crank was bent. I have ridden it and found this out for her. so she is already out of pocket on her crank and forks...

however...and it's a huge however...I know for him to have knocked her off her bike and knocked her out...he would have had to have hit her really hard, she really is bullet proof and couriered for a while. So in the event anything does go wrong in the future, we have some/any details of the incident that she has any sort of back up.

I/we don;t want a witch hunt...just some details if anyone has them.

if you see any obvious typos then shout me and I will edit accordingly. I haven't started a thread yet and don't know the drill.

Can anyone help?

Many thanks in advance

Pia

Wingedangel

I understand that she was in a hurry, but both police and the ambulance service should be called straight away.

Seen?
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread4213-4.html

She must be tough if she's willing to settle it for £50. I'd throw the book at the guy.

I'm not sure what recourse she now has, but she should certainly get legal advice. It's partly for situations like that, not just for more serious crashes, that I always advise people to join the LCC, as you can get free legal advice through us.

However, the most important thing she should really do is see a doctor. She may well be absolutely fine, but there really is no need to risk anything from what sounds like a hard blow.

Best of luck.

Oliver
LCC

I'm not sure what recourse she now has, but she should certainly get legal advice. It's partly for situations like that, not just for more serious crashes, that I always advise people to join the LCC, as you can get free legal advice through us.

However, the most important thing she should really do is see a doctor. She may well be absolutely fine, but there really is no need to risk anything from what sounds like a hard blow.

LCC

She should definitely see a doctor if she has been unconscious.

There's a lot of shops around that area so it may be worth asking if they have cameras that may have captured any of it. Even the building site itself will likely have cameras as most of them do these days.

Your mate sounds like a real tough cookie, I hope she's well.

Bit late now, but she really should go to a doc. There could be internal damage that is not easy to spot.

For the 50 quid, she could argue that she was still dazed, I presume, and made a bad call. Not so unrealistic if you just got knocked down.
So if you do come around to get details, I think legal advice would be the way to go. Isn't there CCTV on that road? I'd request if from the council.

i just got my welcome pack from the LCC, bike is now sporting a nice new headbadge. although i had to superglue the sides on as it was peeling off.

Ha, headbadge. Nice one. In those days when most people had mudguards, they were intended as mudguard stickers.

I'd go with other peoples advise and go see a Doc, she may feel absolutely fine but there could be problems down the line if she doesn't get seen to.

Hey....

without sounding fractious..I told her all of this...ie ...she should have waited for an ambulance/police/anything....
I'm sort of annoyed that she did 'do one' as she could have been really hurt and now has no recourse...
I told her that £50 is fuck all as her bike is damged to the tune of £150, it was ridiculous for her to go....and what is she has a seizure tonight as she has a blood vessel adrift in her brain...

but hey...she was stunned and just went into auto pilot...

all of the above...

so it has happened, it is water under the bridge, she did the wrong thing...

though I started the thread just to see if anyone was around...to witness it...I am going to have a scooby there later to see if there is anything there (cctv) that may have recorded it...

thanks in advance

just down from BLB/tres garcon/club row /shoreditch house.

surely someone from here saw it then!!

Hmmm hipsters in east London don't look out for each other though, living life oblivious to the fact that everyone else has got the same moustache, deck shoes and turn ups as them.

I hope your friend heals up and her bike can be fixed up for cheap; she may find goodwill forthcoming if she is not ashamed to recount her tale (and she shouldn't be).

Can I just say I think it's all a bit too casual, not to mention inaccurate, so say that someone is "hard", because of their personality, and hence the drver must have hit her really hard to knock her out. Chuck Norris could probably be knocked out by falling off his hercules 3-speed in Aldi car park and landing the wrong way. If someone has fallen off and sustained a head injury, being hard has nothing to do with how dangerous it is, only perhaps the way you deal with it - "shrugging it off" after, which is way worse than just going to the quack and having it looked at.

Carry on. And heal soon.

I hope your friend heals up and her bike can be fixed up for cheap; she may find goodwill forthcoming if she is not ashamed to recount her tale (and she shouldn't be).

Can I just say I think it's all a bit too casual, not to mention inaccurate, so say that someone is "hard", because of their personality, and hence the drver must have hit her really hard to knock her out. Chuck Norris could probably be knocked out by falling off his hercules 3-speed in Aldi car park and landing the wrong way. If someone has fallen off and sustained a head injury, being hard has nothing to do with how dangerous it is, only perhaps the way you deal with it - "shrugging it off" after, which is way worse than just going to the quack and having it looked at.

Carry on. And heal soon.

Hey...I appreciate that inside she is sweet and sensitive and has feelings and, and, and....however....I wasn't trying to big her up when I said she was 'hard'...or indicate she shrugged it off...
I think she was sort of dazed and didn't want to 'make a fuss'...ie ...not hard...
though I do know her and she is hard, not as in a fighter...as in hardcore...as in knows her shit...and is sort of bullet proof...(fuck, you should see her play drums...I'm a drummer and she fucking kicks...)and is a bit of a legend with those who know her...She is no waif.

I love her and appreciate your correction of hard...**...thanks...;D

Just to add info she is 5'7'' thick set and has olive skin and dark cropped hair, was riding a ratty old matt black marin mountain bike..

I've fixed it so she can get to work and back ('til the weekend) though have told her to take it easy as the forks are a little bent, i replaced the crank arm (though they are now odd lengths)...and checked it over...it's safe...though we now need some bits for it ...anyone have any old ratty shimano cranks for sale...old skool STX ?...and I also need some reasonable sus forks for it...I gave away a pair only about a fricking month ago...I don'd mind spending though it is ratty and putting on new shit would be stooopid...oh....and ps have UTFS...nothing presently for sale...

once again thanks

Me

x

If the forks are "a little bent" you haven't fixed it, you've just sent her back out onto the streets with a bike that will break - she won't know when it's going to break, but it will break. Do you want her to try a face plant into the middle of the road, or not?
Bent forks should be replaced immediately.

