A York cyclist who was injured by a branch she believes was thrown at her from a bridge has urged the perpetrators to stop before someone is killed.
Barbara Khan, aged 47, was left with a black eye and suffered swelling to her cheek and forehead after she was struck by the branch as she rode under a bridge on Huntingdon Road last Thursday evening at 6pm, reports York Press.
Ms Khan, who was on her way home from her job as a schoolteacher in Doncaster, said: “I was looking down at the ground, noticing there was quite a lot of wood on it when I was struck. I cycled on for another metre or two but then stopped. I was pretty dazed and confused.
“There was no wind or trees overhead that the branch could have come from, so I think it must have been thrown off the bridge, along with the rest of the wood that was lying there.
“It could have been so much worse, for example if I’d fallen off my bike into the path of a car,” she went on.
“I really want to put out this message to those who did it: Pack it in, before you end up killing someone.”
Ms Khan was treated at York Hospital, where she was kept under observation and assessed for concussion. She also reported the incident to police.
A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police commented: “This was an act of reckless stupidity which could have had far more serious consequences. Anybody with any information is asked to phone police on 101 or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.