A moped driver who was thrown from his moped just outside Kingston town centre last week is safely out of hospital, according to Kingston Police.
The Mexican national, who has not been named, was hit by a car on Thursday 17 May on the roundabout joining Wheatfield Way with Kingston Hall Road.
A Kingston police spokesman said on Wednesday: “We were called to Kingston Hall road junction with Wheatfield Way at 2.16pm following reports of a collision at the roundabout. The motorcyclist was taken to hospital and has [since] been discharged. He is going to be ok.”
The moped driver was taken away in an ambulance at approximately 3.15pm. The identity of the other driver is not currently known.
At least seven police cars and an ambulance attended the scene, with several white-capped traffic officers directing vehicles away from the area.
“It was a serious incident,” said Ryan, 30, who arrived shortly after the crash, “The moped driver was thrown clear from his moped. There were a lot of people gathered around trying to help.”
The subsequent road closure resulted in lengthy queues along Penrhyn Road as cars and buses were forced to turn round.
The accident resulted in the closure of the left lane of Wheatfield Way, which is the main thoroughfare through the centre of Kingston.
“It’s absolute chaos,” said one bus driver, whose bus had broken down at the site of the crash in an unrelated incident, adding to the congestion. “This couldn’t have happened at a worse spot.”
The only alternate route, along Kingston Hall road towards the river and the Kingston Council building, was blocked by roadworks on the lane leading away from the roundabout.
Traffic coming into Kingston north along Penrhyn Road, which is the main route into the town from Surbiton, had no choice but to turn back on itself at the roundabout, jostling with oncoming traffic from both the town centre and Kingston Hall road.
At least ten buses were caught in the ensuing confusion, which extended well into Surbiton, and passengers were evicted as bus drivers had no choice but to retrace their steps and use a different route.
“This is mad,” said Karen, 38, who had been stuck on the 281 bus with her young daughter on gridlocked Penrhyn Road for 30 minutes, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many buses caught up in something like this before.”
Large crowds of people gathered at bus stops on Eden street in central Kingston waiting for buses coming from Surbiton.
By 3.20pm, traffic patrol officers were walking up and down Eden street, shouting: “There’s been a major traffic accident. There won’t be any buses for several hours. You will have to find different means of transport.”
Commuters and shoppers then began to migrate en masse towards Kingston train station, which briefly resembled Twickenham station on a rugby match day.
