A cyclist has won a £7,000 payout after a motorist crashed into him and sent him flying into the car's window.

Edward Forth was riding along when the driver pulled out in front of him causing him to go straight through the vehicles' side window.

The 34-year-old, from Leeds was left with a broken collar bone and other injuries, leaving him unable to work and then subsequently unable to carry out large elements of his role when he returned due to his injuries.

Mr Forth said: “I was cycling home from work, a route I’ve been doing for the past five years. I was keeping within the designated lane for cyclists and buses.

"It was rush hour in the city centre and the cars were all sat in a traffic jam.

"As I was coming along the cycle lane a car pulled out of a side street directly into my lane in front of me. I went into the side of the car and my shoulder went through the driver’s side window.”

Leeds Live (link is external)report visit to the hospital showed Mr Forth had broken his collarbone and damaged both his knee and ankle. He also suffered multiple bruises and scrapes.

He added: “The driver had pulled out into a yellow box as if it was his right of way. There weren’t any other cars in the box as they were all sat in traffic.

"He claimed not to have seen me, despite me being in extra hi-vis clothing and lights. He was under the impression that he was right to have been in the yellow box, blaming me.

"Misunderstood rules which are there for the protection of cyclists can lead to serious injury and consequences...”.

He said: “I was off work for two weeks and then worked part-time for a further fortnight. Due to my job involving a fair amount of physical work moving equipment, I couldn’t fulfil my role to its maximum capacity for several months."

It was over two months before Edward could cycle to work on his bike again.

When he sought legal advice with Bott and Co, he was offered to arrange medical and physiotherapy appointments.

After receiving the payout, he said: "I was happy with the amount of compensation that I received which goes towards my recovery. It took a while but I’m now back to normal, but still doing weekly exercises which are recommended to help with the healing process.

"It’s a shame I had to bear the brunt of someone else’s ignorance.”

Tony Tierney, Legal Manager at Bott and Co said: “There’s a lot of emphasis on the cyclist to protect themselves and make themselves seen.

"In this case, Edward had done everything in his power to avoid anything happening and it still did.

"It was purely down to the driver not knowing the rules of the road. Motorists need to ensure that they are up to date with the road laws, respecting and making space for cyclists.”

https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-wins-ps7000-after-crash-sent-him-through-car-window-283177