Simon Cowell's brother has poked fun at his electric bike accident.

The 60-year-old music mogul broke his back in three places when he fell off an electric bike, requiring him to undergo six hours of surgery, which included having a metal rod inserted into his spine, but his sibling Tony shared a picture on social media of a standard push bike, which he said was ''much safer than an electric bike''.

Tony - who is 10 years older than Simon - wrote on Twitter: ''A bike. A normal bike. Much safer than electric bike. #Greece (sic)''

One of his follower's commented: ''Sibling banter means getting away with stuff no-one else EVER could (sic)''

Tony's quip comes after Simon's 'America's Got Talent' co-star Howie Mandel also poked fun at his plight by gifting him a tricycle following his e-bike disaster.

Simon recently wrote on Twitter: ''This just arrived at my house! Thank you @howiemandel (sic)''

Howie replied: ''Safe biking my friend.''

Simon is said to have come close to paralysing himself when he fell off his new £15,000 electric Swind EB01 bicycle whilst testing it out.

Over the weekend, Simon's fellow 'Britain's Got Talent' panellist Amanda Holden admitted he sounded ''really well'' when a show producer spoke to him.

She said: ''I sent him some Lego, cashmere socks and books and butterscotch Angel Delight, his favourite.

''Lauren is keeping his spirits up and cooking turkey shepherd's pies. A producer spoke to him and says he sounds amazing, really well.''

Simon's partner Lauren Silverman, 43 - who he shares six-year-old son Eric with - is thought to have encouraged the star to get rid of his electric bike following the accident.

A source recently said: ''Lauren doesn't want him to ride one of those bikes again, so he's agreed with his friends and family to get rid of them as soon as he's out of hospital.

''The power of the bike was unbelievable when he changed the setting up to the second one. The bike just flew into the air.

''Thankfully he let go of the bike as he fell backwards and it didn't land on him.''