AN ELDERLY woman was left covered in cuts and bruises after a "hit and run" by a bike rider on the pavement.

Betty Dale, 79, from Ramsgate, was taken to Margate's Queen Mother Hospital, after being knocked down by a bicycle in the Plains of Waterloo.

The bike rider fell off his machine, picked it up, and cycled off again. Passers-by came to Mrs Dale’s aid and called an ambulance.

Mrs Dale could not give a description of the bike rider. She said: "He was gone too quickly for me to see him - I just saw the back of his head.Riding bicycles on the pavement is dangerous - and becoming quite common."

PC Ian Biggs of Thanet police said: “Under the Road Traffic Act, it is an offence to ride on the pavement, and if someone is found doing so they could face a fixed penalty ticket of £30.

"Cyclists who ride on the pavement not only put pedestrians and other pavement users in danger, but also run the risk of injuring themselves.

"Some people ride on the pavement as they consider it to be safer than riding on the road but this isn't neccessarily the case as this incident proves."