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Tipper truck driver who killed cyclist Alan Neve fails in appeal against sentence

Barry Meyer was jailed for three and a half years in April 2015

Barry Meyer, the tipper truck driver jailed for three and a half years last April after admitting causing the death by careless driving and while unlicensed and uninsured of London cyclist Alan Neve, has failed in his appeal against his sentence.

Mr Neve had been riding his bike from his home in Poplar to his work at PRS Music in Fitzrovia in July 2013 when he was dragged underneath a tipper truck being driven by Meyer.

Appeal Judge William Davis upheld the original sentence yesterday, reports the East London Advertiser.

Rejecting Meyer’s appeal against his jail sentence, the judge said: “He didn’t pay any attention to other people on the road, in particular the cyclist.

“It’s clear Mr Neve was in full view of Meyer and drove straight over him.”

Noting that it was “a bad case of careless driving that caused death,” he added that the case had a number of aggravating factors.

As we reported at the time of the original trial, where Meyer pleaded guilty, those included that he was uninsured, did not have a valid licence for the type of vehicle he was driving, went through a red light and had a string of convictions for motoring offences.

He had been banned from driving five times and had two convictions for drink-driving.

> Uninsured lorry driver pleads guilty to causing death of Alan Neve

The judge presiding over his trial last year, Daniel Worsley, said Meyer had "a sustained history of driving offences showing wretched disregard for the safety of road users."

In June 2015, Traffic Commissioner for London Nick Denton imposed an indefinite ban on Alan and Colin Drummond, directors of the company Meyer was driving for, from operating a haulage business.

He said they had indirectly caused Mr Neve’s death "by their own failure to fulfil one of the most basic responsibilities of an operator or transport manager – to ensure that a driver of one of their HGVs was qualified to drive it."

> Freight firm bosses banned 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

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ironmancole | 8 years ago
4 likes

The audacity of having such contempt for road law, the safety of others around you, an appalling string of obvious disregard for society topped off with killing an innocent man is frightening.

He got off lightly with the original sentence, to appeal shows blatant disrespect for your actions and the lives he destroyed.

Worse things are to come given he 'has a right' to drive and within 4-5 years will be back out driving around other vulnerable road users once more, no doubt courted by specialist insurers who use your life as collateral in exchange for increased business profit.

The insurance industry still have a lot to answer for in my opinion.

Avatar
alexb | 8 years ago
3 likes

The Drummonds went into business again using the wife as director of the company didn't they?

So all around, nobody wins.

 

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Christopher TR1 | 8 years ago
4 likes

Can't we just execute these scumbags....

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
7 likes

He APPEALED???

Unless he was appealing because his orignal sentance was to lienient, I am simply lost for words.

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bsknight | 8 years ago
6 likes

With that history he should not have been given leave to appeal, wasting taxpayers money.

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chorltonjon | 8 years ago
12 likes

Good job the truck wasn't hired with more than 1 person able to drive it..

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jasecd | 8 years ago
11 likes

It's good that his appeal was rejected but how much longer do we have to put up with road users who have "a sustained history of driving offences showing wretched disregard for the safety of road users." I know he didn't have a valid licence for the tipper truck but I can't understand how this fuckwit is allowed any kind of driving licence. A total ban might have kept him off the road and prevented a horrible and unnecessary death.

Avatar
Dan S replied to jasecd | 8 years ago
2 likes
jasecd wrote:

It's good that his appeal was rejected but how much longer do we have to put up with road users who have "a sustained history of driving offences showing wretched disregard for the safety of road users." I know he didn't have a valid licence for the tipper truck but I can't understand how this fuckwit is allowed any kind of driving licence. A total ban might have kept him off the road and prevented a horrible and unnecessary death.

Possibly, but driving whilst disqualified is a depressingly common offence. Unfortunately it only carries 6 months.

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