A MOTORCYCLIST has issued a writ in the High Court seeking damages in excess of £50,000, accusing a Suffolk police superintendent of negligence after an accident left him with a number of injuries.

A MOTORCYCLIST has issued a writ in the High Court seeking damages in excess of £50,000, accusing a Suffolk police superintendent of negligence after an accident left him with a number of injuries.

Solicitors acting for printer Ivan Austin, 34, have filed a writ in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court against Mark Cordell, a superintendent in Bury St Edmunds.

The road accident happened in the town's Symonds Road and motorcyclist Mr Austin claims Mr Cordell, driving a Saab, was negligent.

In a writ filed by his solicitors, London based Portner and Jaskel, Mr Austin from Base Green in Wetherden, near Stowmarket, claims he suffered injuries including pain in a knee, ankle, and both wrists, and shock and anxiety.

After the accident, on July 20 2000, Mr Austin was taken to the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds where he says he was diagnosed with multiple soft tissue traumas and put on medication.

He says that about ten days later he collapsed at home with severe lower back pain, leaving him unable to work for six weeks.

Mr Austin, who works for Kingfisher Press, claims that after the accident he could only lift limited amounts of paper – preventing him from gaining promotion to work on larger machines.

He also claims that he has been disadvantaged in the labour market as a printer due to his injuries.

Mr Austin had been a keen DIY enthusiast before the accident and had previously renovated his former home. He had recently moved to his current property in Wetherden and had intended to renovate it as well.

As a result of the accident he claims he had to rely on his father and his fiancée's father to assist with the renovation.

His solicitors yesterday declined to comment further.

Mr Cordell, who lives in Bury, has only been superintendent for a few weeks where his role is operations manager for the western area, and was promoted from detective chief inspector crime manager at Bury.

A police spokesman said they would not comment on behalf of an employee on what was a personal matter, and was not a police incident and did not happen during police time. Mr Cordell was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Mr Cordell's lawyers, Meloy Whittle Robinson of Preston, said they could not comment on the case.