“Sometimes I wish I had died”: Cyclist had quarter of his skull removed after fly-tipped, asbestos-riddled shed on blind bend caused “catastrophic” crash

A cyclist has called for fly-tipping drivers’ licences to be revoked after he lost a quarter of his skull in a devastating crash caused by a dismantled asbestos-riddled shed dumped by a motorist on a blind bend.

66-year-old Colin Appleton was riding his bike on his usual rural loop near Brentwood, Essex on 18 September 2024 when he hit a nail protruding from a piece of the garden shed, left strewn across three-quarters of Lincolns Lane by tree surgeon Craig Frewin.

The nail caused one of Appleton’s tyres to puncture and split, throwing him from his bike, and he crashed heavily, suffering a severe head injury. He was later found by a delivery driver and subsequently airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was unconscious for three weeks after the crash and given a 10 per cent survival rate by doctors.

Appleton spent the next seven months in hospital, undergoing emergency surgery to remove a significant section of his skull. He also suffered a shoulder fracture in three places and broken ribs, while since the crash the left side of his body has been weakened and he continues to experience severe headaches and brain fog.

“When I came round, I had no memories – nothing at all,” he told the Echo this week. “I had no memories with my family or with my kids, I weren’t even sure what their names were.

“I couldn’t eat, I could barely talk or walk. I had a tube into my stomach which is how I was fed. I didn’t know where I was, what I was doing, or even what I was saying.”

Appleton, a self-employed double-glazing service engineer, has been unable to work since the crash, while the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has taken his driving licence away.

“I don’t think I’m going to get my licence back,” he said. “I wanted to work at least another five years and I’m gutted I can’t drive. “I’ve got no way of getting round apart from the bus or on the train and so I haven’t got my independence.”

As we reported last month, 36-year-old Craig Frewin was sentenced to 16 months in prison for causing danger to road users by “deliberately and cynically” fly-tipping the dismantled shed, according to Judge Samantha Cohen.

A trial in April heard that Frewin had cleared a garden in Havering and took the waste, using a hired tipper truck, to his usual disposal site, where he was told that they couldn’t take the shed because it was full of asbestos.

Frewin then dumped the shed on Lincolns Lane, shortly before Appleton’s crash. Essex Police said CCTV footage was used to identify the hired lorry by matching the dismantled shed loaded in the tipper truck with the rubbish found at the scene. The rubbish was subsequently removed by a specialist asbestos company at a cost to Essex County Council of £1,660.

In a letter read in Southend Crown Court, Frewin said he felt “deep remorse” about the crash and was “painfully aware that no words can undo the harm that has been caused”.

Judge Cohen told him: “You were fly-tipping asbestos to avoid having to pay to deal with it properly. I am satisfied that you committed this offence deliberately and cynically.”

Speaking this week, Appleton said: “I was caught on our doorbell camera leaving to go cycling, and caught on other cameras just before the accident.

“If I’d had a helmet on, I might not have been injured as badly as I was. But he tipped it in the lane itself – he didn’t even try and put it to one side – and it was full of asbestos.”

The cyclist said he was “surprised but glad” at the length of Frewin’s sentence and hopes it will act as a deterrent to other fly-tippers.

“I wanted to see justice done,” he said. “I’ve never fly-tipped or even dropped a bit of rubbish out my car window. I think it’s stupid.

“Frewin’s sentencing is a bit of a deterrent and I hope that going to make a change. People may think it’s not that serious but I have really suffered.”

> Fly-tipping lorry driver jailed after cyclist seriously injured by “lethal hazard”

He continued: “I thought he might get a driving ban and serve six weeks in prison – but they’ve given him a 16-month sentence and he’s got to serve at least six of it.

“It wasn’t just dangerous for me. If there’d been a motorbike or car, they might have gotten punctures as well. The lanes are so narrow, you couldn’t really go round it and if something was coming the other way, you’d be in great trouble.

“I wish fly-tippers wouldn’t do it. There’s talk about cancelling their licences and retaking their tests if they’re caught and I think that’s a good idea. They should be coming up with ideas that are going to put people off.”

In his victim impact statement read in court, Appleton underlined the severity of the crash and the impact it’s had on his life.

“Sometimes I wish I had died. Life is never going to be the same as it was before the accident,” he said.

Following Frewin’s sentencing, Detective Constable Alan Marks, who led the investigation, said: “Fly-tipping isn’t just an eyesore – it can be a lethal hazard. In this case, rubbish dumped across a country lane caused a cyclist to come off his bike and suffer a devastating head injury, leaving him with no recollection of what happened and months of hospital treatment.

“This family’s life has been changed forever, and it simply did not need to happen. If you produce waste, you have a responsibility to dispose of it legally and safely – and if you pay someone to take it away, make sure they’re a licensed waste carrier. Fly-tips can contain sharp or hazardous items and can put the public at real risk.”