Ian Hislop injured after e-bike crashed into him while crossing the road

Ian Hislop, the Private Eye editor, was left with head injuries after an electric bike crashed into him while he was crossing the road.

The 64-year-old was seen with a bandage covering the back of his head while out with his wife in central London on Thursday evening.

A spokesman for Private Eye magazine confirmed that he was hit by one of the battery-powered vehicles “whilst crossing the road” on Wednesday afternoon and was “okay” after receiving medical treatment for his injuries.

Mr Hislop, who is also a team captain on the BBC’s quiz panel show Have I Got News For You, is the latest to be on the receiving end of an e-bike collision in recent years.

Experts fear that the rising number of pedestrians being killed or seriously injured in crashes with cyclists may be fuelled by the growing popularity of e-bikes.

It also comes months after the window of a taxi in which Mr Hislop was travelling was shattered by what was initially believed to be a gunshot, before the Metropolitan Police later confirmed that it was more likely caused by a mechanical failure.

In the past seven years, 19 pedestrians have been killed in accidents with cyclists and another 1,015 have suffered serious injuries, according to official data obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

Last year’s tally of 189 serious crashes involving bikes and pedestrians was the highest total ever recorded and means that there are 15 life-changing crashes every month.

Steve Cole, the policy director of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, previously said that while electric-powered bikes can help reduce road traffic, their size “could increase the severity of injuries, in comparison to pedal-only cargo bikes”.

Duncan Dollimore, the head of campaigns at Cycling UK, also warned: “There are irresponsible people on our roads, including some who speed on e-motorbikes that far exceed the limit of legal e-bikes, which by law must cut out at 15.5mph.

“These may look like e-cycles, but in the eyes of the law they have no place on our streets or in our cycle lanes and threaten the safety of people who walk and cycle.”