http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10929777.Cyclist_killed_on_A68_named_as_father_of_three_from_Darlington/

Don’t know the circumstances. Condolences to Anthony’s family. 🙁

Sh1t, that’s terrible.

3 kids no longer have a daddy 🙁

He was wearing flourecent clothing at 8.00am in the morning, so would have been well visible.

and form the same paper

Police officers sealed off the road for a number of hours while collision investigators worked on the scene.

One officer who was patrolling the road closure said police had received verbal abuse from drivers after closing the road.

Writing on social media site, Twitter, they also spoke of the poor standard of driving on the road, saying: “Currently staffing road closure on the A68 and the standard of some people’s driving is appalling – already witnessed three near misses.”

THERE ARE SOME RIGHT IDIOTS OUT THERE, AND NOT ALL OF THEM APPEAR TO BE LOCKED UP SADLY,

TAKE CARE OUT THERE.

A68 is a terrible road. verbal abuse for closing the road because someone’s died though…who does that? Just goes to show some people only care about themselves.

Awful, just awful.

An aside –

Writing on social media site, Twitter, spoke of “Currently staffing road closure on the A68

– if any of my colleagues Tweeted owt whilst working, they’d be in for a right b*ll**king!

Awful, my sympathies go out to the family he left behind.

i drive for citylink, diverted to pick up some extra passengers yesterday so they didnt have to wait for 2 hours, (their bus had been delayed by a diversion after the serious accident at dalwhinnie) and one guy in paricular was going radio rental at the delay.
pointed out to him that the delay was due to a serious crash that had put 5 humans in a friggin hospital, but i may as well have told the fence.
some people . . . .
are twunts.

if any of my colleagues Tweeted owt whilst working, they’d be in for a right b*ll**king!

I would think it was tweeted officially from the police forces account. Maybe.

Gutted. Hate reading stuff like this 😥

Gutted. Hate reading stuff like this

+1

very sad.

I hope one day his kids can get about without such hazards.

Just been reading the comments in the link above , one was from a chap called Ben, who stopped to help along with a lady to who om we must all say thankyou

ben18120 says…

I witnessed the collision this morning and stayed with the cyclist until the emergency services arrived. I felt powerless as my mobile phone was flat and no one would stop to offer help. I was with this poor guy for 15 minutes with very heavy traffic passing us before a lady stopped to see if she could help and called the emergency services for me. What has society come to, motorist verbally attaching the police and not stopping to offer help in a road accident? Come on guys, this could have been your son, brother. nephew or father, and if so wouldn’t you want/expect someone to stop and offer assistance? Shame on all that traffic that passed us this morning without bothering to give us a second glance, I truly hope this doesn’t happen to you or someone you love.

Moss says…

We are the family of the cyclist and would like to say a big thank you to ben for kindness. i’m sorry I don’t know what to say right now but thank you.
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7:57pm Thu 9 Jan 14

ashy5440 says…

ben is there any chance I can have your contact details please to pass onto the lads partner, she will more than likely want to thank you. he was a mate of mine thank you very much for what you did.
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8:08pm Thu 9 Jan 14

emmamor says…

Thankyou Ben for staying with him x

8:15pm Thu 9 Jan 14

mille879 says…

It was my mam who rang the ambulance, she was on her way to work and came back to help. Why had no one else stopped? Well done to the other lady in the pink coat for stopping first as that caught my mams attention! very sad and our thoughts are with the family. R.I.P we will put flowers down on Saturday, hope to get a name soon x

8:49pm Thu 9 Jan 14

mille879 says…

So sad, let’s hope the amount of drivers that passed actually ring in as a witnesses… About 50 people passed and only my mam, Ben and the lorry driver actually came back!

mille879 wrote:
It was my mam who rang the ambulance, she was on her way to work and came back to help. Why had no one else stopped? Well done to the other lady in the pink coat for stopping first as that caught my mams attention! very sad and our thoughts are with the family. R.I.P we will put flowers down on Saturday, hope to get a name soon x
Hi Millie, I am the lady in the pink coat, my name is Benita and all I can say is thank god for your mam, she was very calm and so helpful.Score: 15

johnny_p says…

Thank you very much to those who tried to help, and I hope those who drove passed and were abusive feel very shameful.

This story has really affected me. I was out last night on my bike lit up like a Christmas tree and wearing hi viz clothing and yet some drivers were passing so close their wing mirrors were near my elbow.

More comments on the link above.

Poor lad was so bloody young. I hope all the people that abused the police dies a slow and painful death.
And not stopping is just inexcusable, someone needed halp and they just drove by…..the shame of it!

Terrible story.

Looking at the google streetmap images of that road it doesn’t look like a place I’d like to be cycling at all.

RIP.

Ride 125 miles a week commuting on the A68 (approx half an hour from where this happened)
Quite frightening, really brings it home to me.

Sad. 🙁

Do you do ghost bikes in the UK? If so, the improvised memorial site sure would be a good spot for one!

Not wanting to be picky on a thread like this, but should probably get that one right (from the comments “ben18120” was a lady in a pink coat called Benita).

At least the lorry driver cannot use the std ‘The sun was very low and i was blinded for a moment ‘ as the accident was westbound.
Condolences to family
RIP.
Having second thoughts about a cheeky hour on the RB now. Its a blue cloudless day darn south.

Very sad. This is very local to me and I’m sure I’ve seen the poor guy riding this stretch of road previously. It’s shocking that it took so long for someone else to help the lady who had stopped.

I’ve only ever ridden it once on the way back from Darlington and swore never again. There is a quiet back lane that pretty much runs parallel which I would always use in preference (although it is often wet and muddy and adds a couple of miles to the journey). This stretch of the A68 is fast dual carriageway with a very poor surface and fair amount of HGV traffic. There is no cycle provision at all.