Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Injured cyclist sues bike firm for £1m
Dad got brain injuries as front forks snapped
A CYCLIST brain-damaged when he went flying over the handlebars as the front forks of his £800 bike snapped during a road race is suing the manufacturer for £1million.
Nuclear engineer Donald O’driscoll, 55, was badly injured as he was catapulted into a ditch in the 2015 Wales Velothon.
He says he was riding at about 20mph when both front forks of his Bianchi Via Nirone 7 “fractured in half ”, London’s High Court heard.
The dad-of-three from Llandaff, Cardiff, says he hit a wooden post and was knocked out, suffering a traumatic blunt head injury, fractured shoulder, cracked ribs and lung damage in the June 2015 accident.
He was in hospital for 18 days but returned to work parttime in October 2015.
However, his lawyers say he continues to suffer chronic pain and the effects of his head injury.
He is suing Italian firm Bianchi, the world’s oldest existing bike maker, over the incident which he says resulted in a “subtle closed brain injury” and PTSD.
The electrical engineer specialising in the nuclear industry, who works for EDF Energy, had bought the racing bike through his company’s “cycle to work” scheme, the court heard.
He had owned it for a year before the crash. After having it serviced in November 2014 he did not use it until March 2015, storing it in his garage.
He took it for a limited service two weeks before the race, when the tyres were changed.
His barrister Adam Korn said in a court document: “It had been serviced regularly by reputable bicycle mechanics, there was no misuse of the product or damage to it before the accident.”
Bianchi, established in 1885, does not dispute liability for the accident but is challenging the amount of compensation being claimed.
A trial date was not fixed.
BARRISTER FOR CYCLIST O’DRISCOLL