Hit-and-run victim, aged 21: Driver left me screaming for help in road

Connor Jones, aged 21, suffered a broken leg after being knocked off his bike by a silver taxi in Springfield Lane, Rowley Regis. He then skidded into a stationary Toyota Yaris parked on the other side of the road.

Connor, who works as a picker at M&J Seafood in Smethwick, was returning home from a night shift when he was struck in the early hours of April 4.

The taxi driver fled the scene after initially stopping to look at the stricken biker, leaving Connor lying in the road screaming in pain.

"I remember thinking 'oh no' when I saw the taxi in front of me, but I don't really know what I was thinking because it all happened so fast," explains Connor from Brierley Hill. "After I had slid on the floor I managed to ring the ambulance.

"I was shouting to get somebody's attention, but nobody came out straight away. Then this chap came out and helped me to explain where I was to the ambulance service because I was not familiar with the road name. I'd just been left screaming in the road before then."

Connor was taken initially to Russells Hall Hospital to receive treatment, but has since been transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and has had pins inserted into his leg along with a frame to stabilise it.

The taxi was pulling out from the Ambell Close junction on to Springfield Lane and turning right, but was in front of the bike, causing Connor to swerve to his right to try to avoid the car.

Homeowners in Springfield Lane described being woken at 5am by the sound of a car revving its engine before a 'terrific bang,' followed by the anguished cries of 'my leg, my leg.'

Diana Mannino, 58, who owns the Yaris, said she was sleeping at the back of the house when the accident happened, but was woken by the noise of the crash. She noticed her security light come on and when she went to see what was happening, there was a large group of people already gathered in the road tending to the man laying in front of her car.

Mrs Mannino, who lives with her husband Lorenzo, 66, said: "It was not something we were really expecting. We were in bed asleep and we were awoken by the noise. It was a terrific bang and I initially thought it had come from my neighbours."

The taxi was believed to be a Ford Mondeo.

Police want anyone with information on in relation to the taxi driver to call Sandwell officers on 101.