A BRAVE north Cumbrian dad left with life-changing injuries in a horrifying road accident caused by a dangerous driver hopes his ordeal will serve as a warning to other motorists.

Motorcyclist Robert Hope, 42, sustained multiple arm and leg fractures when he collided head-on with a van as its driver tried to overtake a slow-moving lorry on a sweeping right-hand bend of the A596 between Prospect and Aspatria.

Robert was thrown from his bike and skidded along the road for about 100 yards.

Thanks to a Great North Air Ambulance team and doctors at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, he survived.

Doctors saved his badly damaged left leg, but his left arm had to be amputated. At Carlisle Crown Court yesterday, the driver of the Peugeot van, Thomas James Oliver, 23, was jailed for 16 months. He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Minutes before the crash in May 2018, the court heard, another motorist saw Oliver overtaking vehicles, and remarked that he seemed to be ‘in a rush” and was “taking chances”.

When an HGV pulled on to the road from a farm track, Oliver tried to overtake but had insufficient room.

Mr Hope had been riding westbound to meet friends at Dunmail Park. He recalled ‘gasping’ with shock as he saw the defendant’s van heading directly towards him. It hit him head-on.

Peter Horgan, defending, said Oliver was a hard-working family man. In his statement, Oliver said: “I never thought in a million years that I could do this to someone else. My heart goes out to Mr Hope and his family for the trauma I have caused and the impact on his family.”

Robert, a father-of-one, from Brampton, spent five weeks in hospital. His injuries meant he had to give up his job as a mechanical engineer.

“In the hours following the collision,” he said, “I remember waking up in hospital and a doctor explaining that he needed to amputate my left arm and left leg. I was pleading with him not to because I needed them to work.

“When I woke up again, I discovered that my left arm had been amputated just below the shoulder but somehow they had managed to save my leg.”

The crash has had a major impact on his life, he said. “Before, I was physically fit, enjoyed work and being socially active, running and fell walking. Not only was riding my motorcycle my hobby, it was my main form of transport.

“However, due to my injuries I’ll never be able to do any of that again which has been hard to take. The last couple of years and how life has changed has been difficult. I still live in constant pain and cannot do many of the things people take for granted but I know I’m also fortunate to be alive.”

He thanked GNAAS and the doctors who saved him. He joined his legal team at the Irwin Mitchell law firm in urging drivers to take care on the roads.

“I just hope that my story acts as a warning about the need to take care at all times,” he said. “It’s vital that other motorists are aware of the devastation they can cause by acting dangerously on the roads.”

Oliver, from Blyth, Northumberland, was also given a two year ban and he must sit and extended retest.