Key sends Mallard get well wishes after bike crash

Labour Party MP Trevor Mallard on his bike in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister John Key has wished Trevor Mallard a speedy recovery after a bike crash at the weekend left the Labour MP laid up in Dunedin Hospital.

Mr Mallard, MP for Hutt South, broke his right femur and right shoulder blade on the Taieri Plains when he crashed into two fellow competitors on the R and R Sport tour.

"In the first race I clipped the wheel of another rider and went down doing a bit over 40kmh - airborne for a while," Mr Mallard said on the Labour Party's Red Alert website.

The accident happened on the first of five stages in the two-day event.

Mr Mallard underwent an operation in Dunedin Hospital on Saturday afternoon with a plate and screws inserted below the hip to knit his broken femur together.

Speaking at a post-cabinet press conference this afternoon, Mr Key sent Mr Mallard a get well message.

"We don't like to see him in that condition, so we wish him a speedy recovery," Mr Key said.

"Tell him to go on the cycleway next time on his own so he can't hit another bike."

- NZPA