Friends grieve for ‘incredible’ student killed as he cycled to lectures

An "amazing person": medical student Muhammad Ahmed, who was crushed to death by a truck on his way to lectures

Friends of a medical student who was crushed to death in a collision with a tipper truck while cycling to lectures paid tribute to an "incredibly talented" young man today.

Muhammad "Haris" Ahmed, 21, died instantly in the collision near London Bridge on Tuesday morning.

He is the second cyclist killed by heavy goods vehicles in the capital this week. Mr Ahmed's death came on the day Boris Johnson unveiled his "cycle safety action plan", in which he vowed to reduce the number of serious cycling accidents involving lorries.

Mr Ahmed was a fourth-year medical student at King's College and was on his way to the Guy's Hospital campus when he died at the junction of Weston Street and Snowsfields.

Friends today told how he was on course to become a successful psychiatrist or surgeon.

King's College medical student Sabrina Qureshi, 21, said: "Haris was an amazing person. He was beyond talented and was going to go far. It's such a tragedy and everybody who knew him is devastated. He had hundreds of friends and touched absolutely everyone he met. I was in awe of him and the incredible things he did with his life. He will be missed by us all."

Ms Qureshi said students are holding a private memorial service for Mr Ahmed today at the King's College campus.

Another friend, medical student Rahel Mahmud, 30, said: "We are all so sad. Haris had an incredibly promising future and had so many people who loved him dearly.

"Haris loved sport. He was fantastic at tennis and enjoyed climbing and cycling in particular. He was so full of life."

Mr Mahmud called on the Government to improve safety for cyclists on London's roads. He said: "Something has to be done. It is clearly far too dangerous for riders at the moment. Too many cyclists are being killed by trucks."

Mr Johnson has faced criticism for cutting his road safety budget by £10  million this year and his traffic police budget by £2  million next year.

The Mayor has also come under fire for his decision to designate as cycling super-highways roads on which eight cyclists died and 84 were seriously injured in 2008. Green Assembly member Jenny Jones said: "Many of us feel a mix of sadness and anger at these latest deaths of cyclists in London.

"This summer the Mayor is encouraging thousands of inexperienced riders to use the cycling super-highways and share the roads with some of the main lorry routes through the capital.

"The most obvious action for him is to ban lorries from these cycling commuter routes at peak times. The least he can do is to re-engineer these routes to give cyclists priority.

"London's success in halving the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads in the last decade has been based on high levels of investment and tough decisions.

"All this is now under threat unless the Mayor restores the budget. The cut in traffic police, cameras and road safety schemes may cost lives."

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