Man left with broken shoulder after unleashed dog knocked him off bike in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park

Derek Manson-Smith was cycling home from the gym through Kelvingrove Park at around 10am on Wednesday, September 21, when a "large black dog" ran out in front of him and hit the wheel of his bike.

The 78-year-old explained: "I was cycling back up the park towards the top of Kelvingrove on the north side near the football pitch when this dog appeared, and I didn’t really see it until it was almost on the path running really hard up the slope.

"It clipped the front wheel of my bike, and my front wheel flipped around to the left and I came off and landed on my shoulder and my hip and I couldn’t move.

"I was expecting an owner to come because the dog just kept on running."

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Derek Manson-Smith (Image: Gordon Terris, Newsquest)

Around five to 10 minutes after he was knocked off his bike, two women stopped to help Derek and called and ambulance which took him to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

He remained in the hospital for a week after it was diagnosed that his humerus had broken in the shoulder socket.

Derek, who lives in the city’s West End, said: "My hip is also very sore, but they didn’t detect any damage to that, it’s just bruised.

"I’ve got a sling to allow it [my shoulder] to heal itself rather than doing surgery."

Derek Manson-Smith (Image: Gordon Terris, Newsquest)

He added: "The day I came out the registrar said he would hope after a couple of weeks I would start to see improvement in the movement of my shoulder, but it could take up to three months to heal.

"I’m just wondering when I’m going to get back onto the bike and back to the gym, it could be a few months."

Derek now has nurses and health and social care support workers visiting him at home while he recovers.

READ MORE: Ann loses eight stone after heart attack scare left OAP ‘dead’ for an hourDerek Manson-Smith (Image: Gordon Terris, Newsquest)

While he is retired from his career in consumer affairs doing research for the Scottish Consumer Council and also writing about the legal system in Scotland, Derek says the incident has had a big impact on his life as he keeps himself busy.

He said: "I’m a vice chair of the West of Scotland Research Ethics Committee and we meet every month, but last week we had our first in-person training day since 2019 which I was asked to run a workshop for.

"Thankfully I had all the material prepared the day before this happened so somebody else took over and ran the workshop.

"And then we had our monthly meeting and I normally have all sorts of papers to read but I just couldn’t focus on any of them so I just said 'sorry, I can’t attend'."

He also goes to the gym three to four times a week and is an independent custody visitor.

Derek Manson-Smith (Image: Gordon Terris, Newsquest)

Although Derek says the majority of dog owners in the park are sensible, he is now urging others to keep control of their pets and be aware of other people using the park.

He said: "I feel people have got to be more responsible for keeping their animals under control.

"Most people do, there’s a large group of dog walkers in the park and usually they spot me at a distance and move to the side and so on, and I’m very careful when I go through the park and go very slowly if there’s children or dogs around.

"But this dog just seemed to be completely on the loose, so I don’t know if it was a stray or what."

He continued: "People don’t appreciate the consequences of something that is over in a few seconds and then takes months to resolve itself.

"Most dog owners that I see in the park are responsible. It’s just this occasionally uncontrolled animal which can cause such mayhem.

"People should be aware there are vulnerable people, whether it’s children or people on bikes."