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news
Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Birmingham road rage driver ordered to pay £25 compensation after helmet cam conviction
A Birmingham motorist has been ordered to pay a cyclist £25 in compensation after pleading guilty to a public order offence following a road rage incident last August, which was filmed on the rider’s helmet camera.
The news comes less than a fortnight after we reported on the conviction of a London driver who had verbally threatened cycling lawyer Martin Porter in an incident similarly captured on film.
The Birmingham Mail reports that 38-year old IT consultant Rob Styles was cycling home from work along Pershore Road, Stirchley, when the incident occurred at 6.25pm on the evening of 25 August.
As the camera footage shows, a car pulled up alongside him, halting on the pavement, with the driver, 55-year-old Robert Johnson from Selly Oak.
He then getting out and unleashing a tirade peppered with four letter words at Mr Styles, asking him, “Do you want a f*cking fight?”
Mr Styles subsequently uploaded the video to YouTube.
The motorist pleaded guilty to a public order offence at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, and besides being ordered to pay Mr Styles £25 compensation, was also ordered to pay £105 costs.
Mr Styles said: “Cyclists have a right to be on the road. It was pretty scary, I thought I was going to get hit.”
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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36 comments
Thanks for info on helmet cameras ! Where do i look for " Contour Roam " please email info skippi [at] ausi.com
Regarding the subject "Magistrate " relies on CPS to provide the case ? Agree that Sec 4 should have been used and £1000 and lengthy prison sentence and driving ban would have sent a far more powerful message ! the galah probably spends more on a NIGHT OUT !
I had similar from 7dayshop- lasted 3 months before expiring & was pretty unreliable. Had it zip-tied to helmet & caught one incident (WVM spoken to by appointed PC). Full refund & now looking at getting a Contour Roam for better detail & reliability.
Trouble is when a motorist picks on the wrong cyclist and gets decked the papers will be full of "Psycho Cyclist assaults innocent driver"......
Good points Rob - the guy got a fine he deserved - wonder if it'll change his behaviour tho?
Hi, thanks for all the supportive comments
What the report in the Birmingham Mail missed, and this missed as a result I guess, is that the driver was also given a two week ban. That is, his driving license was suspended for two weeks from the court date.
My videos aren't hidden or anything, you can find them all at http://www.youtube.com/mmmmmrob
I never set out to go to court, the videos I post are just the odd snippet if unusually bad driving in and around Brum. London Cyclists have it far worse from what I can see. In this case I posted the video online and a police cyclist actually asked me to report it through official channels.
Helmet cams are cheap and the evidence they record can keep you safe (or hurt you if you run red lights etc!) so may be worth buying. Up to you. How we ride is our own indidividual choice.
Stay safe
mmmmmrob
(the same mmmmmrob as on youTube)
what kit are you using mmmmmmmmrob?
If you search Amazon for Micro DV you'll find a handful of little cameras. Mine is the Mini Sports DV from seller Jazooli. Currently £14.34. You also need a decent size micro sd card. I have a 16Gb one on mine, about £10.
Downside of these cheap cameras:
* They sometimes turn themselves off for no apparent reason
* Battery life isn't brilliant, 40-60 minutes
* You have to work out a helmet mount yourself
Upside:
* Cheap
* Great video quality for price
rob
i have one of those too, branded F&H from ebuyer. it's pretty decent for the money, and light enough that you can just jam it into one of the vents on your helmet, if you have one the right width
I'm sorry Spud22 but what exactly are you getting at?
You seem to be stirring the pot with quite some intent!
Am I missing smething, but I cannot see any link between the cycling and the abuse scenes..??
It sems to be 3 bits of video cut and pasted together.
Doesnt look like that to me. Are you sure you're not confused by his head whipping around fast..?
I aggree davebinks, im struggling to see this and agree video is missing something, something not quite right,
especially since looking at youtube mmmmmrob, seems hes enjoying what hes doing.
google youtube mmmmmrob, there are about 8 other vids involvng this cyclist.
ps... just found out cyclistis is an It, media, photagraph, film geek...now it stinks
It seems all of your posts have been on this story. To me that says something stinks with YOUR approach to this story.
I would suggest you stop trolling here to provoke reaction.
i have commented due to the interest this a has shown, Im not looking to provoke, only hightlight what ive seen via the you tube.
If all us cyclists did what this man does - no wonder we get bad press.
To be honest im not bothered about this story, more angered by mmmmmrob posting such stuff making us out to be
looking for stuff to happen.
Most motorists i see are great, some are idiots some perfect.
They probably think the same about us.
and no i wont stop,my view is as improtant as anyone elses.
YOUTUBE :mmmmmrob
I am both a cyclist and motorist, always different views
So you are trolling then.
I watched all the guys videos. He only has about 7 that are cycling related. About 2 were extremely close passes, 2-3 were drivers pulling out at the last minute nearly taking his front wheel from him.
And you, in some kind of really odd fantasy world that only you inhabit, suggest he's giving us a bad name by documenting it.
Grow up.
i rest my case.
ive said what i think. you say what you think.
Everyone can make their own minds up.
ps you grow up!!
you're supposed to do that after you've offered some evidence. that's what a 'case' is
Are you by any chance Robert Johnson?
£25 is surely a pisstake. I hope at the very least he will have a record now and that if he takes that "line" with anyone else that he'll get a more severe punishment.
This is the kind of thing that puts people off riding the bike... as already said.
looking at the video, thought id take a look at this persons other links.
I have to say that the person that has posted this although has got justice, i cant help feeling hes putting the name of us cyclist in a badlight. refering to you tube
mmmmmrob search this as interesting.
I certainly am not a cyclist like this, and wish not to be,
Oh Dear.... The guy in front Love Him....
Would be great to see Love and Peace on the roads, One day..
Cyclist shouldn't have to go around wearing Helmet cams, they should feel just as safe on the rods as Motorist do, besides Most cyclist I know, are car owners anyway..
There was no need for that at all...
Surely guilty of section 4 public order offence for fear of violence? £25 fine plus £105 costs seems rather paltry?
as far as I can see prosecution could have been under either of two sections of the Public Order Act:
Harassment, alarm or distress (disorderly conduct) section 5, maximum sentence of a fine of £1,000
Fear of violence section 4, maximum of six months imprisonment and/or a fine not exceeding £5,000
so as the driver had to pay compensation and not a fine did he escape a criminal conviction? - i read that as the evidence was compelling and court will have to do something...but would rather have done nothing?
You'd get more for a stushie outside your local on Saturday night
Pathetic
What on earth was Mr Angry on about? So far as I can see the cyclists were riding by the book.
And a piddling £25 fine for threatening someone? A short spell in chokey could be more effective in calming him down.
On reflection, £25 is quite steep when you consider that the driver has to look in the mirror and see his own fat, plethoric, hypertensive, miserable bowling ball with fluff on top face everyday of his tiresome and futile existence.
At least he has been made to look like a bell-end on the world wide web.
Can't help feeling he wouldn't have been so keen to ask the rider in front if he wanted a “f*cking fight?”
Yes, Tony, I had the same thought....might be an idea to form a regular two-up on the daily commute, with whoever's willing, which I imagine would limit abuse from drivers quite considerably...
P.R.
the tattoos looked very new.not sure i like them much. Certainly distinctive.
hey anyone looked at youtube mmmmmrob
anyone agree with me this is giving us a bad name.
What has tattoo's got to do with anything ?
looked at youtube, could only find one clip from mmmmmrob and it didn't seem to bad unless i'm missing something
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