[Pastmybest]

Hi all – tired old rider / first time poster.

Back in the spring I was a few miles from home after about 75 miles in the saddle when a friendly guy in a large 4×4 thought it’d be HILARIOUS to miss me by about 6 inches while driving at warp speed on an otherwise completely empty road. Like a tw&t (albeit a fairly shaken up one)  I decided to let my middle finger do the talking and then next thing I knew he was out the car, rugby tackling me off the bike, and saying some stuff that, if I was more easily offended, would probably have wounded my inner child.

Anyhow, him, me and the CPS are heading off to court next month so that three magistrates can decide what should happen to him. The charge is assualt, and luckily I have two independent witnesses, or I strongly suspect that this wouldn’t have raised much of an eyebrow with the police. I’ve fessed up to the ‘fingering’, so to speak Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience of this kind of thing, and can give me an idea of what to expect on the day?

Cheers, and merry Christmas.

Topic

[Miller]

I had a bit of contact with

I had a bit of contact with the courts system throughout a messy divorce. Delays for various reasons including lack of preparation are common and things drag out. Saying that, on the whole I thought the judges did a professional and reasonable job in circumstances which can be difficult.

Good luck.

 

[Pastmybest]

Cancelled, or postponed?  If

[quote=CygnusX1]

Cancelled, or postponed?  If cancelled, have they say why – have the CPS dropped the case? Either way, 7 minutes notice is shocking. 

Sorry – well spotted CygnusX1, and my error. Postponed. In theory we’ll be back on in the next 3 months. Interesting experience though. I discovered during the orientation session that the suspect is basically wheeled into a Hannibal Lecter / David Blaine style perspex box!!

[CygnusX1]

Cancelled, or postponed?  If

Cancelled, or postponed?  If cancelled, have they say why – have the CPS dropped the case? Either way, 7 minutes notice is shocking. 

[Pastmybest]

Suit on, tie on, shoes

Suit on, tie on, shoes cleaned, signed in, metal detector cleared, witnesses present, statement memorised, mental preparations complete……trial cancelled at 7 minutes notice. Seven. The excuse……’We meant to tell you yesterday but we forgot to send the email’. The British legal system is rightly the envy of the world……

[RR lad]

chalky46 wrote:

chalky46 wrote:

When you in court? Community service hours at the minimum hopefully.

Defensive driver training and sweeping glass out of cycle lanes

[RR lad]

Bizarrely, half a world away

Bizarrely, half a world away in NZ a similar thing happened to me on New Years eve. My mate was just about crushed by a rented 4 x 4, and then the pillock tried to run me off the road. My reaction was to smack the bonnet, so he pulled over and some verbals ensued. He then pushed me off my bike, wrecking the saddle and bar tape. Fortunately for me, there were security across the road as this was inner city and there was an event being set up. They called the cops and provided statements. I am waiting to hear if he will be prosecuted, but I am going to sue him as a civil matter for the damage.

I had a previous encounter with another motorist who turned left in front of me into an entrance, damaging my BB. A local rider who’s a solicitor wrote a nice letter for me and he paid for the repair.

I recently did a stint on jury duty and noticed that the defence lawyer will try to discredit all of your info. Like others have said, stay calm, stick to your description; your response was such that many others would have done, given he drove past you in a reckless manner when there was no need.

Would he have done the same if it was a horse and rider, a tractor or a pedestrian?

[CXR94Di2]

Best outcome, hes got

Best outcome, hes got previous for violence, is on probation, gets an extended stay in the clink with a consecutive driving ban for a million years

[Pastmybest]

Bluebug wrote:

Pastmybest wrote:

I can only assume that my guy has been able to access legal aid and is playing a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ game. If he’s not on the hook for the cost of his representation then he may as well plead not guilty and wait for the process to play out. If he loses then he can (and almost certainly will) play the poverty card and claim to have no means to pay for the damage to my bike. And me.

Awesome!

Not necessarily.

There are people who if they fear they will get a driving ban will pay for their own defence and others who will defend themselves. The latter group piss the bench off as it makes trials take longer as they have to have points of law explained to them.

