A dad was left unable to walk after a Land Rover ploughed into him while he was on a bike ride with his teenage daughter. The last thing Niraj Haria, from Hove, remembers was seeing his daughter take a bottle out of her bag. The next thing he woke up with his head on someone’s lap and his wife beside him.
He couldn’t feel his legs. Niraj had been cycling with his daughter Jamie, now 19, in Southwick in May 2020. It was a warm day and the two went onto the pavement to rehydrate.
A Land Rover coming down Kingston Lane was trying to avoid an oncoming vehicle and overshot onto the pavement. The vehicle crashed into Niraj, “obliterating” his helmet and sending him flying into a lamppost before slamming onto the ground. The driver, who was 80 at the time, pleaded guilty to the charge of careless driving.
He received five points on his licence and a £333 fine with a surcharge of £34, and costs of £85. The Land Rover hit Niraj, sending him flying into a lampost (Image: The Argus) Niraj was airlifted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital where he remained in an induced coma for a month. After two months at the Royal Sussex, he was transferred to Stoke Mandeville, where he remained for fourth months.
Niraj’s spine and all his ribs were broken, he suffered a low to medium risk head injury, a fractured and dislocated arm and the ball of the humerus ended up in his chest cavity – “it had to be fished out and reattached by the surgeon”. After Stoke Mandeville, Niraj spent .
