Nick Bowers-Broadbent, a victim of a hit-and-run, is appealing for the driver who fled to come forward

Give yourself up, urges Wanstead cyclist badly hurt in hit-and-run

Zjan Shirinian Sunday, November 11, 2012
3:30 PM

A music teacher is urging a hit-and-run driver who left him badly injured to come forward so he can explain the impact the accident has had on his family.

Nick Bowers-Broadbent, 44, of Wanstead, was cycling from Islington to Hackney when he was hit by a silver Ford Focus and flung into the air at around 11.30pm, on Sunday, October 14.

The choirmaster was taken to Homerton Hospital where staff discovered his right leg had been broken in two places and his ribs fractured.

The keen cyclist led gospel choir Revelation to the semi-finals of BBC One’s Last Choir Standing show.

He underwent surgery on his leg on October 22 and it may be a year before he regains full mobility.

Speaking to the Recorder as he recovered at home, he said: “It’s not about retribution or anything like that.

“I would like to understand how they didn’t see me for a start.

“I’d also like the opportunity to speak to them to explain the impact this has had on me and my family.”

He said cyclists are “very vulnerable” and spoke of the “pressure” the accident has put on his family.

His wife, headteacher Jackie Bowers-Broadbent, 42, said the incident had been incredibly traumatic for her and their three children, aged two, six and nine.

She said: “I would like to think the person who has done this has a conscience.

“I would appeal to them to go into a police station and say they did this.”

She added: “Nobody wants to receive a phone call like that at midnight. The worst things run through your mind.

“My six-year-old cried and keeps asking about his dad.

“[Nick] was teaching him how to play the drums and he was supposed to perform at an event, but he now has to put these plans on hold.”

A Hackney police spokesman said: “The car was being driven by a black male aged 18 to 19, of a tall slim build.”

The incident took place in the junction of Brooksby’s Walk and Homerton High Street and the car was found abandoned in Overbury Street, Homerton, the nextday. Call police on 101.