Passers-by pull cyclist to safety after tram fall

A cyclist was pulled to safety by passers-by after falling off her bike on wet tramlines in Croydon.

Georgina Bowden, who was cycling home from work on Friday at around 5.30, says she moved to avoid another rider, and ended up slipping in the rain onto the tram tracks.

She told the Croydon Advertiser: "I do this route often so I know the tram tracks are there and to be careful when I'm cycling over them but it was raining and one thing led to another and I don't know if my tyre got caught or I just slipped, but basically I just went over."

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She says she opened her eyes after the fall and saw a crowd around her.

"They helped me move out of the road and made sure I was okay and were pointing out bits of me that were bleeding, which was nice,” she said.​

"I was lying there for a bit trying to work out if I was okay. I knew I'd bashed my head twice pretty badly. My helmet is cracked in two places.

"I was really thinking 'I hope someone is going to help me because I don't know if I'm injured or not and I don't know when the tram is coming.' It might sound strange but I didn't know if I could move or not. I wasn't sure if I could have made it worse."

"My skull hurts and my whole right side hurts but I think I'm fine," she told the Advertiser. I've done quite a few first aid courses so I know what I'm looking out for.

"I spent a lot of time last night thinking about how lucky I was, both in terms of the lack of head injury and also that those people helped me and made sure I was okay before they let me carry on home."

After establishing she wasn’t badly injured, Bowden walked a safe distance from the tram tracks before cycling slowly home.

She extended a message of thanks to the people who stopped to help her.

In 2014 a cyclist died after hitting the tram tracks in Croydon. The coroner at the time said the tracks had caused Roger de Klerk to fall in front of a passing bus