Dean Downing claims he was run off road by van driver who failed to stop

Dean Downing says that he could have been killed following a recent incident involving a traffic management van on a road near Blyth in Nottinghamshire.

Downing, the recently-retired racer who was twice national circuit race champion, was riding with training partner, Leigh Holmes, on Friday July 17 when they were overtaken by the van. As the vehicle was passing, it cut back in towards them to avoid a bollard in the middle of the road.

Holmes, who was leading, was hit, but managed to stay upright. Downing swerved to avoid the van, but in so doing lost control of his bike and veered into the bollard, subsequently hitting a lamppost as well.

“I could have been killed, as I hit the bollard and lamppost and landed in middle of other side of road. I was very lucky there was no oncoming traffic or I could have been more seriously injured,” he said.

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The van driver didn’t stop and is still to be identified. Downing has contacted law firm Leigh Day through his British Cycling membership to make a claim for the repairs to his bike and other losses resulting from the crash.

Andrew Bradley, head of the cycling team at the firm, said they would be in touch with police to try and track down the driver and to establish what happened.

Following the incident, Downing was taken to hospital, where he was found to have sustained knee ligament damage, for which he will require surgery, as well as grazing to his arms and legs.

Showing commendable good humour, he posted the following on Twitter.

Hurt my thumb a little bit today on my bike ride #mandown #ligaments #roadrash pic.twitter.com/Uxj4VRUlL0

— Dean Downing (@dean0downing) July 17, 2015

In a separate tweet, he wrote: “Thanks to my mates for looking after me today. No thanks to the driver who ran me off the road.”