Cyclist who was left in a coma with a fractured skull when driver knocked her off her bike slams his ‘lenient punishment’ after he is ordered to pay her just £47 in compensation
- Cyclist Louise Callaghan was left in a coma after she was knocked off her bike
- She was left with a brain bleed, fractured skull, breaks to collarbone and pelvis
- Matthew McGahan, 35, was let off with £485 fine and a £47 victim surcharge
- Ms Callaghan, from Walton, Surrey, slammed the sentence as ‘lenient’
Louise Callaghan, 39, (pictured in hospital as she recovered from her ordeal) was left with a brain bleed, fractured skull, breaks to her collarbone, elbow and pelvis
A cyclist left in a coma when a driver knocked her off her bike has slammed his ‘lenient’ sentence after he was ordered to pay her just £47 in compensation.
Louise Callaghan, 39, was left with a brain bleed, fractured skull, breaks to her collarbone, elbow and pelvis when she was hit while cycling in Addlestone, Surrey.
Driver Matthew McGahan, 35, was given a £485 fine and seven points added to his liecene after pleading guilty to careless driving.
The motorist, from Staines, Surrey, was made to pay a victim surcharge of just £47, and £85 in costs at Guildford Magistrates’ Court last Friday.
Ms Callaghan’s injuries were so serious that she was placed in a medically-induced coma for four days to help her recover.
The cyclist, from Walton, Surrey, said: ‘He should’ve been charged with causing serious injury by careless driving, but that offence doesn’t exist, so the police had their hands tied.
‘It seems quite a lenient punishment. The points are only on his licence for a finite amount of time, while I will be having physiotherapy for six months to a year or longer.’
Ms Callaghan said she believed there would have been ‘much more of an uproar’ if a pedestrian had received similar injuries.
Ms Callaghan (left, showing the cast on her arm) was left with such serious injuries that she was placed in a medically-induced coma for four days to help her recover. Pictured right: Ms Callaghan in her hospital bed as she recovered from the incident
Ms Callaghan, pictured with her partner Craig Mellors, says she can’t now remember the incident in June 2018, and she gets anxious and feels claustrophobic which she did not before
She said: ‘Cyclists seem to have a bad reputation In some people’s eyes it’s always the cyclist’s fault. This wasn’t my fault, there was a witness who saw what happened.’
She is now urging the government to introduce a new charge of causing ‘serious injury by careless driving’ for future incidents.
Ms Callaghan says she can’t now remember the incident in June 2018, and she gets anxious and feels claustrophobic which she did not before.
A recent operation to remove the metal plates put in her elbow after the incident has also left her unable to move her fingers and worried she might not be able to return to work as a TV editor.
A special brace was fitted to Ms Callaghan’s arm after she broke her elbow in the fall off her bike
The cyclist, pictured in her hospital bed in the days after her crash, is now urging the government to introduce a new charge of causing ‘serious injury by careless driving’
She said her MP, Dominic Raab, had contacted the transport minister, Jesse Norman, on her behalf about changing the law to introduce a new offence for incidents like hers.
In a letter to Mr Raab, Mr Norman has confirmed the government wants to create a new offence of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and this would be brought forward ‘as soon as Parliamentary time allows.’