It’s an interesting one actually – the near miss doesn’t appear to be being prosecuted, only the assault. What’s weird is that the near miss was the ‘causal factor’ (if we’re going to get all scientifiic about it) without which none of this would have happened. So it’ll be interesting to see if any punishment relates to the car or not. 

[Bluebug]

Pastmybest wrote:

I can only assume that my guy has been able to access legal aid and is playing a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ game. If he’s not on the hook for the cost of his representation then he may as well plead not guilty and wait for the process to play out. If he loses then he can (and almost certainly will) play the poverty card and claim to have no means to pay for the damage to my bike. And me.

Awesome!

Not necessarily.

There are people who if they fear they will get a driving ban will pay for their own defence and others who will defend themselves. The latter group piss the bench off as it makes trials take longer as they have to have points of law explained to them.

[chalky46]

When you in court? Community
When you in court? Community service hours at the minimum hopefully.

[DaveE128]

Pastmybest wrote:

Cheers all – I have to admit, a trial is not quite the new year gift I was hoping for (although I’m pretty sure Santa won’t be bringing me a 3T Exploro either!) but I’m hoping that some sense of reason will prevail, and at the very least he won’t do it again. Interestingly, the suspect has said in his statement that the reason for the collision was that after he got out of his car and ran at me I made the conscious choice to run him over. Which is entirely accurate. The precise order of my thought process was ‘I’m knackered, hungry, and so late home that the bollocking I’m going to get from my wife will scarcely be measurable with existing technology. What I need more than anything is to further delay myself by  intentionally running someone over using this highly stable, steam-roller-esque 8kg weapon I am riding’.

I assumed (and confirmed, from the rest of the thread) that that was sarcasm!

Don’t use sarcasm in court. And I would recommend not posting a sarcastic comment online that could be claimed to be an admission! :-/

[bendertherobot]

Pastmybest wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Provocation isn’t a defence to any charge other than murder (and even that has now been replaced with the defence of ‘loss of control).

So the finger, however bad, however naughty, requires no explanation. Running a defence of ‘he put his finger up at me’ is going to get the clerk (if there are 3 mags) or the District Judge explaining that there is no such defence and would he like to re-consider his plea.

I think the general principle is around proportionality. Strictly speaking, you can commit common assualt without actually physically coming into contact with the person (i.e. with words or gestures), so a driver then pulling an emergency stop on a fast A-road and starting a physical altercation (which includes bringing down a cyclist at speed) which spills onto the opposing carriageway, doesn’t feel proportionate. In any case, the witness will state that the driver started it with a punishment pass, and ended it by screaming that I shouldn’t have been on the road where there was a (cracked, glass-strewn) cycle path running parallel. If he isn’t convicted I’ll be absolutely astonished.

Proportionality as in self defence? 

[Pastmybest]

benborp wrote:

Video was shown in court of the moment I was punched in the head. There was no conviction for assault. Be prepared to be astonished. Hopefully it won’t be the case, but be prepared.

Holy sh*t!!! By what standard is that not assault? And if not, what is it??

[benborp]

Video was shown in court of

Video was shown in court of the moment I was punched in the head. There was no conviction for assault. Be prepared to be astonished. Hopefully it won’t be the case, but be prepared.

[Pastmybest]

bendertherobot wrote:

Provocation isn’t a defence to any charge other than murder (and even that has now been replaced with the defence of ‘loss of control).

So the finger, however bad, however naughty, requires no explanation. Running a defence of ‘he put his finger up at me’ is going to get the clerk (if there are 3 mags) or the District Judge explaining that there is no such defence and would he like to re-consider his plea.

I think the general principle is around proportionality. Strictly speaking, you can commit common assualt without actually physically coming into contact with the person (i.e. with words or gestures), so a driver then pulling an emergency stop on a fast A-road and starting a physical altercation (which includes bringing down a cyclist at speed) which spills onto the opposing carriageway, doesn’t feel proportionate. In any case, the witness will state that the driver started it with a punishment pass, and ended it by screaming that I shouldn’t have been on the road where there was a (cracked, glass-strewn) cycle path running parallel. If he isn’t convicted I’ll be absolutely astonished.

[Author]

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