http://www.lep.co.uk/community/firm_apologises_after_cyclist_careers_into_car_1_3928052

A retail giant has apologised after a cyclist careered into a car after a botched repair job on her bike.

Halfords worked on Kath Percival’s bicycle on two occasions, but an investigation found faults in the gear mechanism, which she claims led to her crashing into a car at a roundabout.

The 49-year-old cycling enthusiast was left with cuts to her leg and pain for several months, after a jammed gear suddenly dropped down a cog, which she claims sent her flailing into the car.

Halfords has admitted it ‘let down’ the mum-of-two, of Dodney Drive, Lea, Preston, who now intends to make a compensation claim.

She said: “I was in Halfords in Preston (Mariners Way), they offered me a good deal to have your bike serviced with them, and you get 12 months’ care plan.

“It seemed a good deal and I was going to York at the weekend, so I dropped it in on the Wednesday night, they did the service and I picked it up on the Thursday.

“They said everything was sorted, so I set off on the Friday.

“I got part the way there and it (cogs on pedals) would not change down.

“I struggled up the hills but I managed to get to York and took it to Halfords (Foss Islands Road) on the Saturday morning.

“One hour or so later they just said it had needed adjusting.

“I set off to cycle home, got part way and it would not change down again, but I managed to climb without gears.

“But as I came into Clitheroe on the A59, which is a busy run, it dropped down to the bottom cog as I came to the roundabout.

“It caused me to lose my balance and hit a car in front of me at the roundabout.”

Mrs Percival claimed the incident, in February, left her with physical injuries including pains in her left leg for several months.

Despite being an experienced cyclist, she said it has it affected her confidence on the roads.

She said: “It took skin off my left leg and I was shocked and upset.

“It was where the McDonald’s is, I hobbled over and my husband came to pick me up.

“The first few months (after the crash) I was a bit nervous about going back on the bike again and my leg was painful.”

After the crash she said an independent engineering report on her Specialized Roubaix bike revealed a number of faults, including incorrect adjustments and worn parts, which should have been spotted.

She added: “When you take it somewhere, you expect them to do a good job.

“I don’t know how to do these things myself so I rely on people like that to do it.”

Kath’s solicitor, Paul Macbeth, of Russell Jones and Walker, said: “Kath’s an experienced cyclist so, despite just having her bike serviced, she recognised there was something wrong with it and rightly asked a professional to take a look at it.

“Remarkably, Halfords still failed to spot the problem and it’s only down to good fortune that her accident wasn’t a lot worse.”

A spokesman for the Halfords stores in Preston and York, said: “Our sincere apologises to Mrs Percival.

“On this occasion we let her down.

“We have taken steps to learn from this isolated incident and wish Mrs Percival well with her recovery.”

So is she right or not? Is it really Halfords fault or is she wanting a scapegoat for her own mistake?

It’s really hard to tell wear on cassettes and rings sometimes. They can look ok, work perfectly well on the workstand but skip or suck under load.

If the rider is as ‘experienced’ as she says then surely she would
a) not take her Specialized road bike to Halfords for servicing
b) recognise the signs of worn running gear.

no evidence except her own statement that halfords were to blame for the accident.

I think it is their fault for doing a bad service but:

1.) She can’t be that experienced if a dropped chain sent her that much out of control
2.) what is this ‘independent engineering report’??
3.) Her leg has been painful for months??? this woman needs to try some mtbing and stop being such a drama queen

Also,

If she was that close to a care to hit it, surely she must have been travelling quite slowly, in which case i can’t see how she would have lost control like that, or she was basically slip-streaming the car at high speeds, which would be pretty stupid coming up to a roundabout

I think she’s milking it a bit TBH though you’d have thought if she was that experienced, how did she not know any better than to take it to Halfords?

A retail giant has apologised after a cyclist careered into a car after a botched repair job on her bike.
Halfords worked on Kath Percival’s bicycle on two occasions, but an investigation found faults in the gear mechanism, which she claims led to her crashing into a car at a roundabout.
After the crash she said an independent engineering report on her Specialized Roubaix bike revealed a number of faults, including incorrect adjustments and worn parts, which should have been spotted.
A spokesman for the Halfords stores in Preston and York, said: “Our sincere apologises to Mrs Percival.
“On this occasion we let her down.
“We have taken steps to learn from this isolated incident and wish Mrs Percival well with her recovery.”

as they have admitted it was their fault why are we discussing this.obviously she a girl chose halfords and a roadie so we should mock her as this is STW after all 🙄

Am I missing something here? Why did a problem with the gears cause her to hit a car? Why didn’t she use the brakes?

Why did a problem with the gears cause her to hit a car?

I think it was her crank that decided to downshift which caused her to spin out and lose balance.

I used to work at that Halfords (Preston Docks) at weekends when I was at college (96-98), and at the time most of the people working in the bikes section were all quite experienced cyclists and were good at fixing / assembling bikes (which 99% of the time were complete pants)

Problems arose during busy times when customers wanted to take their new bikes away there & then, and non bikey staff used to build bikes, and the bosses were to busy / fighting with shoplifters / couldnt be ar#ed to check what was going out of the door.

The woman in question sounds like a chancer to me though 😆

I dont get how and “experienced” cyclist could crash like that.

I dont get how and “experienced” cyclist could crash like that.

I have spun out once and nearly crashed (offroad) but I had flats where I am guessing she had SPDs or similar

“The gears made me crash”

Errr, what about the brakes?

as they have admitted it was their fault why are we discussing this.obviously she a girl chose halfords and a roadie so we should mock her as this is STW after all

Nothing to do with the fact it’s a lady or a roadie. Yes, Halford’s apologised but probably to avoid an ongoing battle and resulting poor PR.

Can’t be arsed to read the article, but as it’s Halfords I’ll just say “yes, it’s their fault”

It’s Halfords ffs

i would never trust a Halfords mechanic after i took my exes Carrera in,under warranty,with an off centre front wheel..He thought he could pull the wool over my eyes by loosening the skewer,moving the wheel slightly and re-tightening it so the wheel looked central,,What a d1ck..he eventually admitted,after i told him as much,,that the wheel needed re-dishing