Parents of cyclist killed in Hackney back alternative plans for Pembury Circus

Pat, Harry and Mike Webb. Photograph: Webb family

The parents of a cyclist who was fatally struck by a car in Homerton last year have backed the recent campaign for Hackney Council to change course over its plans for Pembury Circus.

On Friday, Hackney Cycling Campaign (HCC) published provisional plans from a “top traffic engineer” for the complex junction, urging the council to reconsider its current designs, which the group claims would “put lives at risk”.

Now, Pat and Mike Webb, whose son Harry Webb was killed on his bicycle on Kenworthy Road on 10 September 2023, haved echoed HCC’s concerns.

They are asking the council why it is sticking to plans despite public questions around cycle safety.

Speaking to the Citizen, Pat said the couple are supporting HCC’s proposal “because they said they want safer roads, because they’ve had quite a number of people killed or seriously injured in Hackney”.

“We can’t keep killing people in the numbers that are being killed, because the devastation it brings to families is horrifying.

“It’s something I could never, ever have imagined in my whole life, and that’s why we’re supporting them, because we do not want anybody, whoever they are, to go through anything like this, ever.”

“‘Car is king’ on the road needs to go. We’ve got to get to the state where the public realises it’s a privilege to drive, not a right to drive.”

Harry Webb’s fatal crash was sadly followed by the death of another cyclist in Hackney just 11 days later.

Gao Gao, 36, was on her way home when she was hit by a driver speeding at nearly 50mph on the 20mph residential Whiston Road in London Fields.

Pat and Mike said that, while Hackney has made important strides towards cyclists’ safety, the new plans would see “a once-in-a-generation opportunity being squandered”.

In a letter to the council, Pat said that proceeding with an approach that requires cyclists to mix with general traffic “is inconsistent with Hackney Council’s commitment to safety and the principles of Vision Zero”.

The couple backed HCC’s alternative design, which claims to accommodate safe cycling while balancing the current plan’s proposed benefits — motor vehicle capacity, bus reliability and simplified pedestrian movements.

“[HCC] has shown it is possible to achieve all these aims, and yet you are proceeding with an approach which excludes safe cycling regardless,” Pat told the council.

“This surely requires rigorous justification.

“I ask that you explain why the council is abandoning the safety principles they have previously championed, particularly when just last year, Harry and Gao Gao were tragically killed while cycling on the borough’s roads.

“Currently a cyclist is seriously injured, on average, around once every 17 months while trying to cross Pembury Circus.

“These life-changing collisions are not inevitable, and we need not just accept them. This needs to stop now,” the letter said.

Harry Webb was doing a master’s degree in music production. Photograph: Webb family

Pat added that Harry’s time studying abroad in Amsterdam had shown him that there were more effective ways to build cycling infrastructure in the UK.

Her letter to the council refers to an article on Dutch bike networks that can help phase out car usage and support safety.

Mike said: “When Harry lived in Tottenham, he used to say how cycling in London can be crazy sometimes, because you’ve got the cycling lanes and all of a sudden they disappear, sticking you amongst dangerous traffic.

“Some road junctions he would just get off and push his bike on the pavement and get back on. But he always said to me that London could be made a lot safer, fairly logically.

“It appears as if Hackney wants to do it differently, and it will be half a job.

“Everybody seems to keep trying to reinvent the wheel. They have their idea of how it’s working, and don’t use systems that they know work, and that’s what drives me insane.

“You have to do the job right the first time.”

Pat and Mike, from Crickhowell in Wales, had dropped their 27-year-old son off at his new house-share on a hot Sunday.

Harry was due to begin his second year studying for a master’s degree in music production at the London College of Contemporary Music (LCCM).

Hours later, he was hit by a car en route from his new flat to London Fields Lido. He passed away two days later.

A 24-year-old driver, Tiffany Treanor-Johnson, was arrested following the crash. She appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court in April this year.

The case has since been adjourned twice, with the defendant granted bail to appear at the court again on 28 October.

At least 225 people have been killed, or seriously injured, cycling in the borough in the past five years—an average of 45 people a year.

Pat said previous correspondence from Cllrs Sarah Young and Anna Lynch and Mayor Caroline Woodley in the months following Harry’s death were “kind and quick”.

Today, the couple are in London to attend a memorial for Harry at LCCM.

“It’s been sheer hell for a whole year. It’s going to be forever more,” Pat said.

Update: this article was amended at 6.48pm on 3 October 2024. Gao Gao was sadly killed on Whiston Road in London Fields, and not Winston Road in Stoke Newington as originally stated. We apologise for the error.