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Video: Leeds driver stopped in queuing traffic opens car door into cyclist’s path

Motorist was charged with a public order offence following incident that rider caught on camera

A motorist in Leeds has been charged with a public order offence after a cyclist captured on video the moment the driver, who was stopped in a queue of traffic, opened his car door into his path, apparently deliberately, forcing him to swerve.

The incident happened on Neville Street at 8.50am on the morning of 8 December 2017 as road.cc reader and Twitter user @TwoWheels22 commuted to work in the city centre.

He told road.cc: “I was in the first lane, holding primary and was overtaken by a number of vehicles without issue. There are two lanes for traffic heading into the city and one lane heading out.

“As I approached the traffic lights, there was standing traffic in the first lane, so I moved to the outside lane in a secondary position to overtake, having checked over my shoulder to make sure it was clear first.

“The traffic in the first lane then came to a short stop, and the driver of the white Honda CRV registration YF15 UJO threw his door open forcing me to take evasive action.

“I looked at him as I passed and saw that he made no attempt to get out of the vehicle, he just sat there with his arms on his lap.

“I passed a few more cars then moved back into the first lane. As I rode up the slight incline, I became aware of a vehicle accelerating hard behind me.

“I checked over my shoulder again and saw the same white CRV coming towards me. The passenger window was down and he was screaming something at me, although I couldn’t make out what it was.

“He moved his vehicle over from the second land into the first towards me, forcing me in towards the kerb and a large number of pedestrians waiting to cross at the pelican crossing. He then accelerated away.”

Having captured what had happened on video, he went to West Yorkshire Police where he was told by officers that they would try and charge the driver with assault, since the potential punishment on conviction was higher than for any motoring offence that he could be charged with.

As the law currently stands, there is an offence of offence of opening a car door, or causing or permitting it to be opened, so as to cause injury, which has a maximum penalty of a £1,000 fine.

Last year, the driver of a taxi in Leicester and his passenger, who opened the vehicle's door causing the death of cyclist Sam Boulton to come off his bike and sustain fatal injuries when he was struck by a van, were both convicted of the offence.

In the wake of that case, the charity Cycling UK called for a new offence of causing serious injury or death by car-dooring with higher penalties.

> Leicester taxi driver loses appeal against conviction in Sam Boulton dooring death case

Since the cyclist was fortunately unhurt in the incident, that legislation would not apply here.

It’s worth noting too that almost all the cases involving dooring that we have seen are ones where a driver or vehicle passenger has opened the door without checking whether a cyclist is approaching, or if they have failing to see them – one notable exception being the police officer who used a car door to bring down a suspected thief riding a Santander Cycles hire bike last year.

> Video: Police officer deliberately doors thief riding Boris bike

Returning to the incident in Leeds, @TwoWheels22 said: “He was interviewed under caution and claimed that he dropped something out of his car and went to retrieve it.

“The officer dealing said he didn’t believe him but it couldn’t be disproved.

“He admitted to shouting at me calling me a “f*g w****r” because I was ‘riding in the middle of the road’.

“He was charged with a public order offence and has to write a letter of apology to me, which I am yet to receive, and which I intend to return to him, tightly rolled up so that he can shove it somewhere.”

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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21 comments

Avatar
Cupov | 6 years ago
0 likes

Shit piece of infrastructure here...like most of Leeds city centre unfortunately.

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fixit | 6 years ago
0 likes

I don't think it's wise to ride on these streets.... It looks too hostile!

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burtthebike replied to fixit | 6 years ago
3 likes
tsarouxaz wrote:

I don't think it's wise to ride on these streets.... It looks too hostile!

Nothing wrong with the streets, it's the hostile drivers that create the danger.

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Yorkshie Whippet | 6 years ago
0 likes

That seemed quite civilised for Leeds!

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Housecathst | 6 years ago
2 likes

I think in the circumstances I would done a controlled roll into the door, to insure maximum damage to the car. Exchanged details and sailed off into the distance safe in the knowledge there is fuck all he could do. 

