A midwife whose leg was amputated at the roadside after she was hit by a Tesco lorry has said she is hugely disappointed that the driver was fined just £625 and given five points on his licence after he pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention.

Julie Dinsdale. Photograph: Keith Bontrager

Julie Dinsdale, 53, who was lucky to survive after the HGV drove over her leg and the wheels of her bike at Old Street roundabout in central London last year, said the verdict was evidence that the courts continued to treat cyclists as second-class citizens on UK roads.

The collision happened after the driver, Florin Oprea, 24, turned left across Dinsdale’s path. Oprea had been driving in the UK for four months and started working for Tesco days before the incident. He had held a HGV licence for 18 months but had been working mainly in Italy before moving to the UK.

Blackfriars crown court heard that days before the collision a driving assessor recommended Oprea needed to use his nearside mirrors more when driving. On the day of the accident Oprea was working unaccompanied for the first time, and it was alleged he was not following the route provided by Tesco, though Oprea argued he was following directions from his satellite navigation system.

Dinsdale’s partner, Keith Bontrager, who created one of the most famous brands in cycling, was riding behind her at the time and witnessed the collision.

Dinsdale spent five weeks in hospital after the incident. In her victim statement she described how her injuries had changed her life, which had previously been filled with running and cycling events.

She had been the ninth female finisher in the San Francisco marathon in 2013. A week before the collision she had completed the Three Peaks cyclocross event, which involves climbing the three highest peaks in Yorkshire though a combination of cycling and running, for the sixth time.

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Dinsdale said: “I am hugely disappointed by the decision of the court which finds that despite the evidence that I was visible to the driver, he should not be handed a more substantial sentence given the impact his actions have had on my life.



“Every aspect of my life remains difficult and my inability to return to work or pursue my sporting and active lifestyle is an immense loss to me and causes me great distress.”

She said her greatest concern was that the driver continued to drive HGVs. “What has happened to me is devastating and I would hate for someone else to go through the same. Despite cycling now being one of the country’s most loved sports, especially following the success of the British cycling team at successive Olympics, and the growing popularity of cycling as a means of transport in London, cyclists remain second-class citizens on the roads in the UK. This is reflected by the behaviour of drivers and the courts.”

Dinsdale’s lawyer Sally Moore, head of personal injury at the firm Leigh Day, said they would now be taking civil legal action against Oprea and Tesco. “It remains a problem at the core of British society that serious collisions involving cyclists are still regarded as par for the course and appear to be treated as such by the courts,” Moore said.