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news
Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Motorist who hit cyclist and injured passenger while over-taking two cars at speed keeps licence
A driver who lost control of his BMW Z4 as he overtook two other vehicles, resulting in his passenger suffering serious injuries and also causing minor injuries to a cyclist he hit, has managed to keep his driving licence.
Ben Fulton of Cambridge, aged 28 and a salesman for a property company, had his licence endorsed with six penalty points by Cambridge Magistrates’ Court,.
The court also fined him £650 and ordered him to pay £85 in costs plus a £15 victim surcharge, reports the website Cambridge News.
He had earlier admitted driving without due care and attention.
Cyclist Tom Serby sustained cuts and bruises in the incident on Barton Road in Cambridge in August last year. He had been riding on an adjacent cycle path when he was struck by Fulton's vehicle after it left the road.
However, a colleague of Fulton’s who was a passenger in his vehicle was left with a serious back injury.
Prosecuting counsel Paul Brown said: “Having left the roundabout, Fulton was attempting to overtake two cars when he hit the gravel verge and lost control of his BMW.
“At the time, there was a cyclist travelling towards Cambridge.
“The BMW went right across the cycle path and hit the cyclist. An eyewitness told police how the cyclist went up into the air and hit the ground.
“The cyclist managed to get himself up and started to drink some water.
“But it was the front seat passenger in Fulton’s car who suffered the most serious injuries, including a serious back injury.
“The passenger, a colleague of his, told police that he felt Fulton was driving too fast and that he feared he was going to lose control of the car.”
Speaking for Fulton, Charles Snelling explained that his client had displayed “extreme remorse,” saying that “Mr Fulton went straight over to the cyclist and was extremely concerned.
“He has since apologised to the man and has shown extreme remorse. My client is a salesman and travels the country in his car.
“Up until now he has had an entirely clean licence,” he added.
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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17 comments
Stumps - I doubt you'll get barred for that - your honesty and frustration in this specific case is probably appreciated by most.
Cheers mate, not all of us are knackers
A Barrister always lies, thats how punters get off with cases.
Data protection my arse ! if your involved in a road traffic accident by law you have to have the other parties details even if your in the wrong to start with...........
More shite cops giving the rest of us bad names.....I wont go on any further as i will only end up getting barred from the site....
Surely the defence barrister is in contempt of court if he is lying? Which must be pretty serious if you're a barrister...?
Nah, they do it all the time. It's why they get paid so much. It's only Magistrates Court anyway, nothing too 'serious'.
The news item is here. At the time of writing Tom Serby's comment is on page 2 of 7 at the moment. Good luck to him with his case.
I quote this verbatim from the comments thread on www.cambridge-news.co.uk's story. I am not Tom Serby!!
Tom Serby - posted 16/01/2012 17:47
"I am the cyclist the driver ploughed into at 70 mph. The police said it was a miracle I survived the accident with minor injuries only. I was prevented by the Ambulance crew from taking the witnesses' details at the scene. I was later told by the Police that I could not have the witnesses' details as it was against data protection laws. The police then claimed that they were having difficulty obtaining the witnesses' statements which is why the charge was only careless driving (not dangerous driving). I had to strenuously chase the Police for any update. Today's report (CN) says that at the sentencing hearing the defence barrister told the Court the driver was full of remorse and had apologised. He has not apologised to me. I have sued the driver and await compensation from his insurers."
“Up until now he has had an entirely clean licence,” he added.
Yeah and up until that day Raoul Moat hadn't shot a policeman in the face. He should have been banned as a minimum. Did he pay for the blokes bike to be fixed/checked over?.
“The cyclist managed to get himself up and started to drink some water.
Silly me that is the universal sign that someone is perfectly fine i'm not sure why i included it, where do they find these people?
WTF is a "£15 victim surcharge"? Has sentencing been outsourced to Ryanair?
It's a pity for the passenger who came off worst. I note the car was a BMW.
But in the end we'll all end up paying for him...
His passenger will eventually claim medical damages and since the driver has been to court then likely to receive a generous payout..cyclist could claim too..!
Insurance premiums up again
Insurance is a necessary part of the cost of running a gas-guzzling, cyclist-mowing, pedestrian-crushing tonne of steel. The privilege of riding effortlessly along in a horseless carriage does not come without responsibilities. That is why someone who breaks the law and does harm this way should be punished more forcefully than a fine and a few points on his license.
Those of us who ride our bikes to work daily and own a car don't ask for a chunk of their VED refunded come renewal time. We all pay towards the cost of hospitals, Rescue helicopters, Coastguard, Fire Service and lots more besides so that people can climb mountains, ride motorbikes, drink to excess, smoke cigarettes.... That's the way it is.
Does seem rather lenient, would expect a ban.
Have phrased that last line more appropriately.
If the selfish bastard feels his car and his license are required to do his job then he should drive accordingly. He should be banned and made to learn his lesson by having to walk (or cycle) places for a while.
Love the attempt to say going straight to the cyclist after mounting the kerb and sending him flying shows him in some kind of good light! I hope his colleague sues him.
So much for the arrogant commentators telling cyclists to get off the road and use the cycle path, doing that's even more dangerous!
I grew up on Barton Road. Between moving there in 1983 and leaving in 1998 the growth in traffic was enormous and the prevalence of speeding became sufficient that the police had a very successful occasional speed trap there.
It's one of those awkward places where a fast A-road turns into a 30mph road at a city boundary. Should be easy and safe, but there's always some tool whose journey is vastly more important than anyone's safety.
how typical ... the driver that causes all the injuries
and trauma is un-harmed ... even his wallet gets away
with it ... the punishment is a joke ...
I'd be interested to know what the speed limit is on Barton Road. Near me we have at leads one motorist death a year on a by-pass with a speed limit of 70mph that should really be 50mph. We are trying to get it reduced as it has 2 roundabouts on it and adjacent cycle paths and it's only a matter of time before some muppet sling shots the roundabout at 60mph doing the same as this gentleman and kill both passenger and passing cyclist.
I think had it been me the driver would have had a serious lower back injury as well: my cleated foot up his arse.
"salesman for a property company" == "estate agent gimp" ?