Car driver June Rickell injured hospital consultant in Dunnington

The motorbike rider, a hospital consultant, told the court she still cannot work full time and has yet to recover fully from the injuries she suffered when June Rickell, 83, drove across her path last July.

Rickell’s solicitor Lee-Anne Robins-Hicks said the grandmother and member of her church council was giving a friend a lift home from Sunday morning service at St Nicholas’ Dunnington.

Today Rickell is banned from the roads and has a criminal record. 

Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, said the doctor, who had the right of way as she rode along York Street towards Dunnington village centre, desperately tried to avoid the collision in Dunnington when she saw Rickell pull out of Church Lane.

The consultant was approaching the junction from Rickell’s right, and had moved out into the middle of the road to enable cars to see her more clearly.

“Everything seemed to slow down,” the doctor’s statement said. “At no point did the driver look at me. The car pulled into the road so fast and collided with me.”

The motorcyclist was thrown into the air. She felt that she was airborne “for a long time. I remember just waiting to hit the ground”.

Ms Tyrer said the doctor, in extreme pain, was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary with internal injuries and broken bones. Within hours, she was having emergency surgery and she was kept in hospital for seven days.

In a personal statement, the doctor said she had needed 24-hour care when she went home because she had only been able to walk a few steps with the aid of a zimmer frame.

She gave details of the long road to recovery since and how it had affected her personal and working life.

Rickell, of Greenside Walk, Dunnington, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving on Sunday, July 10, 2022. 

Mrs Robins-Hicks said Rickell had been watching another car waiting to turn right from Owl Wood Lane from the opposite side of the junction from her. She had not driven since.  

“It is an entirely one-off incident,” she said. “She is genuinely remorseful for the mistake she acknowledges making on that day.”

Clergy and a lay reader who knew Rickell sent in character references and described her as a “caring, generous person” who would “do anything for anyone and always go the extra mile to help people”.

Rickell was made subject to a 12-month community order with 100 hours’ unpaid work and banned from driving for 12 months.

She must pay a £114 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

District judge Adrian Lower said Rickell had not intended to cause the crash.

He heard that insurance companies are dealing with the financial consequences of the crash.