Cyclist Attacked - For Using Cycle Path!

Police are investigating after a 49-year-old cyclist who used a cycle path on Bursledon Road in Southampton was assaulted by a man who had earlier told him it wasn’t one.

The male cyclist had just gone past the Windover Roundabout using the ‘shared’ cycle path on Sunday, November 18 at around 1pm when as he neared a bus stop where the pavement narrows he saw a man and a woman and two youths in his way.

It’s believed they had just left a nearby car boot sale. He asked them to move but they didn’t so he cycled around them on the grass.

The man shouted at him incorrectly that it wasn’t a cycle path and the victim shouted back it was. A short distance later the cyclist joined the road and was held up in traffic.

It was then that the cyclist, who was wearing a helmet, felt a blow to his head and fell to the ground where he was further kicked and punched around his head.

He looked up and saw it was the same man who had shouted at him. The attacker was stopped by the woman and one of the youths and they group then walked off towards Thornhill.

The man is described as: White, around 6ft 2 inches tall, slim build and with short hair.

The victim suffered bruising around his eye and further cuts and bruises to his head. He was treated at Southampton General Hospital for his injuries but is now back home.

Officers are appealing for any witnesses who saw the incident. As the cyclist was stuck in traffic it was likely there were quite a few people who saw it.

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Ben Popham at Hedge End Police Station on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.