Fist (c) Mark Ramsay Flickr
A man who punched a cyclist in retaliation for pulling out in front of his girlfriend’s car has been fined.
Tyler Green, of Witham St Hughes in Lincolnshire, knocked the cyclist, Michael Tuddenham off his bike last month.
The cyclist, who was avoiding an icy patch on the A1500 by cycling in the middle of the road, said he moved over when he heard a vehicle approach from behind.
According to Lincolnshire Live, Daniel Pietryka for the prosecution said: "A Ford Focus drove past him, someone shouted out.
"That Ford Focus pulled up.
"He said he pulled up to the junction and as he did the front seat passenger got out and approached him and said 'do you want some?'
"He feared he was going to be difficult.
"The man punched him on the left side of the face causing him and his bicycle to fall on the floor. Luckily the police drove by and it's led to an arrest."
In mitigation the defence solicitor Miss Simpson said: "He says his girlfriend is not a confident driver. They're behind the cyclist, the cyclist drives right into the middle of the road.
"As a car behind a cyclist that's going to cause some kind of alarm, particularly for a driver that's not confident.
"He says he asked the cyclist to apologise to his girlfriend because she was upset. He describes the cyclist as being aggressive and coming towards him.
"He punched him in the face. He says he wasn't defending himself, he's gone over the top really and he should have just left."
Green was fined £210 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £100 compensation to Mr Tuddenham at Lincoln Magistrates' Court on Thursday, February 16.
Last summer we reported how police in Sussex appealed for help to find a man who repeatedly punched a cyclist in Brighton,.
The victim, aged 23, had been riding at around 10am on Brighton’s promenade alongside Kings Road, a space shared between cyclists and pedestrians.
According to Sussex Police, the cyclist “braked to avoid a man and then rode past him.
“There was an exchange of words between the two men before the pedestrian grabbed the cyclist and punched him repeatedly.
“A bystander intervened and then someone else, who appeared to know the man, pulled him away telling him to stop.”
After an unpromising start, having to be bribed by her parents to learn to ride without stabilisers, Sarah became rather keener on cycling in her university years, and was eventually persuaded to upgrade to proper road cycling by the prospect of a shiny red Italian bike, which she promptly destroyed by trapping a pair of knickers in the rear derailleur. Sarah writes about about cycling every weekend on road.cc.