When Harriet Barnsley woke up from a four-week coma following a devastating crash that killed her best friend, she had no idea what was wrong.
The 21-year-old university student had to ask her mother ‘what had happened to her’ and why she couldn’t move a single part of her body.
She had broken her arms, legs, wrists and suffered a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a speeding driver travelling at 101mph on a 40mph road.
It was May 31, 2014, and Harriet had been standing at a bus stop with her childhood best friend Rebecca McManus on their way to a hen party.
She had travelled home to Birmingham for the night out after finishing her final exam at the University of Reading the day before.
Harriet and Rebecca were stood waiting for the bus when two cars – that were racing each other – charged around the corner at speeds upwards of 100mph.
One of the drivers lost control and smashed into both of them. Rebecca was killed instantly, while Harriet was catapulted around 50 yards into a park behind.
More than a decade after the tragedy Harriet, now 32, still pretends her best friend is away studying at university to cope with the grief.
Speaking to MailOnline this week, Harriet, who has started sharing her story on her TikTok account @hazzzzab, opened up about her devastating ordeal.
Harriet Barnsley, pictured left, now 32, was waiting at a bus stop with her friend Rebecca McManus, right, in May 2014 when a car driving at 101mph hit them
Harriet suffered a series of traumatic injuries and was left in a coma for four weeks
Harriet (pictured) had travelled home to Birmingham for the night out after finishing her final exam at the University of Reading the day before
It comes after dangerous driver Sukvinder Mannan, who killed Rebecca and seriously injured Harriet, was caught offending again after spending just four years in prison.
The sales rep, 42, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving in 2015, was picked by police after speeding through a red light and found without a licence.
He was put back behind bars for 12 weeks in February last year and was banned from driving for a further 770 days.
Harriet said: ‘I have had to piece together what happened because I do not remember any of it.
‘I woke up from a coma around four weeks later to the worried faces of my family and friends and found out what had happened.
‘Becky and I had been best friends from the age of five to 21. She was killed instantly and apparently I was found sat up screaming.
‘I do not remember it but I am so glad that I don’t. The worst possible thing that could happen to me has already happened.
‘However, when I found out about what happened to Becky I felt like I needed to live for us both.’
Since the crash, Harriet has undergone numerous operations and has lost the use of her left foot, leaving her physically disabled.
Dangerous driver Sukvinder Mannan (pictured), who killed Rebecca and seriously injured Harriet, was caught offending again after spending just four years in prison
Harriet has undergone numerous operations and has lost the use of her left foot, leaving her physically disabled
Rebecca McManus (pictured), 21, died after she was hit by Mannan’s out-of-control high-powered Mitsubishi at a bus stop on Hagley Road in Quinton, near Birmingham city centre
She explained, however, that while she threw herself into her physical recovery, she has struggled emotionally.
Harriet said she developed psychosis in 2019 which left her living in a continuous nightmare.
She recalled: ‘I never really let myself grieve. I just kind of got on with it and threw myself into the physical recovery as a way of coping with it.
‘They said because I was physically fit – and that I was athletic that was one of the reasons I survived.
‘So I kept on doing that, kept on just trying to cope and get on with it for as long as possible.
‘And then I met a neuropsychologist in 2015 and they said if I continued to box in my emotions, there was going to be catastrophic consequences.
‘I read the report and was like well you don’t know me – I’m not going to let myself break down because I don’t know if I will ever be able to get back up again.
‘And then five years later low and behold I had ran out of stream and I started a masters at Birmingham University.
‘I’d got an unconditional acceptance on, and started it, and then realised that I couldn’t keep it up.
Picture from the scene of the horrific crash in Birmingham in May 2014
Harriet and Rebecca are pictured before the horrific crash at the bus stop
Harriet, pictured in hospital after the accident, bounced off the car three times and was in a coma for four weeks at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham
‘That kind of halted my everything and led me to getting depressed – with that depression leading me to developing psychosis, which is when I just checked out of reality.
‘I couldn’t handle it. I got picked up on the motorway in the middle of the night in January 2019.’
Harriet, who has now recovered after spending time in hospital, said she wants to change the stigma that still exists around psychosis.
She has also campaigned for a crackdown on dangerous driving and wants to ‘make people think twice before they get behind the wheel’.
Harriet said: ‘I started social media because people would get in contact with me and ask me to speak about road safety and what I’ve gone through.
‘At one anniversary for people who have died in car crashes I just broke down and then I discovered it is really hard to do in person.
‘I then tried working out a way to put it online rather than having to deliver it as a speech to a crowd of people.
‘That is why I started TikTok. I want to share my story. I don’t know how to stop dangerous driving and I don’t know how to actually make a difference.
‘All I know is that the minimum I can do is make someone think twice before they get behind the wheel of a car.
‘Psychosis is also massively misunderstood and not spoken about enough.
Harriet, who has now recovered after spending time in hospital, said she wants to change the stigma that still exists around psychosis
Harriet said she developed psychosis in 2019 which left her living in a continuous nightmare
‘Celebrities do talk about it but people are afraid of psychosis without really understanding it.
‘I have been trying to raise awareness through writing a book and on social media.
‘And just the idea that you can cope with anything. I’ve made it through the worst thing physically I could ever possibly experience and then the worst thing, mentally that I’ve ever experienced.
‘But now I have the rest of my life left to enjoy and I want to help others.’
The men responsible for the crash that killed Rebecca and seriously injured Harriet were both jailed in 2015.
During the trial, witness Lindsey Grant described their driving as like ‘a scene out of the film The Fast and The Furious’.
Sukvinder Mannan, then 33, from Halesowen, West Midlands, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to provide a blood sample following the crash.
In November 2015, Mannan was jailed for eight years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Inderjit Singh, then 31, of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
However he had previously admitted dangerous driving and was jailed for one year.
As well as the jail terms, Mannan was banned from driving for 10 years and Singh was disqualified for three.
