A fit and active man who lost a leg in a hit-and-run crash where he was left for dead says he would be “a shadow of the person I was” if not for laws protecting victims of negligence.

Rusty Brown had to have his leg amputated after a Jaguar driver lost control at over 100mph and smashed into his car on the A259 near Bognor in 2017.

Rusty said he was in excruciating pain in the months after the crash due to an ill-fitting prosthetic leg – and would have been left like that for years if not for legally protected compensation.

Rusty shortly after the crashRusty shortly after the crash (Image: Handout)

Rusty, 51, said immediately after the crash he was given an NHS prosthetic leg which was a “terrible” fit and left him “getting upset” due to the pain.

He added: “For the first year it made things very, very difficult. There was then the danger that actually, I wasn’t going to get any compensation.

“I feel very thankful that I have recovered well, have had excellent rehabilitation and prosthetics provision, that my legal case has been settled in a very satisfactory way, and my life is very much on track.”

Rusty, 51, now running on his prosthetic legRusty, 51, now running on his prosthetic leg (Image: Handout)

Kevin Zhou, then 29, admitted to dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of a crash, failing to report a crash and failing to hand over information about the identity of the driver following the crash in August 2017.

Rusty, then 45, required 40 hours of surgery and was in hospital for three weeks after the head-on crash destroyed his Mitsubishi.

He was forced to move out of his house as it was not suitable for him in his wheelchair and secured private treatment to get a suitable prosthetic leg.

Rusty, right, with his partner JacquiRusty, right, with his partner Jacqui (Image: Handout)

These were both funded by an “interim payment” which tided him over until his insurance claim was finalised, which took three years.

Interim payments are available to personal injury claimants under law in some scenarios such as amputations and medical negligence claims.

Now Rusty, who lives in Bognor, has returned to his active lifestyle and is back at work at a pharmacy while taking walking holidays with his partner Jacqui. In 2021, he climbed Ben Nevis, the tallest peak in the UK.

Rusty on camera in the new short filmRusty on camera in the new short film (Image: Handout)

Rusty’s story is now being told in a new short film as part of the Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Apil).

Kim Harrison, president of Apil, said: “If there’s one thing we want people to take away from Rusty’s Story, it is that compensation is not a windfall.

“The money cannot undo what happened but it is crucial to helping injured people like Rusty get their lives as close as possible to how they were before the negligence.

“The law on injury claims should be valued and protected, which is what the Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign is all about. The needs of injured victims must be at the heart of any debate about the law on personal injury.”