Inquest hears how Peter Fisher, who was a homeopath to the Queen, was crushed by lorry

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The death, in a cycling accident, of a physician who worked for the Queen was an unnecessary waste of life that should prompt change to make London’s roads safer, his sister has said.

Peter Fisher, 67, who worked as a homeopath to the Royal Household from 2002 until his death on 15 August last year, was run over by a lorry during the morning rush hour in central London.

In a statement read out at the inquest into his death, his sister Suzie Herne said: “In order to save further precious lives, we urge the mayor of London to urgently address the issue of cycle safety in London by looking at people-prioritised streets and improved lorry design.

“Dr Peter Fisher was a remarkably gifted and special man whose death is a tragic and irreplaceable loss, not only for his family and friends who loved him dearly, but also to the cause of medicine and homeopathy in this country and worldwide.”

She described her brother’s death as an “unnecessary waste of life”. CCTV footage screened in court showed Fisher move into the path of a lorry as he attempted to get around another vehicle in front.

Samantha Southouse, who was driving the lorry, told St Pancras coroner’s court in north London she had checked all her mirrors before driving forwards in a traffic jam in High Holborn, central London, but did not see him.

“I moved and I heard pedestrians shouting ‘Stop the truck’ and immediately I did,” she said.

Fisher, who lived in Highgate in north London, was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash and the lorry was travelling at less than 8mph, PC Brian Gamble told the inquest on Wednesday.

The police officer explained that the physician would have been obscured from Southouse’s view and images in the lorry’s convex mirrors would have been heavily distorted because of his positioning.

Mary Hassell, a senior coroner, said Fisher’s death was “the work of a moment” and cautioned that it was “very easy with hindsight to look at it and make a judgment”. She concluded that the homeopath died of multiple injuries and recorded a verdict of accidental death.



Fisher died on Cycle To Work Day, a nationwide campaign to get more people commuting on bikes, but was a regular cyclist, his sister told the court.

Fisher had two daughters, aged 22 and 19, a partner, as well as “countless” friends and colleagues, she said.

He was the director of research at Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, where he had worked for 35 years, according to a tribute posted on University College London Hospitals’ website, which described him as an international figure in homeopathy.

A spokeswoman for Sadiq Khan said the mayor was doing more than his predecessors to make streets safer for cyclists, including removing the most dangerous lorries from the streets.

She added: “We are investing record amounts to create new high-quality cycle routes and transform dangerous junctions as part of our bold Vision Zero approach to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from London’s roads by 2041.”