One young woman from Gorleston has recently filed a car accident claim for £300,000 in personal injury compensation after an eighty six year old motorist ran her over, necessitating the amputation of her leg.
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk native Emma Woolnough, aged twenty seven, recently informed the Great Yarmouth Mercury newspaper that she had been walking to work alongside Lowestoft Road when pensioner Allan Skoyles jumped the kerb in his Ford Focus. Mr Skoyles struck both Ms Woolnough and an elderly couple after he mounted the pavement, according to the young woman’s traffic accident claim.
The eighty six year old pensioner had caused the collision by mistakenly hitting the accelerator pedal instead of the brake as he intended. Mr Skoyles, a multiple heart operation and stroke survivor, also suffers from deafness as well.
Ms Woolnough’s injuries proved so severe that not even emergency could save her left leg. As a result it was amputated just under the knee. While her right leg was mostly intact, the twenty seven year old still needed extensive skin grafts to repair the damage done.
Ms Woolnough has since made a claim against Mr Skoyles’ car insurance provider. The pensioner’s insurer has since accepted their liability for the incident. Following the accident that cost Mr Woolnough her leg, Mr Skoyles was ordered to pay £2,000 in fines and was banned from driving for three years. The pensioner was also given an eight month prison sentence, though the courts saw fit to suspend it for the eighty six year old.
Judge Peter Jacobs, who presided at Norwich Crown Court, handed down the verdict to Mr Skoyles. As he did so he couldn’t help but express how surprised he was that Mr Skoyles had not been banned from driving prior to the incident as a result of his many ailments.