MP contacts police over Chris Grayling knocking cyclist off bike

An MP has contacted the Metropolitan Police about the incident in which Transport Secretary Chris Grayling knocked a cyclist off his bike outside Parliament.

Labour's Ian Austin claims the minister could have committed at least one traffic offence, and is also writing to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary and the chief civil servant at the Transport Department about what happened.

Mr Austin, former chairman of the All-Party Cycling Group, said footage of the incident shows that Mr Grayling "flung" his car door open, leaving the cyclist in a "state of shock" on the pavement.

Video obtained by The Guardian showed cyclist Jaiqi Liu, 35, crashing to the ground and his bike hitting a lamppost in the incident on October 12.

Mr Liu claimed that the minister had told him he was "cycling too fast".

The Labour MP said Mr Grayling spoke to the cyclist but did not leave his details.

In his letter to Theresa May, Mr Austin writes: "I believe the most directly relevant offence is opening the door of any vehicle on any road (or causing or permitting a door to be opened) so as to injure or endanger any person. This is contrary to regulation 105 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986. Any breach of these regulations is an offence under section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

"In addition, Section 170 of that Act requires details to be provided in a collision which results in injury to another road user (or to an animal, or damage to another vehicle or other nearby property). Failing that, they must report the incident to the police (under subsection 3). Failure to do so is an offence.

"Incidents of this nature can be fatal. For instance, cyclist Sam Harding was killed in August 2012 when driver Kenan Aydogdu opened his door in front of Harding as he cycled up London's Holloway Road."

The MP also attacked Mr Grayling for criticising cyclists after the incident.

"This shows how vulnerable cyclists are and it does show how careful we all have to be. Opening a car door in a way that injures someone is an offence and can result in serious injury and even death. Despite this, Mr Grayling didn't even provide his details so he could pay for the damage.

"Anyone can make a mistake, but I don't think you can have a Secretary of State who has injured another road user, could have committed an offence and failed even to provide his details afterwards.

"And then later, after causing this incident, the Secretary of State complained about cyclists and cycle lanes in London," he said.