Racing presenter: I could have been killed when pop star Will Young hit my car

Raceday presenter Robert Hogarth has relived how he came close to being killed in a car accident involving popstar Will Young.

On Monday, Young, 39, pleaded guilty to careless driving and was given five penalty points, resulting in a six-month driving ban under the totting up procedure, after crashing into Hogarth’s parked car in a layby on the A68 near Earlston on the Scottish Borders on January 21.

Hogarth, 36, said he felt sorry for Young – whose number one singles include Light My Fire and Leave Right Now – as the singer could not have been nicer or more concerned for his welfare following the accident.

Robert Hogarth: 'He said it was a bit like being in a horror movie as I was so nearly killed, and I actually hadn’t thought about that'

Hogarth, a former operations manager at Musselburgh who now works as a raceday presenter and for ITV Racing, said: “The weather was very snowy and I’d gone over to help a friend with his horses. He lives up a steep hill so I’d parked my car in a layby and he’d taken me up in his 4X4.

"He’d just dropped me off back at the car and I was stood by the passenger’s door when this car came into the layby going very fast and went straight into the back of my car. It was a big Mercedes G-Class and it shoved my car right up the bank.

“The driver stopped straight away and came running over and was incredibly concerned about how I was. I knew straight away that it was Will Young by his voice, rather than being a big fan of his music, and I know he used to ride and his dad used to run The Pheasant Inn in Lambourn.”

While Young was concerned for Hogarth's welfare, Hogarth himself was more worried about his new car, which he had only recently purchased.

Will Young leaves court after pleading guilty to careless driving

“He really couldn’t have been nicer,” Hogarth said. “All I was concerned about was my car, as I’d only had it about four months. He phoned the police and asked if I wanted to sit in his car while we waited, but as I’d been helping with the horses I was wearing a smelly jacket and I kept apologising to him!

“He said it was a bit like being in a horror movie as I was so nearly killed, and I actually hadn’t thought about that. I was just about to put my jacket in the boot of the car, so it doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if I’d gone to do that sooner.”

Young was also fined £600 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, and defence lawyer Stuart Munro said: "It was a momentary loss of control which led to the unfortunate events."

Hogarth added: “I can’t tell you how nice he was. He totally admitted responsibility and kept checking and rechecking that I was okay, so I feel very sorry for him getting a ban. It was just an accident.”

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