Lord Heseltine shattered a cyclist's knees when he knocked him off his bike while driving his Jaguar, a court heard, as the former deputy prime minister was fined £5,000 for causing the crash.

He appeared at Northampton Magistrates' Court on Thursday and entered a guilty plea to a charge of careless driving.

In a statement after the hearing he said he was "unreservedly" sorry to the cyclist and that his concern throughout had been for the injured man's well-being.