Thanks all.
Fatters, the chap was quite remorseful to the Police and compliant. My guess: he lived locally, and thought "Sure I'll just run you up to the church, it's only round the corner", and 'thought' he was 'fine'.
Strapping is off hand now, having seen the Trauma Unit yesterday, and been told to start exercising the fingers, but to be very careful and not knock the hand for a couple of months. The T4 vertebra will have to fuse on its own, because of its position, somewhere between the shoulder blades. Back ache and lower neck pain is waking me at night, and little niggles/aches are cropping up, but it's early days. Blinking a lot, and fatigued.
All the best chaps.