Significant damages for competitive cyclist catastrophically injured by tipper lorry
We had a number of hurdles to overcome in the case including a tibial plateau malformation, moving jobs, missing police evidence amongst others but fought tooth and nail to provide for Sarah along the way and secure a six figure sum in compensation.
Sarah wrote in to tell her story in her own words below.
"I was a competitive cyclist, cycling to work in April 2013 when a van driver turned into my path, having not seen me. I had sustained a severe tibial plateau fracture as well as a fibia fracture, along with other bruising. I knew as soon as the incident happened that the outcome would be bad due to the pain and the instant inability to move my leg very much. I ended up having a lengthy surgery and then spent three nights in St John and Elizabeth’s hospital before returning home in a full leg back-slab cast. It was difficult and painful to move around, particularly in the early days and I needed a lot of physical support from my family and friends – the trauma from the incident had caused a lot of soft tissue damage as well, so I was pretty immobile for a while and on crutches for around 4-5 months. Immobility and discomfort ended up meaning I had to take two months off work. I subsequently went back almost full time, with a lot of time off for physio, rehab and avoiding the rush hour on the way home for the following few months.
"Jenny at Fieldfisher was recommended to me by one of my cycling teammates, and luckily for me got involved very early on in my rehabilitation. Jenny came out to see me at home for our first meeting, despite us living right the way out in Richmond, which I thought was a very supportive start.
"Fieldfisher were instrumental in making sure I had the funds available to get back to as normal a life as possible, for example making sure I had interim funds available from the defendant such that I could use taxis to get to my appointments, and eventually, back to work, as it wasn’t possible for me to use public transport, or even make it all the way down to the station from our house.
"Over the next two years I had a further two surgeries, firstly to remove the metalwork, and then secondly, to re-break and re-set the tibial plateau, as it had healed incorrectly. Again, Fieldfisher were instrumental in the latter, as the issue was only identified by the independent surgeon that Fieldfisher had appointed identified that the leg was at a bad angle. Again, I needed a lot of support in the recovery period, aided again by Jenny making sure I had sufficient interim funds to enable a return to work as soon as possible. Due to the three operations I had to have it took quite a while to complete the case, but once the third operation had been done and the desired outcome achieved (and checked again by the independent surgeon), Fieldfisher managed to tie up the case and achieve a compensation sum I was very happy with, very quickly."
Contact us
For further information about road traffic accident claims and cycling accident claims, please call Jennifer Buchanan on 03304606774 or email jennifer.buchanan@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
- You can speak to our personal injury lawyers on freephone 0800 358 3848
- email us: personalinjury@fieldfisher.com
- Complete the short online enquiry form
All enquiries are completely free of charge and we will investigate all funding options for you including no win, no fee.