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maviczap | 6 years ago
3 likes

More jealousy because the cyclist was making progress and he wasn't. Think he needed a Snicker bar, or a kick in the snickers

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
3 likes

Oh dear, looks like someone's just posted this to rate that driver http://rate-driver.co.uk/YF15UJO

I hope his family and friends, assuming a knobhead like that has any, will remonstrate most strongly with him when they see it.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
1 like
burtthebike wrote:

Oh dear, looks like someone's just posted this to rate that driver http://rate-driver.co.uk/YF15UJO

I hope his family and friends, assuming a knobhead like that has any, will remonstrate most strongly with him when they see it.

"Number 1 in the worst drivers ranking in February 2018"

Well done everyone.

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Martyn_K | 6 years ago
8 likes

08:50 in the morning and THAT angry. I would not want to work with that dickhead, i bet the days are looooooong.

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dreamy | 6 years ago
2 likes

I think he wanted to get out for a bit of a punch up, but decided he wasn't hard enough.

Why? Because ... CAR!

Have it!

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WillRod | 6 years ago
7 likes

I’m not sure it’s an attempted dooring, as the cyclist was a long way from the car when the door opened.

 

The body language of the driver, and lack of attempt to exit the vehicle suggests it’s more likely that he wanted to argue with the cyclist about something. Either way, the guy as a screw loose and a fine is probably justified in order to warn him against trying it again.

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Grahamd | 6 years ago
6 likes

Fair dos the driver has to write a letter of apology, that is likely to take some time for a Neanderthal like this.

 

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StraelGuy replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
13 likes
Grahamd wrote:

Fair dos the driver has to write a letter of apology, that is likely to take some time for a Neanderthal like this.

 

 

Yeah, I can picture it. Him poised over a sheet of paper with a black Crayola cleanched tightly in his hand with the tip of his tongue protruding from the corner of his mouth and a look of real concentration on his face.

Avatar
Simon E replied to StraelGuy | 6 years ago
5 likes
StraelGuy wrote:
Grahamd wrote:

Fair dos the driver has to write a letter of apology, that is likely to take some time for a Neanderthal like this.

 

 

Yeah, I can picture it. Him poised over a sheet of paper with a black Crayola cleanched tightly in his hand with the tip of his tongue protruding from the corner of his mouth and a look of real concentration on his face.

... with his carer spelling out each word - VERY slowly.

 

And while I'm here:

white Honda CRV registration YF15 UJO

(it can't hurt to repeat the details)

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ChrisB200SX | 6 years ago
12 likes

The windows were up before the door opened and the car was still moving when the door was opened. It can be quite easily proven that the driver did not drop something out of his car and clearly did nothing to actually retrieve the imaginary item.

Should be a crime regardless of the fact it was lucky no-one was injured.

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Bluebug replied to ChrisB200SX | 6 years ago
0 likes
ChrisB200SX wrote:

The windows were up before the door opened and the car was still moving when the door was opened. It can be quite easily proven that the driver did not drop something out of his car and clearly did nothing to actually retrieve the imaginary item.

Should be a crime regardless of the fact it was lucky no-one was injured.

Unfortunately the CPS have to prove the case and with their current history there is no way they would be believed.

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peted76 | 6 years ago
2 likes

What an ankles!

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Colin Peyresourde | 6 years ago
5 likes

It doesn’t seem like he was trying to door him. But he had obviously taken exception to him and wanted to remonstrate at the very least. Threatening behaviour is what it is.

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brooksby | 6 years ago
15 likes
Quote:

The officer dealing said he didn’t believe him but it couldn’t be disproved.

"Well, officer, I had to test the aerodynamic properties of this brick; it's very important for a wall I'm considering building.  I couldn't have anticipated that it would go through that window."

"Ah, well, I see: well I can't disprove that so off you pop, no harm done...".

Hmm...

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Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
9 likes

Driving a Honda CRV, you can be sure this is an individual with a deranged mindset.

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
17 likes

That's attempted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm per s18 of the assault against the persons act 1861, why are the police not charging this cunt with that seeing as plod like to go with manslaughter charges elsewhere.

as deliberate as you'll get, if contact had been made it could easily have ended in serious injury or death.

Do this with a knife instead of a car and you'd get 9 years. The police are sodding useless.

 

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