FIONA GOODENOUGH knew the cyclist she had come to the aid of in Oxford’s George Street was seriously injured but did not how badly.

Mrs Goodenough, 26, had melted back into the crowd after paramedics had taken the badly wounded Tessa Goldin off to hospital and was even unsure how the 53-year-old Oxford University psychologist had sustained her serious head wound.

It was only after seeing the Oxford Mail’s front page earlier this month, which told how Mrs Goldin had been knocked off her bicycle by a falling girder from a construction site, that she discovered what had happened and came forward.

Now the two women – captured in the image of Mrs Goodenough cradling the stricken Mrs Goldin, who had fractured her skull – have been reunited.

As the two women met, Mrs Goodenough, a care worker from Abingdon, explained: “It’s unbelievable, it’s really very lucky. I didn’t see what happened to her, I just saw her there in the street.

“I used some first aid I know through my job and kept her as mobile as I could and also put pressure on her wounds.

“When the ambulance came it was quite bizarre, it was ‘right, that’s it over, finished with’ and then you are left there a bit redundant.

“I think I have been driving my husband mad because I knew her injuries would be bad. I was wondering what happened to her.”

Four days later friends and family spotted her in the Oxford Mail.

“I was quite surprised on Thursday evening with the phone calls I got,” Mrs Goodenough said.

“My first reaction was just glad that she was OK. I couldn’t believe she got away so lightly, although her injuries are horrific.

“It is a relief to know what happened to her.”

Mrs Goldin, who is still recovering at her Summertown home and faces months before she knows if there will be any long-term effects, said she was glad to have the opportunity to say thank you to the good samaritan.

She said: “I do think when somebody puts themselves out like that it’s quite amazing.

“It takes a special person to put themselves out so much and she was so calm and consistently looking after me.

“We will meet up and go out as soon as I’m well enough. I’d definitely want to take her out for a meal.

“She just told me she was so relieved to hear from me, she said she went for coffee at Blackwells afterwards because she didn’t know what to do with herself she was so shaken up.

“She told me that loads of people were taking photos which was really horrible and that there was a doctor who was helping – he’s the one I’d still like to thank, but haven’t found.”

The Health and Safety Executive said yesterday that it was carrying out a full investigation into the accident, after completing preliminary enquiries.