A road rage video showing a cyclist being punched by a motorist who was unable to overtake has unleashed a torrent of pro-cycling comment on Youtube.
Video footage on Youtube shows cyclist Simon Page being knocked to the ground by a driver outside a restaurant in Bexley Village.
Page was on a charity bike ride with 10 other cyclists and had just made the 150-mile trip from Dover to London.
As the group cycled through Bexley, on the outskirts of London, a thug driving a silver Peugot became enraged when he was unable to overtake the cyclist and, leaping from his car, punched Page in the head, knocking him to the ground.
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKB9V7MNEXY&feature=player_embedded:450:320]
Page said: "We were coming through a south-east London suburb when a car tried to overtake whilst we were going past a traffic island which significantly narrowed the road. We remonstrated with the driver, shouting.
"The car stopped and the driver and passenger got out and started using very threatening language and their body language was highly aggressive.
"They saw me reading the number plate and said 'we see you have our number, now we're effing gonna run you over'.
"When they drove off they clipped my right hand with a wing mirror. They stopped again, but this time the driver came over and punched me to the ground."
The video was filmed by another cyclist, who witnessed thro ad page and posted the video to Youtube, writing: “I switched the camera on when I saw the driver shunt another of the group onto the pavement while forcing his way through the traffic bollards a few seconds before this happened, following which he jumped out of his car and chased the first cyclist up the pavement.”
Despite being shown the video, police have apparently failed to act.
Page said: "You'd think that it would be easy to locate and prosecute. It turns out that the registered keeper of the car was not using the car that day and is not on the video.
"The upshot is that someone else was the driver and assaulter that day."
There has been a torrent of support for road rage victim Page on Youtube.
“That's scary. Attacking someone in front of families, kids and commuters. I hope his car gets crushed,” said MrCasualCyclist.
“Bicycle IS a vehicle and has the same right to be on the road as losers drivin' Peugeot. 10 car drivers can cause chaos especially when thinking the road is nuthin' but their territory. They couldn't be more wrong,” wrote Yozanace.
“I'll hazard a guess as to what the cyclist did to "deserve" this. He was on a bike and didn't get out of the way of the car (which obviously takes priority over lesser traffic such as cyclists). Naturally this means he "deserved" to have two thugs get out of their car, assault him, and then drive off leaving him on the floor. He also "deserved" to have the Police not follow the issue up with the registered owner thoroughly,” said a sarcastic MrPBancroft.
