AN experienced motorcyclist has hung up his crash helmet after suffering near-fatal injuries in a crash in York earlier this year.

Phil Atkinson, 38, of Danum Road, Fulford, York, spent five weeks in hospital, including a fortnight in an intensive care unit, after he came off his bike as he rode to work on the morning of June 19.

Fitness fanatic Phil was travelling along Holgate Road, when he had to bring his bike to the ground in order to avoid going over a car's bonnet.

He broke his leg in two places when he hit the car and suffered head injuries when his bike, which was travelling along the ground behind him, slammed into him.

At one point his parents, David and Val Atkinson, and his long-term partner, Rachel Keller, were told by doctors to expect the worst, as bleeding on Phil's brain threatened to leave him permanently brain damaged, or even to kill him.

But over the following weeks and months he made a gradual improvement, and is now walking again and is preparing to go back to work at British Sugar in Boroughbridge Road, York, in January.

Phil, a former soldier with the Scots Guards, said he would not want to risk another motorbike accident and now drove a Subaru car.

He said: "I made the decision not to ride again soon after I came out of hospital. Seventy per cent of the decision was because I don't want my family to go through it again.

"And 30 per cent was that I don't want to go through it again myself.

"For my parents and for Rachel it's been an absolute nightmare. Those two or three weeks, the initial dodgy period when it could have gone either way, was really hard for them.

"Bikes aren't on the menu any more."

Phil's recovery had been quite rapid and he was back at the gym within weeks of his hospital discharge. However, his short-term memory has suffered and he still gets tired.

Phil said: "When I first came out of hospital my leg was in a cast and I was on crutches, then as the weeks went by it was one crutch and then none.

"I can't do what I did before. I certainly can't run and I don't know if I will ever be able to run again, which is awful because I used to run a lot.

"But my fitness on the cycle and resistance work is back.

"The doctors said my fitness levels really helped me pull through."

Updated: 15:48 Thursday, January 02, 2003