Cyclist ‘was sucked under’ left-turning lorry, witness tells inquest

the congestion that morning, the lorry was quick away from the lights. Given the number of cyclists there, it wouldn’t have hurt to have held back slightly.”

Ms Tao, who lived with her husband in Clerkenwell, had been unable to get in front of the lorry while waiting for the lights to change because the cycle box was full of other cyclists and two motorcyclists.

Christopher Lloyd, an assistant underwriter who was walking across Threadneedle Street on his way to work, said: “Lots of people started screaming and shouting and ran straight over to her.

“I just came over and felt all sick and tears flowing. I couldn’t control it. The lady next to me was screaming. I was in a state of shock.”

David-Alexandre Dahan, whose eye had been drawn to Ms Tao because she was wearing a face mask, white helmet and bandanna, s a i d sh e “struggled to get momentum” when trying to move off.

Solicitor Karen Florencio said: “I noticed that the cyclist was wobbling quite dramatically, though I hadn’t seen what had caused that.

“Shortly after that, I thought immediately if that carries on, she is going to come off or go under. Then it just appeared she almost seemed to get sucked under the middle set of wheels of the lorry. Within seconds she just seemed to disappear underneath.”

Pc Tim Harryman, the collision i nve s t i g a t or f or Ci t y of L ondon police, said Ms Tao had been cycling south on Prince’s Street towards the junction at the Bank of England, shortly before 9am.

Ms Tao’s rear wheel was struck by the left-hand side of the lorry as it turned. She suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

Pc Harryman said: “Ms Tao came up the left-hand side of the truck... she couldn’t enter the cycle box at the front because it was full of cyclists already. She stopped in the short [lead-in] cycle lane, beside the cab of the tipper.

“Once the lights changed to green... Ms Tao started to cycle slightly to the right-hand side, close to the left-hand side front of the tipper. The left-hand [door] step made contact with the rear wheel of Ms Tao’s pedal cycle... and subsequently ran it over.”

He said she may have been wearing earphones. Referring to the view of Ms Tao available to the driver in his mirrors, he added: “The white helmet would show up. The black coat, you are not going to see as well.”

Ms Tao, originally from China, had a degree in economics from Cambridge and a master’s from Oxford. She had married her husband, Jin Chuan Zhou, 13 months earlier. She was a strategy consultant for PwC and had worked there for three years.

Speaking ahead of today’s hearing, before deputy coroner Dr Roy Palmer, the family’s lawyer, Sally Moore, from Leigh Day, said: “This was a tragic death of a brilliant young woman.”

The Standard revealed in January that City of London police and the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring criminal charges against the lorry driver because the evidence did not meet the threshold to bring a prosecution. The inquest continues.