Cyclist's 'catastrophic' injuries when farmer in tractor overtook him

VICTIM OF INCIDENT WAS LEFT FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE

- By DAVID POWELL Daily Post Reporter

Tractor driver Osian Storey-Williams caused serious injuries to cyclist Alwyn Hughes-Jones in a road accident in October 2023

A FARMER has admitted injuring a cyclist who suffered “catastrophic” injuries, after he overtook him while towing a trailer.

Tractor driver Osian Storey-Williams overtook the cyclist on a rural road near Denbigh two years ago.

While the trailer didn’t hit the cyclist the overtaking manoeuvre caused the cyclist to fall off his bike and smash his head, leaving him with a brain injury.

Alwyn Hughes-Jones was airlifted to Ysbyty Gwynedd then the Royal Stoke University Hospital with life-changing injuries. He spent three months in hospitals in total.

He will never ride or drive again and he insisted although he bears no “malice” to Williams he wanted to pursue the case to highlight the “vulnerability” of cyclists.

Williams, 56, pleaded guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court to causing serious injury by careless driving in the incident on the A543 Mold Road as he carried maize from Sychdyn to Llansannan in Conwy on October 6, 2023.

Prosecutor Elen Owen said the defendant had been driving a John Deere tractor towing a large trailer on the rural road. He came upon a cyclist who gestured with his right arm for it to overtake him.

Witness Clint Speakman-Jones was in a vehicle behind the tractor. He said the tractor overtook the cyclist but was “very close” to the cyclist, some “one anda half metres”.