Dermot Murnaghan details how he was 'wiped out' by a driver on his phone

Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan has told how he was “wiped out” by a driver who turned into him as he was cycling.

The accident on Thursday, which he described as a “hit-and-run”, left him with a number of cuts and bruises as well as a damaged bike.

Speaking to Sky News, he said the driver of the car in Kentish Town, north London, had been using a mobile phone when he collided with the journalist.

“On an empty road in north London a guy in a car on a mobile phone pulled out from the side of the road without indicating,” he said.

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“I swerved that, but a millisecond later he U-turned into me and wiped me out.”

Murnaghan, 59, explained that he had woken up at 6am to go cycling with friends before work and had been wearing a hi-vis jacket.

He said: “Twenty minutes later I was lying by the side of the road with a broken cycle helmet and a hobbled bike, still spinning, lights shining – and a variety of cuts, bruises and abrasions, but thankfully no broken bones.”

The presenter also thanked the “Good Samaritan” who saw what happened and told him that the driver had sped off.

“The perpetrator was too interested in his phone to bother to stop and would have left me lying in the road,” Murnaghan said.

On Friday he announced what had happened by Tweeting a picture of his grazed face.

But he was able to make some light of the incident by joking with teasing followers.

Fellow Sky presenter Tom Macleod tweeted to say he would be filling Murnaghan’s role on Sky News Tonight on Friday.

Murnaghan has worked for Sky News for the past 10 years.