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Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Van driver who laughed as he drove at cyclists jailed for six months
A van driver who laughed as he deliberately drove at a group of cyclists has been jailed for six months.
According to a report from the Daily Post, Joel Reece Morris drove his white Transit van on the wrong side of the road at the 20-rider group “for fun”, swerving back to his side of the road moments before a collision.
Many of the riders fell off their bikes as the group stopped, believing they were going to be hit.
Morris, 25, of Connah’s Quay, Flintshire, North Wales was jailed for six months. He was also banned from driving for six months and will have to take an extended driving test before being allowed to drive again.
The incident happened at 10.45am on Sunday November 17, 2013. The cyclists from Ellesmere Port were riding two abreast along the B5125 at Northop Hall, Flintshire.
Witnesses described Morris laughing as he drove at the group.
Afterwards he stopped and as riders approached him to get his registration number he reversed with his tyres screeching as his passenger gave them a V sign.
Morris had previously claimed he had swerved to avoid something in the road, and had not deliberately driven at the riders, but at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday he accepted the prosecution case in full.
David Mainstone, prosecuting, said that a female cyclist at the head of the group swerved to the left and told how she would have been hit if she had fallen to the right.
Morris had two previous convictions for drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Jayne La Grua, mitigating, said Morris appreciated the seriousness of what he had done. He had sought the help of a driving instructor with his impulsive actions behind the wheel.
He was a cockler and the loss of his driving licence meant the loss of his job. “This was a phenomenally stupid and dangerous thing to do,” she said.
Judge Niclas Parry told Morris: “This was an inexplicable piece of dangerous driving. For some reason, known only to you, you decided to goad and, more seriously, intimidate a group of cyclists doing no more than what has become a very common, enjoyable and worthwhile past time of riding in a group on a Sunday morning.
“For fun, you deliberately drove at them to alarm them and to make them lose control. You drove intentionally at that group.”
Only the alertness of the cyclists prevented any major injuries, said the judge. The evasive action riders were forced to take resulted in some of them colliding with each other, with some falling off and sustaining minor injuries and damage to their bikes.
The judge mentioned recent incidents in which cyclists had been seriously injured or killed and said: “There is a duty on every motorist to respect the safety of cyclists.”
Follow-up: Ride leader Terry Hughes has given a detailed account of what happened.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- hawkinspeter 0 sec ago
How about just putting the 20mph limits in wherever there's been a traffic collision? That could change the nature of motorways though.
- OnYerBike 35 min 28 sec ago
Obviously we only have the snippets of information from the newspaper report, but Mr Brayley might be correct....
- MattKelland 59 min 22 sec ago
Thanks! For some reason it's not showing up here: https://road.cc/show/tags/nmotd/145572
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But it's OK because our taxes are being used to subsidise those poor hard-done-by motorists by freezing fuel duty
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Highway Code rule 237 If you are dazzled by bright sunlight, slow down and if necessary, stop.
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69 comments
Another mentalist in charge of a vehicle.
Let's hope that he doesn't try and learn how to brush his teeth with a shotgun
Arsehole!
Oh, I don't know, let's hope he does, then he can blow his brain cell out...
It's a sad comment on the judicial system that people who have multiple convictions for serious driving offences are ever allowed to drive again.
Need to drive for your job? Don't commit serious offences.
It *should* be that simple
Two previous and he's still being given the chance to re-do his license.....
#facepalm.
No. It will be six months after he leaves prison. Not sure why he should get a licence back at all. But 6 months after he will have to take an extended driving test. If he passes he gets back an endorsed licence. I don't think he will enjoy the discussion with the insurance company either.
Not long enough in my opinion but don't underestimate the impact of even 6 months in prison and the massive extra costs of driving again. Oh and plod will have an ANPR interest marker for previous DQ against any vehicle he owns or insures. So he had better drive nicely and make sure he doesn't fall foul of them for any minor things. He can look forward to regular document checks, vehicle inspections and will get to be an expert on breathalysers. Oh and with this as previous any more reports from cyclists about his behaviour and he'll get the book thrown at him and really hard (and I hope it hurts).
I am of the opinion that this was a violent hate crime. Being racist or homophobic in public these days can easily land you in the dock so all the bigots who were previously into gay bashing have had to go looking for another minority to persecute. Again the CPS have used the wrong charge. Violent disorder should have been what he was charged with and it should also be what he was convicted of, in future he can tell employers that he was found guilty of a driving offence which sounds a hell of a lot better than telling the truth, which is that he had a good go at putting a large group of people in fear of their life simply because he thinks they are different from him. If these incidents continue we are going to see the first case of a driver getting dragged out of a car and worked over with a d-lock by a bunch of commuters as the current negative press in right wing media is making idiots think that they can terrorize or even kill cyclists with the peer approval of most of society - people will only live in fear for so long before they start fighting back.
How on earth did he manage to get insurance with two previous convictions for drink driving?
Pedant's corner - the judge must has said (and intended) pastime, not past time - two entirely different things and we don't really want cycling to be a past time activity!
