A student nurse who lost her leg in a motorcycle accident has been awarded a six-figure compensation settlement.
Lisa Bennett, 43, was involved in the motorcycle crash in December 2004, forcing her son, who was only 12 at the time of the accident, to ‘put his life on hold’ to help care for her.
The former trainee psychiatric nurse was on her way to her first night shift when she was knocked from her motorbike. She had been studying for the second year of a degree at Bournemouth University.
Her right leg had to be amputated below the knee, and she needed four more operations afterwards. She also fractured her spine, and broke her ribs and shoulder. Ms Bennett now uses a prosthetic limb and still suffers from extreme pain that often forces her to use a wheelchair.
She said that the accident had changed her life forever, and she had lost her leg, a dream career, and her entire way of life. She added that she could no longer continue to care for her grandmother, and had struggled to look after her young son.
The boy is now 18 and is soon to join the RAF.
She launched the claim against the car driver who knocked her off the motorcycle with help from her union, Unison. The driver admitted liability and she was awarded £800,000 in compensation through an out of court settlement. The claim was initially settled for £1m, but 20 per cent was deducted from this sum for contributory negligence due to a motorbike light being faulty – although Ms Bennett said it had been working at the time she left her house.
Injury lawyer James Davies said that Ms Bennett’s efforts to pursue a new career for herself as a nurse had been wasted and she had instead needed to learn to cope with dramatically changed personal circumstances.
He added that the compensation would go towards funding her prosthesis and finding ways to make her life less physically challenging.
