cyclist<\/a>\u2019s case reached court for a pre-trial hearing over whether Mr McLaughlin should be allowed to rely on further medical evidence from neurologists focusing on whether concussion and a \u201cminor traumatic brain injury\u201d could be the root cause of his current problems.<\/p>\nBut when Mr McLaughlin arrived with his support dog Barley on a lead, he was told by Judge Evans-Gordon that she had no choice but to exclude his pet as the rules normally only allow guide dogs inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s an emotional support animal, they\u2019re not normally allowed into court, not least because they\u2019re not properly trained like guide dogs,\u201d she explained to the cyclist\u2019s KC. \u201cAt least it\u2019s a dog and not an exotic animal.”<\/p>\n
Allowing in the new evidence, the judge said Mr McLaughlin came to grief \u201cwhen a car door was opened across a bicycle lane in front of him\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from physical injuries primarily to his shoulder and elbow, the claimant has suffered with psychological problems following the accident,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The psychological problems include PTSD, phobic anxiety and depression. Although he has undergone psychiatric treatment with an eminent psychiatrist, his symptoms have not improved as much as might have been hoped.”<\/p>\n
She added that Mr McLaughlin is convinced he suffered a brain injury in the collision and \u201cthat this has an impact on his long-term employment prospects\u201d.<\/p>\n
On top of medical evidence, lawyers have also obtained reports from sports scientists about Mr McLaughlin\u2019s cycling career prospects but for the accident, the court heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears to be common ground that the claimant was an elite cyclist and had the potential to be a high achiever in the event that he returned to the world of elite cycling,” noted the judge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf his psychological symptoms have a non-organic cause, then they are likely to resolve in due course. If, however, the cause is organic, namely a mild traumatic brain injury, they will not improve and are likely to have a significant impact on his future earning potential.”<\/p>\n
After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge agreed to admit the neurological evidence, which she said concerned a \u201cvery significant issue for him\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could make a difference of approaching \u00a3400,000 to his loss of earnings claim,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A full trial of the claim was originally due to take place later this year, but that may now have to be delayed due to the new neurological reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-34034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cyclist](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/JamesMcLaughlin2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-472050762.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n