When I came off and landed on my head a few months back I felt fine and continued the ride to work. It wasn't until the next day that I felt a bit odd. I kept finding everything and anything very funny. The doc said I had concussion and should have gone in immediately. Learnt my lesson. Apparently a sign of concussion is either finding things very funny or becoming aggressive.

...Apparently a sign of concussion is either finding things very funny or becoming aggressive.

sheeeeeeeit, I must have a 30 year concussion

yes concussion is very dangerous for a number of reasons - you can't differentiate it very easily from compression (a more extreme version of swelling in the skull) and you often can't differentiate it from being a bit drunk. If you've taken a knock to the head on concrete, go straight to hospital, do not pass go, do not collect £200. If you can't get straight to hospital, you need to be very careful in the following hours:

• always be around other people, preferably people you trust, but if not then stay in public places (but not parks - if you konk out they might think you're a drunk). generally always make sure someone else knows where you are
  
• don't go to sleep (especially if you feel sleepy)
  
• don't drink alcohol or operate machinery (duh!)
  
• it might sound gross, but if you need the toilet, don't lock the door
  
• keep your sugars and fluids high
  
• get to hospital asap
  
  

if you see someone get knocked out and they come round, take a look at them very carefully:

• is one pupil noticeably bigger than the other? if so, they're majorly in the shit, call 999 straight away and tell the operator they have suspected compression.
  
• are they not breathing normally? are they pale, clammy, weak? slipping in and out of consciousness? if so, they might be in shock - lie them down, wrap them up and elevate their legs. if need be, hug them to give them some of your body heat. don't try to move them, and call 999. Keep talking to them and encourage them to respnd to you. pinch them (seriously! :D ) to keep them conscious.
  
• check for other injuries (especially on the torso and limbs) - often the adrenaline rush that you get in an accident (esp involving head injuries) can mask pain you feel elsewhere on your body.
  
  

send them to hospital and if in doubt, escort them to hospital personally.

yes concussion is very dangerous for a number of reasons - you can't differentiate it very easily from compression (a more extreme version of swelling in the skull) and you often can't differentiate it from being a bit drunk. If you've taken a knock to the head on concrete, go straight to hospital, do not pass go, do not collect £200. If you can't get straight to hospital, you need to be very careful in the following hours:

• always be around other people, preferably people you trust, but if not then stay in public places (but not parks - if you konk out they might think you're a drunk). generally always make sure someone else knows where you are
  
• don't go to sleep (especially if you feel sleepy)
  
• don't drink alcohol or operate machinery (duh!)
  
• it might sound gross, but if you need the toilet, don't lock the door
  
• keep your sugars and fluids high
  
• get to hospital asap
  
  

if you see someone get knocked out and they come round, take a look at them very carefully:

• is one pupil noticeably bigger than the other? if so, they're majorly in the shit, call 999 straight away and tell the operator they have suspected compression.
  
• are they not breathing normally? are they pale, clammy, weak? slipping in and out of consciousness? if so, they might be in shock - lie them down, wrap them up and elevate their legs. if need be, hug them to give them some of your body heat. don't try to move them, and call 999. Keep talking to them and encourage them to respnd to you. pinch them (seriously! :D ) to keep them conscious.
  
• check for other injuries (especially on the torso and limbs) - often the adrenaline rush that you get in an accident (esp involving head injuries) can mask pain you feel elsewhere on your body.
  
  

send them to hospital and if in doubt, escort them to hospital personally.

nice advice, ill try and memorise that, could prove useful one day.

yep, it's amazing what the body will do when it goes into shock.

If the forks are "a little bent" you haven't fixed it, you've just sent her back out onto the streets with a bike that will break - she won't know when it's going to break, but it will break. Do you want her to try a face plant into the middle of the road, or not?
Bent forks should be replaced immediately.

Excuse Me....

Butt out ok?

You know absolutely shit about my experience as an engineer or bike mechanic...and to be honest...I wouldn't make the same assumption about you so .....you know the answer.

If it wasn't safe I would not have sent her out on it. PERIOD.

those forks were replaced yesterday evening ...I went to my mates and got a pair............(though she does want something sexier...though I am trying to get her to have a kona I have ) I offered her a bike to ride to work on that evening ...ie ...when it happened (as I do have a couple of bikes spare) ...and she declined.

Please don't be really foolish and think that you are qualified to comment on the value of my love for my friend, and how much I would risk that for 30 mins/seconds/hours/days of my own time.

I got forks last night and changed them...

You have really, really annoyed me...ass-umption is the mother of all fuck ups... so please leave it.
*
Ftony*..As an aside thanks for the heads up on concussion, she has been thouroughly looked and prodded at by most of the people she lives with...which is enough...and she is bruised...relieved...and I think is she is fine...if I doubted her or her demeanour either me or the girl she lives with (who has known her for 15 years) doubted her level of competence, we would have dragged her to a+e our selves...and she is smart enough to know if she was not right to ask. though thanks for the concern.

kind thanks

Me

x

AlexB, I know you meant well. No-one wants to think of the young lady having any further misfortune, but I must admit, that I did find your post to be just a tad presumptive.

Wingedangel, I'm glad your friend got checked out. A school friend of mine had a broken arm from a car accident, and he died a week later. The arm was well fixed by the hospital, but they didn't catch the internal injury, which ensured his demise.

You're absolutely right I know nothing about your ability as a mechanic.
Glad to see that the forks were replaced.