Cyclist badly hurt in hit-and-run

A cyclist suffered serious head and face injuries in a hit-and-run crash in Oswestry. The man, in his 20s, was rushed to hospital following the collision.

A cyclist suffered serious head and face injuries in a hit-and-run crash in Oswestry. The man, in his 20s, was rushed to hospital following the collision.The incident happened outside The Greyhound pub in Willow Street at about 5.30pm yesterday.

Andrew Williams, paramedic, praised passers-by who cared for the man until medical attention arrived.

"We were told the man had been struck by a vehicle but we did not see one at the scene," he said.

"When we arrived six minutes after the 999 call, we found a number of members of the public doing an excellent job keeping the patient calm at the scene and we would pay tribute to them in what was clearly a difficult situation."

The man initially appeared to have a life-threatening head injury as well as facial injuries.

"We did our best to stabilise his condition and got him into the ambulance as quickly as possible," said Mr Williams.

"Due to the nature of the injury we asked the two policeman at the scene to help us. Sergeant Lee Johnson drove the ambulance while Constable Kevin Balcombe provided an extra set of hands in the back of the vehicle. I cannot praise the actions of the officers highly enough; they were all superb."

The ambulance was given a police escort to Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said the collision involved a silver car, thought to be an estate and possibly a Ford Focus. He asked the driver and those who helped to contact police.

The car was travelling along Willow Street, near the junction of Oakhurst Road, when the collision happened. The spokesman said the cyclist was now stable. The road was closed for four hours after the crash.