VIDEO: Biker thought he was going to die in terrifying road smash

Paul Doran’s Aprilia was in collision with a Citroen Picasso, which CCTV captures pulling out of a parking space to execute an ill-fated U-turn in the middle of Wigan Lane.

In an exclusive interview with the Wigan Post, the 34-year-old, who was slammed into a wall by the impact and suffered arm, foot and toe fractures, says he will never get on a motorbike again, such has been the trauma.

He had only passed his test four months ago; the bike was shattered into three pieces.

Gas engineer Mr Doran recognises that things could have turned out a lot worse and sympathises with the car’s elderly driver, who was clearly shaken up by the incident and has rung the biker to show concern since.

And so he is happy the police are not going to pursue a criminal investigation into the crash and leave it to the insurance companies to sort out.

He contacted the Wigan Post with footage obtained from the Pier Alarms shop in order to scotch rumours that he was somehow responsible and speeding. It was at 12.20pm on Tuesday that Mr Doran was driving from his town centre home up Wigan Lane to a friend’s hairdresser’s in Springfield when the collision occurred.

He said: “The film shows that I had 2.1 seconds to react. I had stopped at the pelican crossing to let a few people by and had just started up again when the Picasso, without indicating, pulls straight out of its parking space to perform a U-turn.

“I thought I was going to die; this was it: I thought I was dead.

“I tried to swerve onto the wrong side of the road, thinking the car would stop to let me round, but it kept going and so I had nowhere to go but be hit. The car knocked me 10 to 15ft into a garden wall and then I bounced another 10ft off it again.

“I remember the initial impact and the sound of my screaming, then nothing until I woke up in the back of an ambulance being strapped down. Although the crash was just yards from

Wigan Infirmary, they took me to Salford because they thought I might have fractured my pelvis and there could be internal bleeding. It was only when that was proved not to be right that they re-opened the road because it was then deemed a less major crash.

“My helmet saved my life really. It was a mess though, and I’ve chucked it away. That said, I will never get on a motorbike again in my life. This has done something to me.”

Mr Doran discharged himself from hospital on Wednesday morning, having been told his broken limbs – his left forearm, left foot and two toes – were too swollen to be put in casts for several days, although he went to Wigan Infirmary on Friday to have them finally plastered.

In the meantime he has been incapacitated at home.

The father of two said: “My wife Kathryn is awaiting spinal surgery later this month for a broken back through spondylosis and it was supposed to be me waiting on her hand and foot but I’ve not been able to do anything.

“I’ve not been able to get in and out of bed, up the stairs or go to the toilet.

“The pain has been just incomprehensible. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Mr Doran said that police came to see him and told him that he would not be facing any prosecution. Given the overall slowness of the vehicle and the fact that he had only just set off from the crossing meant that he could not have been speeding at the time of the collision.

Of the driver he said: “I hope he is OK. It clearly badly shook him up. It was just one of those things; a freak accident and I don’t want him to get into trouble. He’s just an elderly guy.

“As long as people see that it wasn’t my fault, I’m happy.”

Wigan Lane was closed for several hours on Tuesday afternoon, causing significant traffic problems around the town centre and Swinley.