Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the edition that we sent in September 2025. If you like it, please sign up on our Get Involved section – you will be showing your support for our work and you will receive our free monthly bulletins a month before they appear here.
IN THIS ISSUE… +++ Geraint Thomas pays a visit – exclusive photos +++ Park road one of ten London speeding hotspots +++ Head-on collision narrowly avoided +++ Why you should write to the park’s MP +++
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TOUR DE FANS
It’s not often you spot a Tour de France champion walking across the Roehampton Gate car park, but that’s precisely what we witnessed one Friday afternoon last month.
Having arrived unannounced, Geraint Thomas seemed to have a lovely time chatting to fans who were amazed to see him riding alongside them in Richmond Park and the surrounding area. He had a camera crew in tow (as well as a GoPro attached to his helmet) and the footage has now been edited into short promotional films for Lloyds Bank, which will be shown around the ad breaks during the Welsh wonderman’s valedictory event, the Tour of Britain. Free-to-air coverage of the race begins tomorrow (Tuesday) on ITV4 at 10.40am, with highlights of the first stage at 8pm.
In the meantime, you can head over to our Instagram to look at exclusive photos of the film shoot, and some of the people he met on the day. Please send us your pics if you were one of them.
Our thanks to RPC subscriber Oliver Hill for providing the behind-the-scenes images and photos of him riding in the park with Geraint.
SNAP HAPPY
It was pleasing to see the happy pictures generated by Geraint’s visit. Throughout the year, we feature everyday photos of cyclists enjoying the park on our Instagram, and we would love to include more. Send yours to us, either by tagging @richmondparkcyclists on Insta or emailing them to us so we can share them.
DARK DAY
Those of you who, like us, were cycling up Dark Hill on the morning of Tuesday, August 12, will have seen an abandoned car on the left-hand side of the road with its rear end badly smashed.
The metallic blue Vauxhall hatchback was driven by a young woman who overtook a black BMW down the hill at 7.40pm the previous night. She swerved to avoid two cyclists going uphill, hit a tree and veered across the road. She was shaken but refused an ambulance. The two drivers apparently know each other.
Most of that account was given to us by an eyewitness. One of the cyclists involved reported the incident to the police. He told us: “They were clearly going silly/racing. Driver needs to be banned.”
But the Met Police’s traffic team in Sidcup, which is separate to the park’s police unit, have told the cyclist: “As there is no victim in this case other than the driver themselves we do not have the resources to investigate unless she herself reports the incident.” It suggests filling out a form on its website “which will then be triaged by another [sic] who will decide whether they have sufficient information to pass it on to the relevant team.”
Meanwhile, Sgt Pete Sturgess from the park’s policing unit tells us that to fully investigate, police would “need more than one statement to support any evidence, ideally video footage” – which the cyclists do not appear to have. That means the driver, who could have killed or seriously injured two people, may not be prosecuted.
We reiterate that, despite occasional alarming incidents such as this, the park is still much safer for cycling than ordinary roads in London. But some cyclists, particularly the less confident, will surely be put off riding in the park when they know a minority of drivers not only behave terribly but can also get away with it. The Royal Parks owes it to them to concentrate on curbing bad driving, rather than needlessly focus on cycling speeds, which have far less impact on safety.
A final note on another incident that took place on Dark Hill in June, which involved a male cyclist aged 50 to 60 crashing into a child aged five to eight in the evening. As we reported last month, the cyclist was taken to hospital on a spine board and the child seemed to have less serious injuries. Sgt Pete has now confirmed that the incident was not reported to the police, so he cannot shed any further light on the matter.
YOUR OLNEY CHANCE
When it comes to feeling safe in the park, who does The Royal Parks listen to? One key person is Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park. Unfortunately, most of the complaints she receives and passes on to TRP are about cyclists, which creates the skewed impression that most of the dangers on the park’s roads come from people like you.
To redress the balance, we encourage you to contact Sarah’s team whenever you encounter bad driving, dogs off leads running into the road, or any of the other factors that adversely impact your enjoyment of cycling in the park. Email office@saraholney.com, and please copy us in.
QUEEN’S HIGHWAY
Recent figures on motoring offences in London indicate what might be abandoned once the park’s police unit is disbanded by November to help cover the Met’s funding shortfall.
Queen’s Road in Richmond Park, which runs between Kingston and Richmond gates, has been ranked fifth on a list of the the top ten roads for speeding in the capital. The figures, which have been compiled by a personal injury firm, are based on Fixed Penalty Notices and Traffic Offence Reports issued by the Met in the year ending March 2025. You can read a news report on the data here.
Speeding is undoubtedly a long-running issue in the park, and even in recent months, we succeeded in getting the police to focus on drivers exceeding the limit during the morning rush hour. But the probable reason why Queen’s Road has ranked so highly in this study is that drivers passing through are more likely to have a speed gun pointing at them than those on ordinary roads, as the park’s police have always been very proactive in catching those who ignore the limits.
There has been no indication that the three neighbouring police wards who will take over from the park’s unit will be as focussed on speeding drivers – and they will not be compelled to present figures on offences every three months to ourselves and the other members of the Safer Parks Panel, which they do at present. But such information should be available from the police, and we will request it.
GUIDING YOU THROUGH
We’re introducing a new section of the newsletter. Each month, we will include a quick excerpt from the Safer Riding Guide, our list of tips to help create a welcoming environment for every type of cyclist and other park visitors. And as the nights draw in, what better place to start than riding when it’s dark?
• Use lights at night. It is a legal requirement to have front and back lights when it is dark. As there is no street lighting in the park, please set your front beam to constant, rather than flashing. Make sure your light is dipped to avoid dazzling oncoming road users.
The full guide, which was put together with the help of our subscribers and the park’s police, is available here.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...
As ever, thank you for allowing us to pop into your inbox, and let us know what you think about anything related to cycling in Richmond Park – we reply personally to every email you send us. If you enjoyed this bulletin, please share it with your cycling friends – and if they like what they read, encourage them to sign up to our mailing list too. The more subscribers we have, the bigger our voice.
All the best,
Richmond Park Cyclists