Critical Mass mark killing of cyclist on Old Kent Road.

 Hundreds of cyclists rode down Old Kent Road and New Cross Road last week (Friday 28 November 2025) as part of the monthly Critical Mass ride. 

Critical Mass is a monthly bike ride on the last Friday in over 300 cities, started in 1992 and in London in 1994, to highlight bike-unfriendly cities. With no formal leadership, cyclists meet at a set time and place to ride together. In London, people meet on the last Friday of the month 19:00 on the South Bank under Waterloo Bridge.

Critical Mass outside the New Cross Inn

The ride paused on the Old Kent Road near the Dunton Road junction where a 'ghost bike' memorial had been placed to mark the death of a cyclist a week before. 34 year old Gery (full name not released) was killed there on 21 November 2025';  a driver has been arrested 'on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving' 

Flare and flowers on Critical Mass ride

The cyclist has not been publicly named at this stage, but there are some very touching messages from friends on site - 'you were one of the most genuine people we ever met, kind, generous and hilarious' - a reminder that behind each road death statistic is a terrible personal tragedy.

Update January 2026:

Sad to report that another cyclist has been killed on this road so soon after Gery. Irene Leardini, aged 39, died on 20 January 2026 after being hit by a lorry on New Cross Road close to New Cross Gate station. Irene, originally from Italy, was herself a bike mechanic (picture below from Insta),

I cycled through there earlier that day and thought to myself how dangerous that section is. Travelling south east on New Cross Road by the Sainsburys junction there is a bit where two lanes of traffic merge into one and where some of the left lane turns left into Sainsburys and some go straight ahead, so as a cyclist if you stay left you risk being hit by left turning traffic but if you go in the middle you risk being hit by vehicles in the left lane going straight ahead.

On that same route towards/from London Bridge, this time on Borough High Street, 35 year old David Clark was killed by the police when hit by a car on 6 January. His wife commented: 'My husband David was not a headline, a statistic, or a passing news story. He was a loving husband, a devoted father to our baby daughter, a son, a brother and a deeply cherished friend. His death has left a profound and lasting void in our lives'.

Rest in power beautiful people, make it stop those of us still here.