Driver left pensioner for dead - Ex Postie

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A PENSIONER has told how a driver 'left him for dead' – but not before blaming him for the accident as he lay injured in the road.

Former postman Geoff Smith was flung from his motorcycle as it collided with a car in Sneinton.

But as the 74-year-old lay in agonising pain, the woman motorist approached him, said he had not been looking, and then drove off.

"I must have gone over the bonnet of the car," said Mr Smith.

"I remember landing on my shoulders and my head touching the ground and then the pain came from my legs.

"I started to get very cold and I thought, is this it?

"Then a woman's head appeared and she just said 'I'm sorry, you didn't see me'. I said, 'You didn't see me because you didn't look'.

"Then the ambulance came and one of the paramedics said she had driven off."

Mr Smith, of Carlton, had to have four hours' surgery on his knee and has been told he won't be able to walk for two months.

"We all make mistakes but to drive off and leave someone like that, not knowing if I was going to die, is unbelievable," he said.

The accident happened at about 11.15pm on July 22 at the junction of Carlton Road and St Mathias Road in Sneinton – just minutes from Mr Smith's home.

He was travelling back from a quiz in Beeston when a woman driving a silver car, believed to be a Vauxhall Vectra, turned right out of St Mathias Road and collided with his Suzuki motorcycle, which he has been riding for three years.

The grandfather-of-three has urged the driver to hand herself in.

"She made two mistakes and we all make mistakes," he said.

"But her biggest mistake was going after the accident because she did not know if I was going to die there or later."

Mr Smith also cracked a bone in his thumb and his arm will be in plaster for four weeks.

He had to have reconstructive surgery on his left knee and won't be able to stand on his leg for eight weeks.

"I had less pain having a heart bypass than this, I think there is more trauma involved."

Mr Smith, who served with the Royal Air Force and spent 35 years as a postman in Beeston, has led an active life, parachuting and driving ambulances for the Territorial Army.

The pensioner has now vowed never to get on his motorbike again.

He was planning a trip to see one of his daughters in Italy next month but has had to cancel the trip, and delay plans to go microlighting – a birthday present from one of his daughters.

The woman driver of the car is described as white with shoulder-length blonde hair. It is believed she was in her late 20s or early 30s. She was 5ft 6ins tall and of a slim build.

Insp Mick Hilton said: "This was a very nasty collision which has left an elderly man with serious injuries, and it is fortunate that the outcome was not worse.

"We would hope that the car driver recognises the severity of the incident and identifies themselves by contacting us directly. They have already committed an offence by leaving the scene of the accident, but the longer they try to evade identification the more onerous it is likely to be for them when the matter eventually comes to court."

Anyone who can provide information about the identity of the car driver should telephone PC Craig McLoughlin or Insp Mick Hilton on 0115 9670999 ext 2216.

[andy2007]

Hopefully, he will be able to remember enough to give them a Photofit. Because that driver needs to be found! When are people going to start taking their responsibilities as drivers seriously?