Persistence pays off for cycling lawyer as motorist who threatened to kill him convicted

Well done! What about those who are not lawyers though, are the CTC campaigning for the police to take this more seriously. Mind you reported an incident of bottle thrown from works van with registration after club had apparently 'held it up' on an early morning Sunday run near Cheddar. I got a call a few days later from the police saying the perpetrator had had a visit from them.

Good justice at last.

It's good that the person responsible has had action taken against him. It is interesting but not surprising to note that he has committed a prior offence. Sadly, it seems likely that he will probably offend while at the wheel again.

Interesting that he has a previous criminal conviction (and not just a minor one such as dropping litter). I thought that insurance companies were extremely reluctant to insure people who have criminal records and often turn them down. So I wonder how he managed to get car insurance at 24 years old as well?

This whole situation should have been dealt with on the day but the reluctance of the officers involved means a little trust in the police gets eroded.

I'm glad a result has finally happened.

Very well done. You sir are a hero.

Lovely. A few more convictions like this would be good. The driver and his mate that drove me and a club mate off the road either side of his 4x4 instead of waiting at the passing place would be top of my list.

Lomas was not the owner or the registered keeper of the vehicle. It would be nice to think that the police constable would have checked insurance details but...

Very good to see a positive result. I don't think this is the way to make most of the population change their behaviour (that would be through reasoning and sharing of perspectives) but if the threat of prosecution is what we need for the really stupid ones then good to see that it is there, even if you need solid evidence and a lot of persistence. Great effort in getting the death threat repeated for the camera and microphone.

Excellent result. Thanks for having the persistence to stay with this. It's instructive for the rest of us.

Well done @cyclinglawyer

Now, how can we consistently get at least warnings from the Police on incidents like these?!

Considering a camera, didn't really think it was worth it due toi lack of convictions but this and the incident where the guy eventually came forward for assault charge might change my mind. Slightly worried I would become a literal minded vigilante

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Regarding the insurance, it's pitiful that the police didn't check the drivers insurance or licence.

As for actually getting insurance, insurers ask if the driver has any previous motoring convictions, but do not ask about any other types of convictions, so in this case, malicious wounding would not count against the driver getting insurance, and also won't suffer any penalties from this offence either.

I'm following the case of the chap who was hit by a bus driver, on purpose, in Bristol with interest - the driver pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced at the end of the month - I wonder what penalty he gets and hope that Road.cc reports on this. It's a similar situation but luckily for our cycling lawyer friend, the tosser didn't act on his threat to kill him. The bus driver did and the cyclist still has plates in his arms, although is still cycling! Hurrah for persistence.

Well done, great result and you've done a service to all cyclists

Congratulations to this man, I have read his blog and it's very interesting.

Also congratulations to Road.cc for continuing to report these kinds of stories both at the beginning and the end. Excellent work.

Good for Martin.
It show you need persistence with the Police on matters like this.

As it wasn't his car, it would be interesting to know if he was insured.

On the original story on Road.cc the driver came on the comments section: http://road.cc/content/news/27275-cycling-barrister-captures-death-threa...
All his claims seem to now have been proven false by this case.

I understand that there is ample evidence to suggest that the most egregious motoring offences - road rage, significant over-limit speeding, dangerous driving etc - have a strong statistical link to more general common criminality. Most police forces acknowledge this. Surely then the Metplod must have been able to establish immediately that Scott Lomas has a conviction for wounding and a suspended sentence which should have been reviewed in the light of this incident?

In light of their performance on the Steven Lawrence case however, I would have no confidence in their ability to join the dots here.

As to insurance, perhaps criminal convictions for violence should indeed be disclosable as material information on an insurance proposal form - dishonesty I can see as it suggests a propensity to defraud, and violence as it appears to indicate a propensity to dangerous driving behaviour.

Step-hent - many insurance companies now ask policy holders if they have ANY criminal convictions. This is because convicted criminals have higher incidences of accidents. Studies suggest there is a direct correlation between the risk taking behaviour of criminal activity and poor judgemment while driving.

Great to see justice done! ... Thank you Martin for persisting and paving the path for all of us! Thanks road.cc for keeping us updated!

Moral of the story.

Always wear a helmet cam and get a cycling lawyer.

I just hope that Publicity and Justice like this shows Drivers that Us cyclist are only Human, and in fact Most of us own a car anyway, I hope also that it well help others to see we all need to just get along......... Unfortunately we don't have lovely cycle lanes like most Parts of Holland etc..

Well done Martin

I usually give these idiots a piece of my mind, but I admire your courage. You have as they say, more balls than most.