{"id":12866,"date":"2025-07-21T12:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/12866\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T12:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:05:09","slug":"coroner-criticises-french-probe-of-cycling-crash-that-killed-wine-firm-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/12866\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner criticises French probe of cycling crash that killed wine firm boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

A coroner has criticised the French<\/a> police investigation into the death of the co-founder of a premium wine merchant killed in a collision with a car in a \u201cghastly\u201d accident while on a cycling holiday.<\/p>\n

Philip Tuck, who was a qualified master of wine, was riding in the Burgundy area when the accident happened on July 20 2023.<\/p>\n

The 59-year-old, from Old Basing, near Basingstoke<\/a>, Hampshire<\/a>, who helped found Hatch Mansfield premium wine merchants, was on the last day of the week-long trip riding with his son Felix and his son\u2019s friend Tom Caine.<\/p>\n

The hearing at Winchester Coroner\u2019s Court on Monday was told that the two younger cyclists were riding ahead down the descent into the village of Bouilland when they avoided being hit by the BMW<\/a> which went on to collide with Mr Tuck, who was riding at a distance behind them.<\/p>\n

In a statement read to the hearing, Felix said: \u201cWe were just going on a relaxed ride, Dad<\/a> was happy and enjoying the ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe descent to Bouilland is on a quiet country road, wide enough for two cars, it isn\u2019t particularly technical or steep.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom and I had dropped Dad on the descent as he slowed down and was more cautious with his no-risk mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felix said when they realised Mr Tuck had got behind, they turned around and rode back up the hill to find people attempting to help his father with his \u201csmashed up\u201d Pinarello bike at the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Coroner Simon Burge said attempts were made to save Mr Tuck\u2019s life by the driver and other members of the public before police and ambulance arrived, but the cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

The coroner said the driver of the BMW, a French man with his daughter in the rear seat, had stopped at the scene and told police that the first two riders had cut across to the wrong side of the road on the bend.<\/p>\n

The driver claimed that the collision happened when he was unable to avoid hitting Mr Tuck who had taken the same approach to the bend.<\/p>\n

Mr Burge added that the police determined that the crash was an accident and that the driver would not be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Mr Tuck\u2019s widow, Kate, told the hearing that she was concerned that the driver had provided \u201cinconsistent\u201d statements about the incident, particularly by giving varying estimates of his speed from 50kph (31mph) to 70kph (43mph) in the 80kph (50mph) zone.<\/p>\n

She added that photographs of the scene suggested the accident happened before the bend, contradicting the driver\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

Mrs Tuck said: \u201cIt was a ghastly accident however we look at it and nothing will bring him back, but it\u2019s hugely disappointing if I feel the record states that my husband was riding on the wrong side of the road and there is no independent evidence to corroborate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Burge said: \u201cI do not reach any conclusion that Philip, Felix or Tom were riding recklessly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that all three of you having enjoyed a cycling holiday in France, you were out for a good time, riding at a leisurely pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Criticising the French police investigation, the coroner, who recorded a conclusion of accidental death, said: \u201cSadly the investigation carried out locally by the gendarmerie was inadequate in my view and leaves many unanswered questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a tribute to Mr Tuck released after his death, Ascot-based Hatch Mansfield said: \u201cPhilip was an immensely kind, loyal and considerate man.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-12866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}