A disabled woman nearly lost an eye when she crashed her £180 e-scooter – which she had only bought to get to the shops.
Limara Greenwood, 39, is living with a spinal condition and struggles to get around.
She decided to buy an e-scooter to get to the shops easily, but a collision left her with a fractured eye socket, lost teeth and a broken jaw.
Now the mum-of-two from Bridgwater, Somerset, wants to warn others about the dangers of using electric scooters.
She said: ‘The crash really changed my life. The way that I talk is different too – even the shape of my mouth feels different.
‘Now even if I see someone hit their face on the TV, it really triggers anxiety for me.
‘I still suffer with memory problems, headaches and tiredness. E-scooters can be so dangerous.’
Limara was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disc disease aged 15.
She decided to buy the e-scooter after a failed spinal surgery in her 20s left her worse off.
She said: ‘It was just a regular electric scooter you see everyone flying around on.
‘It was not something I was going out on every day. It was just to help me get around given my disability.
‘To be honest I never really went very far – only to the supermarket across from my house.
‘I looked into getting a sit-down mobility scooter at first. But I suffer with anxiety as it is, and being young still I worried people would stare while I was out and about.’
But Limara now regrets her decision – after crashing on November 7 last year.
The collision was so forceful, the e-scooter was snapped clean in half.
She said: ‘I was just crossing a zebra crossing only about 100 yards from my front door. I turned when I got to the pavement, and with the wheels being so small, it buckled slightly and sent me flying.
‘The impact fractured my eye socket twice. I was quite frightened to be honest, because they said that I had got off lightly. I could have suffered brain damage, or lost my eye – or even died. It was quite shocking.
‘I displaced my cheekbone, which unfortunately surgery couldn’t put back because the bone had already started fusing.
‘I also broke my jaw, and broke three teeth.’
Photos taken after the crash show how Limara’s face started to slowly become worse and worse as the hours went by.
Limara was then in and out of hospital. Visits have also left her financially vulnerable.
She says it costs her £300 in taxi fares alone to attend her appointments.
‘Now I’ve got no choice though, so I’m looking into getting a proper sit down scooter,’ she said.
‘I just want to warn people to be careful on the e-scooters.’
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