Driver awareness course for motorist who knocked Bradley Wiggins off his bike

The motorist who last November knocked Tour de France and Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins off his bike is to participate in a driver awareness course, reports the Lancashire Evening Post.

Wiggins, who was on a training ride from his home in Eccleston, suffered bruising to his body and lung, a fractured rib and dislocated finger in the incident.

He was a few miles from home when he was struck by a van driven by Cath Burrows, aged 44, who was pulling out of a petrol station in Wrightington. She said afterwards that she had not seen the cyclist.

The incident, together with one in Manchester the following day that resulted in Wiggins' coach at British Cycling and Team Sky, Shane Sutton, being hospitalised saw the issue of cycle safety briefly become front-page news.

According to a spokesman for Lancashire Constabulary, which had originally said it planned to summon the motorist for careless driving, Ms Burrows “has accepted the driver’s awareness course and as far as we are concerned the situation has been dealt with.”

Wiggins has described the enforced rest as a “blessing in disguise” following a hectic 2012 in which he became the first British rider to win the maillot jaune at the Tour de France and days later added Olympic time trial gold in London.

At the time of the incident, his programme included a number of promotional appearances to publicise his book My Time, co-written with William Fotheringham, but those were cancelled as he began his recuperation.

Wiggins is currently riding in the Tour of Oman.