A cyclist’s arm has undergone reconstruction after it was clipped by a van’s wing mirror with the driver allegedly speeding away from the scene.

Hit and run victim John McClafferty, from Port Erin, had to have a titanium plate fitted on his upper right arm following what should have been a nice cycle out from Douglas to his home in the south of the island.

On July 1, Mr McClafferty was heading up Fisher’s Hill on his way from Castletown towards Port St Mary when a vehicle going in the same direction struck him with its left wing mirror.

The driver was said to have then sped away from the cyclist.

’I feel quite angry and upset, Mr McClafferty told the Examiner. ’It could have been a potentially fatal incident.

’I find it hard to believe that anybody could leave the scene of anything like that.’

The 46-year-old said the accident happened at 6.48pm on the Monday.

He claimed: ’The driver was going 60 to 70mph when they passed me.

’Part of the wing mirror detached and came to a rest at the side of the road.

’I immediately pulled into a farmer’s gate.

Shock

’I couldn’t move my arm and later found I had a broken bone just above my elbow on my right arm.’

He added: ’It’s going to be a few months before I can cycle on the roads again - three months of recovery and also it depends on how I feel.

’It was the shock of it - seeing my hand there looking lifeless and trying to move it and not being able to.’

To calm himself down, he said he used breathing techniques that his late wife Sylvia, who was a registered nurse, taught him before using his good hand to phone the emergency services. An ambulance took Mr McClafferty to A&E at Noble’s Hospital.

’I had surgery on my upper arm where they opened it up and reset a nerve and have had a titanium plate put in with six grooves that hold everything together,’ he said.

’The doctor said it will take about three months at least until I can work with the hand properly. I’m a right-handed joiner, so it’s going to affect me financially.’

Castletown police are investigating the incident.

Mr McClafferty is appealing to witnesses or drivers with a dash cam who were travelling around the area at the time to get in contact with the police to help their investigations.