The Straits Times understands the insurer of the contractor which erected the heavy-duty steel barrier on an overhead bridge in Tampines agreed to pay 65 per cent of the amount sought. The case was mutually settled between the parties last month and registered in court.

Mr Koh Liep Hang, 43 and a father of two, initially sued both the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the contractor in Feb 2006 for 'personal injuries caused by an unsafe barrier'.

LTA was subsequently dropped as a defendent. It is understood court papers did not explain this.

Mr Koh, riding his bicycle, had slammed into the structure, which had been installed on one end of the bridge he had cycled across that day in July 2005.

LTA put up such barriers on both ends of seven pedestrian bridges between 1997 and early 2006 to force cyclists to dismount for the safety of other bridge users.

But on the bridge Mr Koh used, the contractor failed to put up the barriers on both ends on the same day; it also did not post signs to alert cyclists to the barrier at one end.

Mr Koh crashed into it just before 7am, and sustained spinal injuries. He lost all feeling in his limbs and had breathing difficulties. He spent the next six months in hospital and a nursing home battling other problems like pneumonia, bedsores and urinary tract inflammations.

He remains a tetraplegic.

An LTA spokesman said in response to queries from this newspaper that the case had been 'amicably settled' and that its terms were confidential.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.