Gloucestershire cyclist breaks eye socket, cheek, nose and jaw after encounter with loose dog on cycle path

A cyclist who suffered a smashed eye socket, a broken cheekbone, a broken nose, a broken jaw and a suspected fractured foot after an encounter with a dog on a Stroud cycle path says that the animal should have been on a lead.

Gloucestershire Live reports that Therese Bartlett was riding towards Woodchester, down a dip in a path at Rooksmoor, at around 8am on July 13 when a loose dog forced her to brake suddenly.

Bartlett was pitched off her bike and landed on her face. She was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she stayed overnight and she has been told that she will require more operations to fix the injuries to her face.

“I’m a dog walker and a runner too on the cycle path and I always keep an eye out for dogs but in the dip where the track goes across the path, you need to build up a bit of momentum to get up the other side and you can’t see the whole track ahead of you.

“The dog wandered straight towards me and I braked hard and put my foot down hard on the ground – it may be fractured. Anywhere else, this would not have happened. I give everyone a wide berth.

“I think the lady came through from the field next to the path, and the dog was off the lead. She did stay and she called an ambulance. My partner Kevin arrived and from then on I wasn’t aware of much.”

Stroud District Council introduced dog control laws in December 2012 requiring people to keep dogs on leads at all times on tow paths, cycle tracks, and footpaths used along a school route.

Last month a London cyclist said that an 'invisible' retractable dog lead stretched across a path cut through his clothing and injured him. The victim said that both dog and owner were some way from the path.

In 2015, a man knocked off his bike by an out-of-control dog on a retractable lead won a £65,000 payout from the dog’s owner. Anthony Steele had suffered a fractured skull when the dog leapt into his path while he was training for a Coast to Coast to event in Heysham in 2012.