Good Samaritan driver ticketed for stopping to help injured cyclist

Bristol City Council has agreed to revoke a parking ticket given to a woman who stopped to administer first aid to an injured cyclist.

Janet Young pulled into a loading bay to help a rider who had clipped the kerb and fallen over in Church Road, landing on his head.

Ms Young, said that she would do it again regardless of being ticketed, but asked the council to look at pictures of the incident, following which they decided to cancel the fine, which was £70, reduced to £35 if paid promptly.

"I think anyone would, of course we would, it's just [instinctive] to help someone in need," Ms Young told BBC News.

"It was an enforcement car [that caught me] so they would have seen the accident."
Enforcement cars photograph drivers in loading bays, bus lanes, taxi ranks and other restricted areas.

"Appeals are considered sympathetically in certain circumstances, providing there is evidence," a city council spokeswoman said.

"We received Mrs Young's appeal this morning and will be writing to her this afternoon to confirm that the penalty notice has been cancelled."

At the end of last year we reported how a cyclist was left lying injured by the side of a busy road in Warwickshire for more than 20 minutes as motorists passed by just feet away from him without stopping. 

Ian Hughes, aged 66 and from Higham on the Hill near Hinckley in Leicestershire, had been thrown from his bike on the A5 near Atherstone, Warwickshire, after hitting a hole in the road on Friday 21 December at around 10.30am. The fall left him with a broken arm and torn muscles in his wrists.

The Leicester Mercury reported that while the cyclist’s recollection of events was sketchy, he said that a lorry that was behind him avoided hitting him but failed to stop, and that over the next 20 to 30 minutes a succession of cars passed by until finally one stopped.