Appeal after hit-and-run driver leaves Somerset teen cyclist unconscious

A teenage girl from Somerset has recounted how she was knocked off her bike and rendered unconscious by a driver who failed to stop. Police are appealing for information to help trace the motorist involved.

Danielle Sowden, aged 17, was on her way home to Cotford St Luke near Taunton after visiting her aunt in Kingston St Mary when the incident happened at around 5pm last Friday afternoon, reports This Is The West Country.

“I was cycling and the chain on my bike got caught, so I tried to get into the lay-by, but I didn’t quite reach it and I remember a car going straight into the back of me,” she revealed.

The teenager added that she passed out for ten minutes before coming round in a roadside ditch.

“When I woke up I was really panicking,” she said. “I couldn’t breathe, I was confused, I didn’t know where I was and I couldn’t see anything – my vision was blurry.

“I found my phone and called my mum, who was in Bridgwater at the time, so she called an ambulance and then my neighbour, and she drove out to get me.

“At first she couldn’t find me because I was in a hedge and I couldn’t move my head, but I eventually managed to crawl out so she could see me.”

She was treated at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton for neck injuries and has to wear a brace as she recuperates from her injuries, as well as being forced to take time off work, reports the website.

“It’s very painful, and I’m getting a lot of headaches and migraines, but the doctors said it could have been much worse,” she added. “They told me I could have slipped into a coma.

“People need to be a bit more careful when they’re driving. Whoever hit me obviously knew they did, but didn’t have the decency to stop.”

The incident has been reported to Avon & Somerset Constabulary, and anyone with information is requested to contact police on 101.