The father of a cyclist who died under the wheels of a bus after a motorist opened a car door in his path is campaigning for a change in the law.
Keith Harding said he was “very disappointed” that Kenan Aydogdu was found not guilty of manslaughter after his son Sam, 25, was crushed to death by a 153 bus in Holloway Road on August 6 last year, the day he was due to move in with his girlfriend.
An Old Bailey jury cleared Aydogdu, 32, of Hindhead, Surrey, last Friday. He admitted that he did not check his wing mirrors before opening the door and had fitted tinted windows to his Audi shortly before the accident last year.
Mr Harding, 56, said there was a “gap in the law” about “car dooring”. The Met said of the 427 cases since 2006, that only 52 fixed penalty notices, with a maximum fine of £1,000, were issued.
Mr Harding, 56, an English language teacher trainer, said: “The only charge the police could bring against Aydogdu was manslaughter. Other than that, it was a fixed penalty notice, the equivalent of being caught speaking on your mobile. It is a legal lacuna — a massive gap in the law which doesn’t cater for the criminal behaviour that led to my son’s death.”
The court heard that Aydogdu’s tinted windows had 17 per cent transparency at the front and four per cent at the rear. Mr Harding said: “It seems unbelievable that a driver can admit to not looking and had such poor visibility, but the law cannot punish him.”
Jenny Jones, a cycling campaigner and Green member of the London Assembly, called for a “major awareness campaign” about the dangers of “dooring”, which caused eight per cent of cycling injuries in 2007, the only year for which figures are available.
Family and friends of Sam, who lived in Finsbury Park and worked for an online tourism company, have set up a charity to raise money for people who want to start careers in travel and tourism at www.gomakeithappen.co.uk
