A teenage cyclist suffered these horror injuries when he was thrown from his bike during a charity race – after hitting a giant POTHOLE.
Ollie Pike, 15, swerved to miss a large crater in the road but steered into the path of another pothole – catapulting him over the handlebars.
The terrified teen was thrown 30ft down the road and suffered a broken collar bone, a possible fractured cheek bone and a number of deep cuts to his face and head.
He was immediately rushed to hospital where worried medics immobilised him amid fears he may have a serious back injury.
After a gruelling 12 hours and numerous tests, scans and X-rays, Ollie was finally discharged with his collarbone in a sling and six stitches to his face.
Mum Louise, 44, said: “It was absolutely terrifying to get a phone call from Ollie’s friends to say he had fallen and paramedics were on the way.
“Your mind goes into overdrive and you start thinking of every possible scenario.
“When your child hits their head like that it is pretty scary.
“Luckily we weren’t that far away so we were able to rush to where he was, and his friends were keeping me updated the entire time.
“Ollie told me was cycling down the lane he remembers seeing a pothole and swerving to avoid it, but he didn’t see this other one in the middle of the road.
“He doesn’t remember much at all about it after that. He didn’t lose consciousness but I think his brain did shut down for a bit to avoid injury.
“Next thing he remembered was being laid out on the ground.”
Ollie, from Chedglow near Malmesbury, Wilts., was taking part in a Cirencester Ride 24/7 Bike Club sponsored event on March 9 when the accident happened.
The keen cyclist, who rides at least 70 miles a week and was wearing a helmet, was immediately surrounded by friends following his fall, and onlookers provided blankets and pillows to keep him warm.
“Thankfully there was a mountain rescue cyclist behind him, and a fireman a little further back so they immediately knew what to do and attended to him before the paramedics arrived.”
Mum Louise said: “Luckily Ollie was on a sponsored ride and there were no cars on the road, it doesn’t bear thinking about if there had been.
“My husband and I had been chatting just days before about a cyclist who died after being flung off his bike by a pothole, it is really worrying.
“Ollie was so mature about the whole thing, he didn’t complain once, and apparently the first thing he asked when someone rushed to him was ‘how’s my bike?'”
The teenager was rushed to Gloucester Royal Hospital’s paediatric unit where doctors treated his injuries and stitched up a deep wound on his right eyebrow.
Ollie, who is in the middle of his mock GCSEs, was off school for a week and it is expected his right arm will be in a sling for another four weeks until his collar bone fully heals.
“I wouldn’t have thought a pothole could cause so much damage,” Louise added.
“He was very brave but it has effected him a lot, he gets very tired now and I think that is all part of the trauma affecting him,
“I don’t think it will stop him getting back on his bike though!”
His family are now pursuing compensation from Gloucestershire County Council.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We aren’t able to comment on individual cases, however we do respond to reported potholes and scheduled inspections of our roads.”