Hit-and-run nanny's surgery ordeal

Published on Saturday 4 April 2009 10:30

A CYCLIST today told how she had been forced to undergo plastic surgery to rebuild her face after being knocked off her bike in a hit-and-run.

Seria Ullah, 38, suffered serious facial injuries, including a shattered cheekbone, after being thrown from her bike on Ferry Road.

The nanny has already undergone four hours of

plastic surgery to repair the wounds to her face and will tomorrow have a second operation, in which a metal plate will be fitted to repair her broken bone.

Mrs Ullah, who admits to having only a faint memory of the crash, said she had been told that another driver not involved in the incident had driven around her as she lay unconscious in the road.

She said: "It really makes me angry the way cyclists are treated. We have as much right to be on the roads as anyone else. I am a driver myself, so I know the rules of the road.

"If you are a cyclist in Edinburgh you are taking your life in your hands. Edinburgh is a joke in terms of cycling and all the roadworks have just made drivers more aggressive."

She was cycling home from work when she was struck by a silver people carrier at the junction of Ferry Road and Clark Road at about 7pm last Friday.

Mrs Ullah, from Leith, who has cycled the route where the incident took place for the past three years, said she hoped to go back to work after Easter. But she must first undergo her second operation in a week, this time to have the plate fitted which will help repair her broken cheekbone.

Despite her injuries, she said she would continue to cycle and would not be put off by the crash.

Last year, an Evening News investigation uncovered 237 serious accidents and 1637 minor accidents involving cyclists in the last ten years.

The Capital also has one of the highest death tolls for cyclists of any city in Scotland, according to figures released by national cycling organisation CTC, which showed five people had been killed in accidents between 2001 and 2006.

As many as 20 per cent of commuters in the city currently use a bicycle to get to work in the Capital and last year Lothian Buses launched a campaign to help its bus drivers and cyclists to be more considerate of each other.

Cycling groups have called for greater investment in bike lanes in the busiest areas of the city, although there have been concerns that this would further add to congestion on the Capital's roads.

A spokesman for the cycling group Spokes said: "Edinburgh is no more dangerous than anywhere else, but in certain circumstances cyclists are very vulnerable. Motorists' behaviour is crucial.

"The number of cyclists in Edinburgh is increasing and we know from elsewhere that where the proportion of cyclists is higher, they are given more consideration. We need to see more of that here."

&#149 A 45-year-old man has been charged in connection with last week's incident and is due to appear in court at a later date.