Newport man knocked out by electric bike in ‘brutal’ hit-and-run

A man who was knocked unconscious by an electric bike in Newport with the rider appearing to flee only found out what had happened two days later from a neighbour’s CCTV.

Sam Bevan, 33, who lives in St Julian’s, says he has no recollection of the crash on 11 November which left him with severe concussion and cuts to his face.

He said it was only when a neighbour discovered the footage that he realised he had been in a collision.

Gwent Police said it was investigating the incident and appealed for witnesses.

Mr Bevan had popped out to his car after putting his dinner in the oven when the drama unfolded – actions he would not remember when he woke up on Fairoak Avenue five minutes later.

It was only in the hours that followed, after he stumbled home with scrapes and cuts on his face, that he realised something was wrong.

“My stepfather was asking me my son’s birthday and I couldn’t remember. I was slightly upset at that, it was overwhelming,” he said.

Mr Bevan went to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, with doctors also mystified.

“They were telling me I couldn’t drive for six months, I would have to have tests on my heart and my brain – I was overwhelmed at that point because I just had no memory of it.”

Two days later, two men knocked on Mr Bevan’s door asking about his welfare, revealing that they were neighbours who had helped him and told him he had been hit by an electric bike.

Then CCTV of the collision came to light, showing him being hit at speed by an electric bike which was coming the wrong way down a one-way street with no lights.

Mr Bevan hit the ground with force, the rider left the scene and he lay in the road for several minutes.

“People have told me it’s brutal,” said Mr Bevan, who has been signed off from his job for four weeks.

“I have looked at it about 500 times but it still doesn’t seem real to me.

“It could have been really serious, if that could have been a child, an old person, someone with a smaller frame – I was quite lucky.”

A week later, Mr Bevan still has some marks on his face. Police are investigating, and he hopes people will come forward with information.

He says the fact he was left on the road particularly upsets him.

“There was the potential for someone not to see me – was I OK, was I seriously hurt?” he said.

“That’s what’s annoyed me, the disrespect and not being humane and checking up on someone.”

Mr Bevan also said more needed to be done to clamp down on misuse of the bikes.

“I imagine they are going to be on lots of people’s Christmas lists this year – I just hope people seeing this accident will take a second look at buying them for their kids,” he said.

Police asked anyone with any information to get in touch.