Published: 02 February 2012
by JOSH LOEB

A father whose daughter was killed riding her bike in Fitzrovia has launched a campaign to ensure cycling safety is at the top of the political agenda in the run-up to London mayoral elections later this year.

Peter Helliwell, whose daughter Jayne, a designer, died a week before her 26th birthday in April 2010, wants bus mirrors to be widened and more cycle lanes at key junctions.

He said: “There needs to be a review of road safety in light of the recent number of deaths of cyclists.

“We’ve gone through a year and a half of sheer hell.

“If we can stop just one other family going through that it’s worth it.”

Sixteen cyclists – mainly young women – were killed in London last year. Ms Helliwell died after being hit by a 390 bus at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.

Mr Helliwell believes the rise in deaths is connected to creative young people with little money being priced out of using buses and trains.  

The roads are not safe enough to take the increase in cycle use, he said.

“We visited Jayne’s friends and they all get around by bike,” said Mr Helliwell.

“These kids work so bloody hard.

They don’t have much money of their own.

They should have the freedom to cycle around London without fear.

They’ve got just the same rights as drivers.”

Mr Helliwell, who described his daughter as “feisty and hard-working”, said: “Like a lot of people at that age, Jayne did not have a lot of assets.

“She was renting. She had relied on the ‘Bank of Dad’ for a while but was just getting going and getting really big clients.

It’s hard. We see all of her friends doing brilliant work and really doing well. The pain lessens but it never goes away.”

Mr Helliwell said his daughter’s case drew parallels with that of Min Joo Lee, who died last October after her bike was struck by a HGV in King’s Cross, as both women were of similar age and had been excited to be part of London’s creative scene.

Cycling safety is shaping up to be one of the major issues of the 2012 London mayoral election, and Mr Helliwell said his family would “be part of anything” that led to greater awareness of cyclists and prevented more young people from being killed.

Last Wednesday Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced to business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos plans to create the world’s leading “cycling festival” in the capital.

The two-day event would take over roads in areas of Westminster’s streets.

Ms Helliwell, who was an experienced cyclist who had ridden bikes since her childhood, was living in east London and working as a designer, artist and music video director.

She was on her way to set up a photo-shoot with the band Fun Lovin’ Criminals in Great Portland Street when she was struck by a the bus driven by Carlton Lewars, aged 59.

He was last year acquitted of causing death by dangerous driving after saying a sudden attack of sciatic pain meant he had been unable to move his foot from the accelerator at the time of the incident.

Two consultant orthopaedic surgeons agreed the condition could have caused the crash.

At the inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court in November, coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe recorded a verdict of “traumatic road death”.

She added: “This is one of the most moving inquests I have held.”