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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgDrunk driver who crashed into traffic island blamed cyclist
A drunk-driver who crashed into a traffic island blamed a cyclist for the incident, a court has heard.
Daniel Ronald Thomas, aged 35, pleaded guilty at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court to driving while over the limit for alcohol, reports The Shields Gazette.
The former Army chef crashed into the bollard on a traffic island on North Road in Boldon, Tyne & Wear on 25 August last year.
When breathalysed, he was found to be exactly double the permitted limit of 35 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath.
He told police that a cyclist had “shot off the pavement,” forcing him to crash into the traffic island.
Lorna Rimell, prosecuting, said: “Police were called to the site of an RTA because the defendant had crashed into an island on North Road.
“He co-operated with the police. He failed the breath test.”
In mitigation, Val Bell said that after leaving the Army after 14 years’ service due to cardiomyopathy, Thomas had been unable to find permanent work, but was coming back from a trial shift when the crash took place.
She told the court: “He does accept the reading. He is absolutely adamant he had not had a great deal to drink that night and can’t understand why the reading was as high as it was
“It may be because he hadn’t eaten that day,” she added.
Thomas was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 in costs and a £32 victim surcharge.
He was also banned from driving for 20 months.
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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13 comments
There's the germ of a new Carlsberg ad in there, somewhere.
"Carlsberg, probably the best beer in the world. Conjures up imaginary cyclists ... just when you need one.""
Whilst cardiomyopathy isn't specifically listed as a 'notifiable illness' on the DVLA website, I'm sure that it comes under 'cardiac problems'.
Symptoms can include fainting and swelling of the legs. Hardly conducive of safe driving.
Was there actually a cyclist?
Sounds like a change from a deer ran out in front of me.
Or an urban variation - a black cat!
They'd never see a "Ninja" cat...
One of my fellow sixth formers wrote off his admittedly crap car (by rolling it a few times I think) whilst trying to avoid a rabbit/plastic bag.
Though I doubt if it was this convincing...
A friend of mine really did drive his car into a tree, about twenty years ago, swerving to avoid a rabbit in the road.
Six weeks in a coma, and he had brain injuries which means he has short term memory problems (has to have an alarm which sits in his bath, which goes off when the water level reaches a point, because he will have forgotten that he's even running the bath if he leaves the room)
Which is exactly why people should not swerve to avoid small animals. Yes, it is not nice to run them over, but the panic reaction of swerving is likly to put you at risk and the odds are that small animals will go under the car. Best to try and stop if there is no one behind you or to slow if there is.
Never do this on a road bike. Its going to hurt. MTB however, based on exprince of a suicidal phesant, seems to roll over them quite well, at least if you have plus tyres.
Oh noes! Don't run me over!
Obviously red squirrels are an exception. Appart from anything else their bikes are going to be a hazard.
Can anyone tell me what form a trial shift as a chef would take that would require you to drink at least 3 pints and eat entirely nothing?
Maybe it was a flambeing endurance test? Just think of all the fumes.
I'm sure that cyclist is grateful the driver still had the lightening reflexes needed to crash into a bollard.
I'm sure he'll have made a great impression on his trial shift "lovely slamon fish cakes Daniel, now how about you down 4 pints and drive home..."
.