Nicky Campbell’s 26-year-old daughter Lilla was hit by an e-bike in Peckham, south London, on Friday night — and as she lay badly injured waiting for an ambulance, the rider fled.
The Long Lost Family presenter and BBC Radio host, 65, spent what he called a “long and emotional night” in A&E after the incident. Writing on social media on Saturday morning, Campbell said: “Hopefully there is CCTV. Once he saw the ambulance arrive (2mins) and the crowd gathering – he scarpered. Her sisters were with her. She is badly injured but now at home. It could have been so much worse. We are incredibly lucky.”
“Nicky Campbell's daughter Lilla, 26, was badly injured in an e-bike hit-and-run in Peckham, and later a drunk exposed himself in her hospital room.”
But the ordeal did not end there. While Lilla was being treated at King’s College Hospital in Lambeth, a drunken man entered the trauma room where she and her sisters and a friend were resting and exposed himself. Campbell said: “The police were there and he has been arrested. The police were magnificent. I spoke to them when I arrived at 3.15 and he is now in custody.”
Campbell praised both the police and the hospital staff. “They were all bloody superb,” he wrote, alongside a heart emoji.
The incident has reignited concerns about the dangers of e-bikes. One supporter wrote on X: “Something has to be done about the dangers of unregulated e-bikes which are often used for street crime involving mounting pavements and escaping without any consideration for any pedestrians in their path.” Another said: “How absolutely terrible. I’m glad your daughter is recovering well. Hospitals have so much to cope with now.”
Campbell, a television veteran best known for hosting Wheel of Fortune from 1988 to 1996 and Watchdog from 2001 to 2009, currently co-presents ITV’s Long Lost Family alongside Davina McCall. The hit-and-run rider remains unidentified; Campbell has expressed hope that CCTV footage will lead to an arrest.