Bassetlaw family’s heartfelt plea after father left for dead in hit-and-run

Father-of-two, Martin Wolstenholme, was cycling home from work on November 25, when he was reportedly hit by a van and left with severe injuries in a ditch.

A member of the public found the 51-year-old injured at the side of Westbrecks Lane, South Leverton, following the incident, which is believed to have happened between 4.45pm and 5pm.

Martin, who cycles to and from work every day, remains in hospital with life-changing injuries in a stable but serious condition.

A week on from the incident, his family has released a statement asking the driver of the vehicle to come forward.

His wife, Carol Wolstenholme, has now made a heartfelt plea for anyone with any information to come forward after their lives were turned ‘upside down’.

She said: “Our family is missing a husband, father and grandfather, and are hoping and praying for Martin to recover and come home.

“Martin has gone from being a very fit and healthy man to sustaining severe life-changing injuries and needing round the clock care from the trauma team in a critical care unit.

“The van that hit him lost his wing mirror and the glass from the driver’s side window in the impact so without question the driver would have known they had hit him.

“Despite this, they drove away and left Martin cold and alone and in need of urgent medical attention.

“If it wasn’t for a quick-thinking cyclist who I’m calling our good Samaritan for whom we are eternally grateful and who found Martin by chance and phoned the emergency services he would have certainly died.

“As a family, we find someone who knowingly could do this to another person and leave them in these circumstances inconceivable.

“There is someone out there who knows what happened that evening and we ask that they examine their conscience and think about how they would feel if this had happened to a friend or family member.

“If anyone has any information at all we implore them to get in touch with Nottinghamshire Police.”

Officers are appealing for anyone who has seen a damaged van traveling around the South Leverton area to come forward to help with their investigation.

The white long wheelbase van was reportedly either a Citroen, Peugeot or Fiat van, with a missing driver’s side window and wing mirror.

They are also urging people to check any CCTV and dash-cam footage from the area between 4pm and 5pm in the hopes of tracing the van.

Sergeant Sarah Stables, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Martin was seriously injured during this incident and he remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital and we are continuing to support his family through this tough time.

“It is every road user’s responsibility if they are involved in an accident to stop and report it to the emergency services.

“I would like to thank the extremely kind member of the public who stopped and reported this incident to us and called 999, meaning we could get to Martin and ensure he was taken to hospital as soon as possible.

“We are still appealing for anyone who may have witnessed this incident or knows anything to come forward and get in touch with us urgently as it may help our investigations.”

Anyone with any information or dash-cam footage is urged to call 101, quoting incident 544 of 25 November 2021 or call CrimeStoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.