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news
Leicester Crown Court (via Google Street View).JPGCourt to hear appeal of taxi driver in Sam Boulton ‘dooring’ case this week
Leicester Crown Court will this week consider the appeal of a taxi driver who was fined in connection with the death last year of cyclist Sam Boulton, who was killed when a passenger in the cab opened the door and caused him to fall into the path of a van, sustaining fatal injuries.
Farook Yusuf Bhikhu was fined £300 in June this year and ordered to pay £625 costs and a victim surcharge of £30. He had pleaded not guilty to the offence of opening a vehicle’s door, or causing or permitting someone to do so, and thereby cause injury to or endanger any person.
The offence, created under Regulation 105 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, carries a maximum penalty of a £1,000 fine.
At an earlier hearing, the private hire vehicle’s passenger, Mandy Chapple, had admitted the same offence. She was fined £80 plus a victim surcharge of £40 and costs of £30.
Mr Boulton, an art teacher, was killed on his 26th birthday and his family will be present at the appeal hearing, which opens on Thursday.
They are being supported by the charity Cycling UK, which will also attend the hearing, and which pushed the Crown Prosecution Service to bring charges against the driver and the passenger.
They, and the Boulton family, are also calling for tougher penalties for people found guilty of the offence as well as more widespread education about the issue and techniques such as the ‘Dutch Reach’ that can prevent such incidents from happening.
> Call for new car dooring offence as cyclists gather for Sam Boulton memorial ride in Leicester
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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11 comments
Can we have an update on this appeal please Simon McMichael? Surely the appeal, which must have been about the fine, because the taxi dude pleaded guilty, went against him. I've tried the Leicester Mercury but no joy there.
Yeah let's not forget that the driver that killed the cyclists was shit face behind the wheel and didn't stop and guess what, no custodial sentence.
How can he hope to win this appeal? It's an appeal of the conviction, not the sentence.
There's no doubt the door was opened. And he was in charge of the vehicle. What else is there to know?
Baffling. I'd have a guess that he's rolling the dice on overturning the conviction so he can continue to drive badly for a living, as opposed to getting a job doing anything else.
Before I read the article I thought there must have been a massive sentence, what they both received is pathetic. Basically the law says it's ok open your car door and potentially kill someone. Not blaming the driver of the vehicle that ran Sam over but there is an element of looking ahead and seeing a hazard develop, it's not hard to do. Sam's family must be absolutely distraught at the actions of the taxi driver appealing. The best we can hope for is an increase in his fine.
Lets hope his fine is quadruples just for wasting court time, if nothing else.
Hope the court increases his fine and charges him the court costs.
its the passengers action which killed the guy...her fines are the ones needing increasing expidentally ....the law as usual is an ass !
The taxi driver bears responsibility as well, as he chose to pull up somewhere where the passenger opening the door posed a danger to others and didn't prevent them from doing so.
whilst the law is nothing more than a slap on the wrists it seams about as clear cut as it gets, I not sure what he hopes to appeal. Did the door of your vehicle open and hit a cyclist, Yes = guilty.
Surely given that your partly responsible for the death of somebody it would be worth the couple of £ not to have your name in the papers again and putting the family through having to deal with it all again it would be worth it.
So he was only fined, like, a third of the maximum available tariff, but he's still appealing? Nice.
(and don't get me started on the measly eighty quid fine handed to the passenger who actually opened the door...).