Wigan taxi driver sent flying by pavement cyclist

The badly shaken taxi driver, who would only give his first name as Trevor, was coming out of the Crusader Taxis office in King Street when the headphone-wearing rider crashed into him as he rode at speed along the path.

Luckily, Trevor, 44, was unharmed in the incident which he said could have been much worse.

Other cabbies at the rank took to social media to share CCTV footage of the incident, which happened at around 10am in the morning.

Trevor, who has been a driver with Crusader Taxis since last September, said: “I was walking to my cab to go out on a job when this lad came speeding down the path and I ended up on my backside. I was so shocked I was late picking up a customer.

“He was apologetic, but when he got off his bike he was more concerned about picking up his lights which came off.

“So much money has been spent on cycle lanes in the area, so there is absolutely no excuse for him being on the pavement.

“Anybody could have come out of the doorway, and God forbid it was an older couple as the damage would have been far worse.”

Hossein Ghorbani, the owner of Crusader Taxis, said: “It could’ve been much worse.

“He only came to the office to drop some bits off, and when he came out the cyclist hit him.

“The guy shouldn’t have been on there in the first place. It is dangerous, and if that was a child it would have been 10 times worse.”

The law states that cyclists must not cycle on the pavement even when there are no specific lanes.

Cyclists can use bus lanes when permitted to by road signs.