A lorry driver has pleaded guilty to causing a cyclist’s death 18 months ago — just days before he was due to stand trial.

Paul O’Callaghan, 35, from Watford, admitted killing 60-year-old Tarsem Dari in Southall in July 2012. He had been due to appear at Isleworth crown court today.

Mr Dari’s family was unaware of the development and only learned of the driver’s change of plea, made at a pre-trial hearing on January 13, when contacted by the Evening Standard.

Mr Dari died on July 5, 2012, when he was crushed by a left-turning tipper truck at the junction of The Broadway and Saxon Road. The incident was caught on CCTV.

Police had originally arrested O’Callaghan on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, but he was allowed to admit the lesser charge of death by careless driving. He will be sentenced on February 14.

Mr Dari’s daughter-in-law Harvinder told the Standard he had been cycling to visit his sister when he was killed. She said Mr Dari, a builder by trade who did odd jobs, never got to enjoy the retirement he had looked forward to after a long working life.

She said he was always a safety-conscious cyclist.

“He was the type of person who would do everything by the book,” she said. “He would cross the road properly. He wouldn’t let any of us cross the road with an iPhone playing in our ears. He was a very careful man.”

The news came as the Standard learned that two other lorry drivers and a car driver remain on Metropolitan police bail as investigations continue into three of the 14 cyclist fatalities in London last year.

These cases relate to the HGV deaths of Alan Neve in Holborn in July and Chiara Giacomini, 30, who was killed in Dulwich on September 4.

In both cases, the drivers have been bailed until early March.

The 28-year-old alleged driver of a red Audi that collided with Paul Hutcheson in Lewisham on June 24 is due to answer bail early next month. He was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

Last week, drink-driver Kingsley Gordon-Allen, 20, admitted killing Edward Orrey, popularly known as George, near Leytonstone Tube as he cycled home after a nightshift last February. Gordon-Allen will be sentenced at Wood Green crown court on March 7 for causing death by careless driving.