A COUPLE left badly injured in a quad bike accident in Corfu have warned holidaymakers of the dangers of riding them.

Simon and Dianne Barrow, of Redhouse, lost control of the bike and plummeted 30ft down a cliff. Dianne broke her arm and is still unable to lift it above her head and needed stitches to her face.

Now the couple have spoken out after reading of the tragic death of Swindon teenager Kieran Roche on holiday in Crete in a quad bike accident.

In his accident, Simon suffered a double fracture to his left wrist and a dislocation to his right elbow, leaving both his arms in casts. He was looked after by a carer for 11 weeks.

The pair have been told by doctors that they won’t ever get the full use of their arms back again.

Dianne said: “When we read the tragedy of what happened to Kieran, it really hit home of how lucky we are. We feel guilty that someone that young died, yet we survived.

“It’s traumatising and has changed our lives completely. I still have nightmares about it.”

Simon said: “We were enjoying our trip, making memories and enjoying ourselves and then our worst terror happened, and we went from this to fearing for our lives.”

Describing the accident, he said: “I performed an emergency stop but because the bike kept on pulling it took us just enough over the edge and before we knew it we were falling off a cliff. We closed our eyes and tried to embrace the impact, but nothing could have ever prepared us for this.”

Since the horrific accident they have found out that their insurance company Aviva has refused to cover the medical bills because the firm classed riding a quad as an ‘extreme sport’. That has left the couple with a bill for £2,400.

Simon said: “We were never warned about this being a problem and have since found out that if we went with the insurance company we had before then we would have been covered. I can’t stress enough to people going abroad that if you do plan to ride a quad bike, get a European Health Insurance Card and make sure you’ve got cover, because anything can happen.”

Simon added: “I feel for Kieran’s parents and I hope people realise the dangers of this and act sensibly.”