An East Lothian teenager who injured two tandem riders when he rode into them has pleaded guilty to dangerous cycling at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, reports the Edinburgh News. 16-year-old Luke Horne was pulling a wheelie while riding through a red light when the incident took place.
Christopher Laughton and and Kay Boulton were cycling through Gullane on a tandem when they were struck by Horne in June last year.
The court heard that Horne, on a £1,400 mountain bike, rode through a traffic light on one wheel before making a right turn without signalling. He failed to look where he was going and rode into the couple.
Horne pleaded guilty to a charge of cycling dangerously, but Sheriff Welsh deferred sentencing until April.
Under section 28 of the Road Traffic Act 1991, "a person is to be regarded as riding dangerously if (and only if) (a) the way he rides falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful cyclist, and (b) it would be obvious to a competent and careful cyclist that riding in that way would be dangerous."
Last week a Cumbrian cyclist pleaded guilty to dangerous cycling after injuring himself while riding the wrong way down a one-way street. Thomas Thompson went over the handlebars and collided with a taxi, fracturing his arm. He was fined £60 with £85 costs and a £20 surcharge.
15 thoughts on “Cyclist who hit tandem after pulling wheelie while going through red light pleads guilty to dangerous cycling”
whats the betting this chap
whats the betting this chap will come away from court wishing he done the same thing in car because all he would have had to do is utter any number of “get out of jail free” motorist platitudes, “the sun was in my eyes” or just “I didn’t see them”
The jury would just shrug their shoulders and hand his back his keys.
Not to take away from the damage and injury that was inflicted on the Tandem riders, I hope there both back in the saddle with out any lasting effects.
Idiot. Dangerous idiot.
Idiot. Dangerous idiot.
RLJing and pulling a wheelie!
RLJing and pulling a wheelie! What a twat.
Mountain bikes on the road
Mountain bikes on the road annoy me.
J90 wrote:Mountain bikes on
Then how do they get to trails without a car?
Does it really matter what type of bike someone rides, as long as they ride a bike?
Or has our sense of tribalism gotten really out of hand?
https://youtu.be/Wx2e9jSSK6E
J90 wrote:Mountain bikes on
What annoys me is getting cut up by cars with serious mountain bikes on the roof.
Their day out is more important than yours.
Flying Scot wrote:J90
Mountain bikers all over, if the large number of local ones are anything to go buy.
Stupid buffoon, i hope he
Stupid buffoon, i hope he gets hammered at court.
fuckin’ chav
fuckin’ chav
Quote: on a £1,400 mountain
Not exactly the sort of bike your average chav would have or ride (unless he’d just nicked it)
GrahamH wrote:Quote: on a
Not exactly the sort of bike your average chav would have or ride (unless he’d just nicked it)
As an average chav, I find this comment offensive.
Quince wrote:GrahamH
Not exactly the sort of bike your average chav would have or ride (unless he’d just nicked it)— GrahamH
As an average chav, I find this comment offensive.
As someone who believes in treating others with respect and not discriminating on class grounds I do to.
Although mountain bikes used as town bikes do annoy me
I’d rather see someone use a
I’d rather see someone use a mountain bike round town than use a car round town. The sort of bike he was riding doesn’t matter. That he was riding like an idiot does.
(The proportion of mountain bikes I see around town with their rear brakes disconnected because the owner can’t be bothered to adjust them properly or get the wheel trued does annoy me, but that’s a separate issue, and it’s not just mountain bikes. And it’s not £1,400 bikes.)
I can’t believe the comments
I can’t believe the comments have basically turned into vilifying mountain bikers in general. This is mad.
I’ve seen some pretty appalling driving around cyclists from cars with very fancy road bikes on the back. Some people just seem to be unable or unwilling to perceive the effects of their own actions on others. 🙁 It’s nothing to do with what kind of bike they ride.
Any news on how the tandem riders are doing? Hope no serious injuries?
This guy is obviously a bit of an idiot who needs to have a long hard think about how his risk taking impacts other people. Hope he learns from this before he starts driving a car. :-/
DaveE128 wrote:I can’t
Agree entirely. What next? People on blue-coloured bikes vs people on black ones? Who cares about this stuff?
But I suspect your final sentence is a forlorn hope.
I suppose that’s the one bright spot in the story – that this anti-social fool had a mountain bike and not a car.
It would be nice if this event would be taken into account if he ever tries to get a driving licence.