Good report though
Because it's a free country and a free market. Car insurance is a product based on risk and not any perceived ethical judgement. The number of accidents caused by people who have previously been guilty of drink driving is not (surprisingly) any different to that of the wider populace.
Doubt PC Plod will find the time to do what Cyclists would love to see !
Anyone who visits http://bikinginla.com/ will be horrified to see 15 Deaths in Sth Cal , USA , already this year !
Time Bozo & UK created a version of :
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vision-ZERO-Worldwide/540123632761709
Only be daily reminding Poli.s that THEY are responsible , will any effort be put into keeping CYCLISTS safe on the road !
"Morris had two previous convictions for drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident."
Come on, at what point does someone lose the right do drive for life? Somewhere around here I'd say.
Lessons need to be learned -
www.justice4rossandclare.com
Pedant typo, oh the irony
Luckily he has an uncommon name and comes from a small town. He's on my list.
Not enough for the Road.CC flog 'em and hang 'em brigade ( whatever could be without the return of the noose) but it sounds as if the judge is actually keen on cycling which is a step forward. 6 months for dangerous driving and a ban is pretty much all that was possible for the offence.
I refer you, as ever, to my footer.
The prison sentence was about right and a welcome change, the ban is odd though. The minimum ban for dangerous driving is 12 month unless there are exceptional circumstances. Someone who has previous driving convictions shouldn't really be getting a reduction and curious to know what the exceptional circumstances are to warrant it
Six month ban for dangerous driving, despite three previous serious offences.
Sigh.
Yep, I'm sure cyclists in the Deeside area will keep an eye out for Joel Reece Morris, 25, of Mold Road, Connah’s Quay.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/laughing-connahs-quay-v...
Sounds very similar to what happened to a local training group here in the 80's - except the driver didn't get back onto his own side in time - ploughed into the bunch - killed one clubmate - injured many others.
Driver left the scene of the accident and tried to hide his car, but was caught and prosecuted. Outcome? Driving ban and fine...
We have to start moving away from the idea that not having a licence is too awful a sanction for courts to impose, particuarly since growing numbers in society are demonstrating that it is indeed perfectly possible to live a normal life without a car.
I'd bet she's some kind of sociopath, as is the van driver in the article.
You didn't register as a person with her.
Just my pop psych opinion.
Think he should be banned from driving for life as his actions were deliberate and therefore can't be trusted behind the wheel. Glad he is in jail though and lets hope he drops his soap in the shower!
I see this as a good sign. If drivers can be given jail time for not actually hitting someone, then we should start seeing a reduction in the number of drivers who put cyclists' lives at risk. Personally I'll see at least one driver per hour who I consider to have been lucky to get away without knocking me off the bike.
Until the law is changed and the sentencing guidlines updated, this is probably the best way forward, and it is indeed progress.
I also doubt very much that his license will be delivered to him at the end of his ban.
I also think that jail time, a ban, a huge expense to obtain his license and loss of job is quite a significant punishment. He'll also be known by local plod (deeside isn't that big) and won't be driving illegally for long either.
I also must remember this as I ride through Deeside...
Exactly, the criminal should have had a ten year ban following his second drink driving offence, there are ways of making a living without a driving licence, something the courts don't seem to acknowledge.
Probably because they involve cycling to work or taking public transport, both of which are probably alien to Jaguar driving judges.
"Morris had two previous convictions for drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident."
I don't want this bloke driving at all! It has nothing to do with cycling.
He obviously has a mental problem and putting him inside for 6 months will only make it worse. Personally I would have him put down as a waste of space but that probably isn't possible because all you leftie cyclists would object.
It's entirely possible the local cops will take a strong interest in this bloke. If they need to keep up their arrest records, he'll be an easy mark if his record is anything to go by. I do wonder whether he'll learn lessons from this, since trends with regard to offenders and modes of behaviour suggests he won't.
Publishing his name isn't a great idea. The local cops will have him in their sights. Keeping him off the road will be of benefit for car drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians, not just cyclists.
"He was a cockler and the loss of his driving licence meant the loss of his job."
Do we give a shit about his job, hope he finds Bubba in the showers in prison. Low life JOEL REECE THOMAS" get his retribution.
"He was a cockler and the loss of his driving licence meant the loss of his job."
Do we give a shit about his job, hope he finds Bubba in the showers in prison. Low life JOEL REECE THOMAS" get his retribution.
If this moron had fired a shotgun at a group of cyclists he'd have been banned for life from owning a firearm. In 6 months or so (despite an "extended driving test") he'll be back behind the wheel of a potentially lethal vehicle. I hope the "extended test" includes extensive psychological therapy for psychopathic behaviour.
While it is a step forward that a driver gets a prison sentence at all, I do wonder why other websites reporting on this have to drag up the same nonsense.
Taken from Daily Post, North Wales main local paper: (http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/laughing-connahs-quay-v...)
"Prosecutor David Mainstone said the incident happened at 10.45am on Sunday November 17 last year when the cyclists from Ellesmere Port were riding two abreast along the B5125 at Northop Hall, Flintshire."
WTF does riding have 2 abreast have to do with anything here?
It's almost as if they want to spark a response...
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