Bexhill woman, 79, hit by e-scooter warns riders of dangers

A woman who suffered a broken eye socket and a bleed on the brain when she was knocked down by an e-scooter rider has told of her ordeal.

Myra Wood was walking near her home in Bexhill when Paul Satchell, 58, crashed into her while he was trying to evade police on 1 December 2020.

He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Lewes Crown Court and was jailed for 16 months.

Two years on, Mrs Wood, now 79, said she was still "absolutely petrified".

Her serious injuries left her hospitalised for two days and unable to eat solid food for six weeks.

Mrs Wood wanted to warn other riders of the dangers e-scooters can pose

She said: "I just didn't know what was going on and I was crying, I was shivering. I just didn't know what was going on.

"They said you've got a bleed on the brain and I had twelve stitches round the eye and I was very, very badly bruised and I had double vision for six weeks."

Still afraid it will happen again, Mrs Wood said: "I'm petrified of them, absolutely petrified."

She agreed to footage of the incident being shared to warn other riders of the dangers their vehicles can pose.

"It's just changed my life, I'm so nervous. I am a different person," she said.

Paul Satchell was jailed and banned from driving at Lewes Crown Court

On Monday, collision unit investigator Chris McGuckin, of Sussex Police, said the case demonstrated "the harm that can be caused by e-scooters, which are still illegal to use in public, outside of a trial area".

Police described how two officers in a patrol vehicle had warned Satchell he needed to stop riding, but Satchell ignored them, rode off, and hit Mrs Wood at speed as she was crossing the road.

Officers said Satchell was looking back at police officers behind him when he crashed into her.

He was thrown off his vehicle but was uninjured.

Satchell, of no fixed address, was jailed and banned from driving for three years and eight months, when he was sentenced this month.

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