Safety calls after lorry knocks pensioner off bike

Mary Hooper, of Wirksworth, was left tending to cuts and bruises on her birthday following the incident last Monday.

The retired social worker was cycling along the B5035 towards Carsington Reservoir. A long trailer lorry was overtaking her on a blind corner when a car came in the opposite direction and the HGV pulled in slightly.

“He was getting closer and closer and just clipped my handlebar, so my bike fell over and I flew off,” she said.

“If he’d come that bit closer a bit sooner I would have been right up against the lorry and I might have gone under the wheels.

“There was nowhere else for me to go because the side of the road was a bank.”

Mary managed to scramble to her feet and attempted to catch the licence plate number but it had driven off before she was able to do so.

“I was left with a very tender arm, a huge bruise on my thigh and scratches on my knee,” she said.

Mary is now calling for lorry drivers and managers of haulage firms to be more careful on the road.

“I might have been lying there badly injured or dead,” she said.

“If you are a lorry driver or a manager of them, consider the cyclist on these winding narrow country roads. Don’t overtake on blind corners. Think Bike!”

Mary is a keen cyclist and celebrated her 70th birthday by going for a swim, before enjoying an evening with friends.