A SEDBERGH man has failed to recover more than £200,000 he was made to pay back to insurers after a judge ruled he ‘staged’ a cycling accident with an old friend.

Alan Joyce, 49, was paid the money by Norwich Union – now Aviva – after being injured while on a bike ride near his Cautley home in 1998.

But he was ordered to pay the cash back in March after a judge at Manchester County Court found ‘on the balance of probabilities’ the accident had been staged.

Mr Joyce appealed against the judgement but this has been rejected by the Civil Appeal Court in London.

Mr Joyce, who has always vehemently denied the accident was a set up, was hit from behind while cycling along the A683 towards the Fat Lamb Country Inn, by Scotsman Gordon Hudson – who Mr Joyce was best man for 30 years earlier.

He said it was a ‘coincidence’ that Mr Hobson had hit him, because he had not seen him since his wedding day – that is, until Mr Hobson knocked on his door about six months after the crash to reveal he was the driver of the car that struck him.

The court was told that Mr Joyce, who was working as a welder at the time, suffered injuries to his head and eye, soft-tissue injuries to his back, and experienced psychiatric problems as a result of the accident.