Ouch! BBC’s Beattie hurt in bike commute collision
BROADCASTER John Beattie yesterday described the terrifying moment he was knocked off his bicycle as he cycled to work.
The 60-year-old former rugby player was involved in a collision with a motorist who was blinded by strong sunlight and failed to see him.
The BBC Radio Scotland presenter later confirmed he had a broken rib following the incident in Glasgow yesterday morning.
The driver involved in the crash stopped to apologise and has offered to pay for any repairs to Mr Beattie’s bicycle.
After arriving at the BBC Radio Scotland studio, Mr Beattie posted a video online, in which he said: ‘Morning, everybody.
‘Got knocked off my bike this morning, first time ever. T-bone, I think they call it.
‘Bloke was turning right on my right-hand side and I was turning right and I went to the side of him.
‘No hard feelings. He didn’t see me because of the sun, but it’s sore, man, so I got a lift in. ‘Could’ve been worse. He later wrote on social media: ‘Got a lift in, a rib is talking to me in a strange way, as is a hip, will try to get back on the bike tomorrow. I always thought the golden rule for injuries is three days getting worse, feeling a fair bit better after ten.’
He also said that he was ‘dreading trying to sleep’ for fear of being sore.
Mr Beattie later added on social media that he would go to hospital to have his rib checked after presenting his show.
He wrote: ‘Off to hospital to get my ribs checked out after the show. Knocked off the bike this morning.
‘A doc has told me what to look out for in a broken rib, not sure if it is or not. Sorry if I ‘ouch’ a few times.’
The presenter later added that he ‘should have had a camera’ on which he could have captured the accident.
He also later confirmed that following an X-ray, he was found to have suffered a broken rib. He said that the doctor had told him ‘the pain will tell’ him when he can next get back on his bicycle.
Mr Beattie won 25 caps for Scotland during his rugby career and toured twice with the British and Irish Lions.
After retiring from the sport, he retrained as a chartered accountant, before moving into broadcasting in 1995.
His son, Johnnie Beattie, 32, is also a rugby union player who has represented Scotland 38 times while his daughter Jennifer, 27, is a footballer for Manchester City Women.
Last September, Beattie senior volunteered to be hit with a belt as part of an item about corporal punishment for BBC Scotland’s Timeline programme.