A man has been arrested by West Midlands Police after a marshal at today’s Vélo Birmingham & Midlands sportive was reportedly deliberately run over by a driver and sustained a suspected broken hip. In a separate incident, footage has emerged showing another motorist ignoring instructions of marshals at the event and moving traffic cones to drive across the route of the closed road sportive.
Southwest Birmingham local news website B31.org.uk reports that a 72-year-old male was arrested following the incident in Rubery this morning, with the injured marshal being a 59-year-old man from Plymouth.
Police have issued a witness appeal, and anyone who has information is requested to contact officers on 101 quoting the reference log 936 of 12/5, or the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
In a separate incident, footage has emerged showing the moment a motorist ignored instructions of marshals and moved traffic cones to drive across the route of today’s Vélo Birmingham& Midlands closed road sportive.
The driver, who then mounted the pavement, has been criticised for endangering some of the 17,000 cyclists taking part in the event, as well as spectators after mounting the pavement.
The incident happened at a roundabout at Ridgacre Road in the western Birmingham suburb of Quinton.
Birmingham Live, which has footage of the incident, reports a spokesman for Vélo Birmingham & Midlands as saying: “We are aware of an incident involving a motorist disobeying our steward’s instructions and driving onto the closed roads.
“We condemn any act that compromises the safety of our riders in the strongest possible terms and have passed the footage onto the Police who will conduct a thorough investigation.
"Thankfully, no riders or event staff were harmed as a result of the driver’s actions."
Hannah Mitchell, who filmed the incident on her phone, told Birmingham Live: "We were at the roundabout in Quinton which is about ten miles from the finish line and it is all blocked off on multiple exits.
"The Mini driver pulled up to the cones and then just sat there in his car for a while. He got out and moved all of the cones out of his way.
"People were shouting at him and there were even some people physically standing in front of the Mini trying to stop him driving forward.
"Someone even put down another cone right in front of his car again and instead of moving it he pulled straight out around it. Cyclists were coming down the road really fast - there were a lot of them around at this point.
"After he pulled out, the other side of the road he wanted to get to was blocked off too so he mounted the kerb where everyone was spectating and drove straight down on the footpath,” she continued.
"We just didn't know what to do, we couldn't really stop him because we were the other side of the road where the cyclists were coming down so you couldn't just run over.
"It was really scary, just really scary.
"My partner went and stood down the road slightly and kind of waved to the riders so that they knew something was going on – I think he caught their attention but the cyclists didn't stop – I don't think they could really see."
West Midlands Police have been sent video of the incident and are reported to be investigating.