It was her pride and joy but now it is nothing more than a heap of twisted metal.
One of Huddersfield’s best-known motorcycle enthusiasts has told of her shock after her award-winning show bike was written off in a freak smash with a 30-tonne truck.
Martha Herrero-Butcher, 57, narrowly escaped injury after her beloved bike was shunted by the truck and lifted clean off the ground.
She has been left “aching all over” and “distraught” after the huge truck demolished her beloved bike.
Martha, from Dalton, was riding her Suzuki GSF 400 Bandit along Manchester Road near Longroyd Bridge on the evening of October 3 when the accident occurred.
The driver of the Scania truck was waiting to pull out and Martha says he flashed his lights to let her out but then appears to have been distracted. The next thing she knew he had crashed into her.
Martha said: “I was just sat there waiting. I’d left a generous gap as always and then all of a sudden I felt this massive jolt.
“The bike was lifted up and instinctively I knew the only thing I could do was to leap off.
“People said they heard me scream. He got out of the cab and then got back into it and kept reversing to try and shake my bike off which had got stuck in his grille. The police told me he shouldn’t have done that.
“Apparently he told them the sun may have been in his eyes.
“I am very lucky to have escaped serious injury even though he was just a few feet away from me when the collision occurred.
“It has shaken me up and taken the wind out of my sails.
“The police and ambulance arrived and I was to taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary’s A&E department.
“My vertebrae has been compressed and it has left me in a lot of pain though it is mainly bruising. Fortunately I was wearing all the correct protective clothing.
“As for the bike it was my pride and joy and I am quite distraught but it is wrenched out of shape, beyond all recognition.
“But I have loved bikes since I was 23 and I will definitely get another bike. I’ll definitely be riding again though it may be a while yet.
“I have another bike that I have not ridden for 20 years, a custom bike, but I need a new engine for it. It’s a low rider custom bike which looks like a bumble bee though funnily enough I was known as The Wasp.”
Martha is well-known in Huddersfield thanks to the motorbike shop Geared up at Martha’s in Wakefield Road, Aspley, which she ran for many years.
She bought the Suzuki for £2,700 in 1994 and spent a small fortune on having it stripped down and restored. It went on to win several awards in bike shows.
Martha added: “This collision is not just about me. I’m doing this because motorists need to be more bike-aware and think about bikes.
“And I’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the ambulance crew and the staff at A&E who were wonderful. It’s so important that we keep it in Huddersfield.”
