Yahoo News More than £22,000 raised in crowdfunding for crash cyclist
More than £22,000 has been raised via crowdfunding for a cyclist who has been left with a six-figure legal bill after knocking over a pedestrian who walked in front of his bike.
Charity worker Robert Hazeldean says he faces bankruptcy after being left with legal costs totalling more than £100,000 after he was sued by yoga teacher Gemma Brushett.
She was awarded £4,161.79 in damages after she successfully sued Hazeldean for knocking her down in London in July 2015, despite the fact she a court said she was equally to blame for the accident.
The light was green at the crossing and Brushett was said to be looking at her phone at the time of the accident.
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He was left with the legal costs after it emerged he was not insured and had not launched a counter-claim against Brushett.
Hazeldean also sounded a horn and shouted to warn pedestrians as he rode through the crossing.
However, he collided with Brushett, who was concentrating on her phone, while cycling at up to 15mph, Central London's County Court heard this week.
In a statement on Friday, Hazledean, who has since moved to France, said: “I am of course deeply disappointed with the outcome, reeling from the impact it will have on my life, and concerned by the precedent that it might set for other cyclists.”
In response, Hazledean’s friend Brittany Maher-Kirk set up a GoFundMe to help him pay his legal bill - and its raised thousands in just hours.
You’ll have seen @RobHazeldean in the news. He’s the cyclist ordered to pay compensation to a pedestrian who stepped into the road while looking at her phone. It's going to cost him £20K min, I can’t stand by,as a friend or cyclist.I've set up a @gofundme: https://t.co/5ozSV7TE5c
— Brittany Maher-Kirk (@BrittLoveBike) June 20, 2019
“Now, four years on, a judge has ruled that he is to pay the pedestrian compensation and legal fees - despite calling him 'a calm and reasonable road user'.
“Pedestrian witnesses backed Robert, telling police that the pedestrian was 'not looking where she was going' and stated that 'the cyclist was not at fault'.”
It seems many agree with the goal of £21,500 already raised on crowd-funding site GoFundMe.
Hazeldean said any extra money raised, beyond legal costs, would go to charity.
If Mr Hazeldean had been insured the claimant's legal costs would have been limited to £6,690, according to his lawyers.
