ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

A lorry driver with a “cavalier lack of respect” for the law is facing jail for killing a cyclist after jumping a red light — as another rider died in London today.

Trucker Barry Meyer, 53, had been banned from the road five times and was not licensed to be driving the tipper lorry that crushed Alan Neve to death at Holborn in 2013.

He yesterday admitted causing death by careless driving — after two years of denial — when Judge Daniel Worsley ruled his “bad character” as a driver could be put before a Blackfriars crown court jury.

It came as female cyclist was knocked down and killed by a lorry in rush hour on Lambeth Bridge today.

The woman was hit near Millbank at about 9.30am, with paramedics and police rushing to the scene. She was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. Mr Neve, 51, a married father-of-one from Poplar, was riding to work as an auditor at the Performing Rights Society in Soho.

He died instantly from massive head injuries when Meyer drove the Volvo lorry “straight over the top” of him at 9.24am on July 15, 2013, the court heard.

Some witnesses were too distressed to give evidence. Mr Neve was one of 14 cyclists killed in London in 2013. Five have died in the capital this year.

Meyer’s view of Mr Neve, who had the right of way, was blocked by a toilet roll and sat-nav holder on his dashboard.

CCTV footage from Meyer’s lorry and other vehicles showed how he drove through a red light in Procter Street and stopped the lorry in a yellow box junction in High Holborn, before advancing through heavy traffic on to Mr Neve.

Meyer had been following a colleague driving another tipper truck.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter said: “Had Meyer reacted as a dynamic driver would have been expected to do, he could not fail to have seen Mr Neve.

“It appears clear from what Meyer said in an interview that his focus was upon keeping up with his partner in the vehicle in front.

“Not only had Meyer not turned his head or used his mirrors but he then failed to stop, as his front and rear wheels crushed Mr Neve beneath and dragged him along the road, to shrieks of pedestrians and other road users.”

She said his previous convictions, included two bans for drink-driving, showed a “cavalier lack of respect for driving law and regulations”. Judge Worsley said Meyer had a “shocking driving history” and would inevitably be jailed on return to court on May 14.

Besides his past convictions for driving while drunk and disqualified, he had others for assault, criminal damage and drug possession.

Meyer, of Walthamstow, was unlicensed and uninsured at the time of Mr Neve’s death but charges on both counts were ordered to lie on the file.

Friends and family of Mr Neve called for more to be done to protect cyclists on London’s roads.

A relative told the Standard: “I applaud anything that could make cycling better. Alan’s death was a tragedy that could have been avoided.”

Life-long friend and BBC director Edward Bazalgette, who directed the first four episodes of Poldark and episodes of EastEnders and Holby City, said: “Alan and I were friends since we were teenagers. He was a great guy.

“There needs to be a long, careful look at a coherent transport planning policy, given the number of cyclists.

“This has been a travesty of justice and to have these size trucks on roads that small and crowded in such areas with so much human traffic, it’s only going to lead to more incidents.”

Road safety campaigners praised the judge for letting Meyer’s previous convictions be heard. Cynthia Barlow of RoadPeace, told the Standard: “Repeat offenders should not be allowed to drive HGVs for a living.”