THIS is the battered face of a fireman who says he could have been killed after being catapulted off his bicycle by a pothole.

Tony Clough, 49, was thrown over the handlebars after hitting a 5inch deep pothole and suffered horrific cuts, bruises and a dislocated finger.

He had to take five weeks off work and said doctors have told him his facial scars may never heal.

Mr Clough, of St John's Road, Padiham, said: "If there had been a car or a wagon behind me then I could have been killed. They wouldn't have had time to stop."

He was cycling home from Nelson Fire Station along the A6068 Padiham bypass when the incident happened.

He said: “I was riding from work in the dark and it was raining. I have good lights on my bike but I couldn’t see the pothole and the next thing I knew I was going over the handlebars and hitting the floor."

Mr Clough, who has worked in the fire service for eight years, described the pothole as a 'crater'.

He said he still needed regular physiotherapy treatment on his finger that suffered a deep cut.

He said: “For a week the pain was excruciating. It is still painful now.

"The finger I cut open is still very sensitive and hurts when I try and bend it and use it.”

Mr Clough contacted the Lancashire Telegraph after reading how there are nearly 23,000 potholes in the county.

He said: “I saw the story about the potholes. People talk about cars being damaged, but for a cyclist it could mean death.

"I was very lucky, really.

“I’ve been told that some scars on my face will never heal, and I have to visit a plastic surgeon in about a year to see what can be done.

“The consequences of the accident will be with me for years, if not forever.”

He said he is considering taking legal action against the county council, who have filled the pothole in since the accident in January.

Mr Clough had only brought a new £800 bike a week before the accident but he has not been back on it since.

He said: “I will get back on it. I’ve got to but it damages your confidence when something like this happens.

“I tried to go out on it down a quiet lane last week but I was so unsure on it and was always looking for potholes, I think it’s going to affect my riding.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It's the realisation of how fast something like that can happen.”

Although the pothole has been filled in, Mr Clough was still scathing about the job done.

He said: “It’s pathetic. It is still uneven and it’s already coming away. It will need repairing again within a week.

“It is no surprise there are so many potholes if this is how they are repaired, but something needs to be done. They are so dangerous to cyclists.”

John Ramsden, secretary of Burnley and Pendle Cycling Touring Club, said: “It is bad at the moment.

"There are lots of potholes about because of the weather we have had and a lot of those are close to the edge of the road which affects cyclists.

“It can be risky to swerve out to avoid them if you move more into the middle of the road where the traffic is.

“Sometimes there is no option for cyclists but to hit the pothole.

“If there has been wet weather and the potholes are full of water then cyclists don’t know whether it is just a puddle or a big pothole.”

Lancashire County Council said it was unable to comment due to the legal proceedings.