A GRATEFUL grandad who was injured in a hit and run has been awarded £11,000 compensation, thanks to a Chelmsford law firm.

Jack Dixon, 59, suffered a serious shoulder injury when he was knocked off his bike.

The accident happened as he cycled home to Great Waltham from Chelmsford railway station in September 2010. He had left the cycle lane which runs along part of Broomfield Road when a car took a sharp left into Skerry Rise to avoid waiting for temporary traffic lights.

He said: “I sensed rather than saw the car come in front of me. It hit my front wheel and I was left lying in the road with a dislocated shoulder and fractured shoulder blade.

“It’s the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I couldn’t believe that the car just sped off – I could have been lying dead in the street.”

Mr Dixon, who works in the claims department of a Lloyd’s insurance broker in London, praised the actions of a good Samaritan who chased after the fleeing car.

He added: “When he caught up with the car, the man who’d hit me pretended he was going to come back and leave his details, but then drove in the other direction.

“I’m very grateful to the witness - if it hadn’t been for him taking the registration details, I would never have known who had hit me.”

The driver of the car evaded police enquiries for six months and officers were forced to close the case due to the length of time that had passed.

However, Mr Dixon, who had been left in a sling for several weeks, decided to instruct Birkett Long in Chelmsford to fight his case.

Nadina Edmondson, personal injury associate solicitor, said after months of hard work, the firm was able to secure £11,000 damages for Mr Dixon after the driver’s insurance company admitted liability.

She said: “Mr Dixon really deserved recompense for the physical and emotional trauma he underwent as a result of the selfish actions of this driver.”