A cyclist who broke her leg in a horrific collision today said she felt “let down” by the justice system after the driver was fined just £145.

Laura Cameron, 32, was riding home after winning a race at the Lee Valley VeloPark when a fast-food delivery driver turned head-on into her path, leaving her with an open double fracture and in extreme shock in the middle of the road.

Her victory that day had put the Drops Cycling Team rider on the verge of becoming a professional cyclist. Since then, she has faced an excruciating six months of rehabilitation as she learned how to walk and ride again.

The driver was fined £145 and given four points on his licence after pleading guilty at Bexley magistrates’ court in January to careless driving. Prosecutors dropped a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, telling the court that a police notebook containing evidence had been lost.

Ms Cameron, a marketing and events manager from Beckenham, said: “I felt disappointed and let down by the justice system and the police in general.

“What annoyed me most was that they seemed to skip over my injuries. It was almost as though they disregarded them and didn’t bring them into consideration.”

Her solicitor, Jennifer Buchanan, of Fieldfisher, said the sentence was more lenient than others handed out the same day to drivers with bald tyres.

The collision happened in Crystal Palace at around 10pm on August 19 last year. Earlier that day, Ms Cameron’s victory on the road track beside the Olympic velodrome secured her a “Cat 1” licence and the chance to fulfil her dream of turning professional.

“It was like a thousand burning hot splinters running through my body at a million miles an hour as I was tumbling upside down and landed on the hardest, coldest surface you can imagine,” Ms Cameron recalled. “Then screaming pain and confusion.”

Her fibula was broken and her tibia had snapped in half and was protruding from her shin. She was shaking so badly from shock that paramedics had to hold her down to insert a drip.

She had a titanium rod and four screws inserted into her leg at King’s College hospital in Denmark Hill.

A civil action is being brought against the driver’s insurers to cover ongoing rehabilitation costs. Ms Cameron hopes to race again next month.