Cyclist won payout from TfL after hitting gaping manhole on cycle superhighway 'that hadn’t been fixed'

Katrina Kersey is treated in the street after her crash
Hatty Collier4 March 2016

A cyclist has told how she was badly injured when she hit an open manhole which was apparently awaiting repairs on a cycle superhighway in London.

Katrina Kersey needed four rounds of surgery on her right arm after breaking her elbow in the cycling crash several years ago.

She said she felt compelled to reveal her story after reading in the Standard about the death of father-of-three Ralph Brazier, who was killed in an apparent pothole cycling accident while out on a ride with Twickenham Cycling Club on Tuesday.

Mrs Kersey wants to raise awareness of the problem of poorly maintained roads and plans to launch a petition.

The marketing manager was on the cycle superhighway in Clapham Road in March 2011, when the rider ahead of her swerved to avoid a damaged manhole.

She broke her elbow and needed two years of rehab after hitting the open manhole

She did not have time to stop and was thrown from her bike when her front wheel struck the hole.

The 32-year-old needed four rounds of surgery on her right arm after breaking her elbow and spent two years recovering from her accident.

She said: “It’s dredged up so many memories and made me think of how lucky I was and how badly I feel for his family and what they must be going through.

“I just find it amazing how the roads are not being taken care of at all.”

Mrs Kersey was awarded an undisclosed sum after her crash

Mr Brazier’s death is the latest cycling accident to be linked to potholes.

Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Dani King was left in intensive care after hitting a pothole near Cardiff in 2014 and in January this year, triathlete and mother-of-three Kate Vanloo, 52, died after her bike hit a pothole and she was thrown into the path of a car in Napton, Warwickshire.

Mrs Kersey was later awarded damages after it apparently took several weeks for the manhole to be repaired after the accident.

“It just made me so angry and so scared for other people,” she added.

A scar on her elbow after the crash. She needed several rounds of surgery to fix her injury

“Luckily I landed in the cycling lane and wasn’t run over immediately afterwards. All the cyclists who were travelling behind formed a circle around me until the ambulance arrived

“For two years, I couldn’t touch my nose with that arm as I couldn’t bend it at the elbow. I was basically disabled.”

A TfL spokesman confirmed the incident took place adding that the matter had been resolved through an undisclosed settlement with Mrs Kersey but refused to comment further.

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