Dean Fellows was forced to have his left leg amputated at the knee after he was hit by a car on Burnhill Green Road, near Patshull Park, on April 30, 2022. Midlands Air Ambulance for saving his life, with both an ambulance and a helicopter arriving at the scene as he lay seriously injured.

The driver involved in the accident pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention to Cannock Court on December 23, 2022. He was fined £500 and given six penalty points on his licence.

Dean, an IT engineer, was left not only physically but psychologically scarred by his ordeal – something he says was compounded by the sentence.

At the national level Road safety weekthe 49-year-old highlights his case. He says he would like to see a review of sentencing which recognizes the seriousness and consequences of driving offences, which takes into account the suffering of the victim.

Research by law firm Slater and Gordon, which is supporting Dean in a civil case, shows that more than 60% of people agree that there is a need for tougher sentences for traffic offences.

Dean said: “Obviously having to have an amputation was absolutely devastating, but the one thing that angered me more than anything else was the sentence the driver of the car got – in many ways, he was just as hard to do. to make my wound

“At the very least, I was hoping for a disqualification period, but what he actually got was so far from that – he was given the same points as if he had used his mobile phone while driving.

“This in no way acknowledges the impact of what happened – I really want the sentence to be looked at and the judges to apply this routinely. Currently, there doesn’t seem to be any rationale behind the sentences being handed down. , what the driver did seems to be rarely recognized by the sanction he receives”.

The driver of the car said the intersection had obliterated the ‘yield’ markings, which influenced the CPS’s decision not to lay a more serious charge against him.

Since the collision, Dean has struggled with ongoing pain and psychological issues and has also been forced to reduce his work to three days a week.

He was fitted with a prosthetic leg and had to switch to an automated vehicle and reconfigure his mountain bike to allow him to get out.

He said: “I still wince sometimes when I’m behind the wheel because of what happened to me. I used to love my bike but I still can’t think about going out again and I’ve been extremely frustrated to find the limits of what I can do as a result of what happened.

“My energy levels, my ability to play sports, my ability to get up in my own house — it’s nothing like what it used to be.”

Slater and Gordon helped Dean secure interim payments to allow adaptations to Dean’s home and allowed him to access rehab and a range of therapies – a final package was recently agreed.

The firm’s senior lawyer Richard Crabtree said: “While Dean was able to benefit from rehabilitation and therapies that supported his recovery well and allowed him to begin rebuilding his life, the physical and psychological impact was profound.

“Understandably, the sentence given to the driver was difficult for him to deal with. We would echo Dean’s calls for a sentencing review for vehicle offenses so that justice can be seen and felt by survivors.”