A cyclist has praised our personal injury team for helping her gain closure after an “absolutely horrible” cycling accident in which she skidded face first along the road after hitting debris “the size of doorknobs”.
Limestone left in the road by a farmer caused the 55-year-old woman’s tyres to puncture and sent her flying over the handlebars during a summer evening ride with her husband in North Newbald, East Yorkshire.
Our client rounded a bend on a downhill section into the village and as she turned the corner the whole road was covered in limestone causing her to come off.
The woman lost consciousness for a brief time until her husband, who had ridden on ahead, cycled back up the hill to help her. She badly hurt her elbows in the crash, her teeth went through her top lip and her helmet smashed into six pieces.
She was taken to hospital in an ambulance where she underwent stitching of her lip and wiring of one of her teeth. She required extensive dentistry work after the cycling accident, including two of her teeth dying and requiring implants and crowns.
She also suffered neck and shoulder pain, while fragments of limestone got into wounds in her elbows which required stitching.
Client ‘struggled mentally and physically’ after cycling accident
The woman said: “It was a really lovely sunny night and I had just finished work and my husband suggested we do a quick circuit around the Yorkshire Wolds before dinner so that’s what we did, but we ended up getting home at five o’clock in the morning!
“I remember flying over the handlebars and careering down the road on my face which wasn’t the best thing to hit the road first. It was absolutely horrible. The dentist that I went to was absolutely fabulous – but it took me a long time to get my head round what had happened.
“I didn’t feel like smiling due to my lack of teeth, damaged lip, wired tooth and endless dental procedures in the year from my accident. I am a really smiley person, but mentally and physically I struggled.”
Aside from the dentistry work, she also underwent physiotherapy to get over the physical injuries she suffered.
Her sleep was affected following the cycling accident, which also had a significant psychological impact.
She required counselling after the incident left her in shock and unable to face the prospect of cycling again.
“It has dented my confidence and I’m so frightened about getting in another accident, which is unfortunate as we used to do a lot of biking,” she added.
Cycling accident claim made against the farmer
Other witnesses to the crash and friends of the couple said the road had been covered in the limestone for a number of weeks, although the following morning her husband returned to the spot of the cycling accident and reported back that “you could have eaten your lunch off of it, it was that clean”.
The woman instructed Hudgell Solicitors to make a cycling accident claim against the farmer, who initially made no admission and the insurers had agreed to deal on a without prejudice basis.
However, the farmer eventually accepted liability in full for the cycling accident , with our legal team successfully securing £31,000 in compensation.
“We never thought we would get this far with Hudgells, so I was absolutely over the moon with the outcome because it cost such a lot of money to get my teeth repaired and I also had counselling, which really helped me,” she said.
“I was so happy when I was that not only were they going to pay up, but that the farmer was going to take full responsibility.”
Positive feedback for personal injury lawyer ‘the norm’ from clients we help
We are proud to say that feedback like this is the norm, not the exception, because this is how we deal with all our clients, day in day out.
Hudgell Solicitors has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot, with the theme of the reviews we get stressing how much clients value having regular communication from a “highly professional team showing great empathy”.
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