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news
Driver assaulted cyclist for questioning mobile phone use
UPDATE 31/01/2023
Following the publication of this story our reader finally received a response from ERS, in which the driver's insurance provider confirmed "enquiries into the matter are ongoing at this point".
ERS apologised for the "delay" in getting back to the cyclist and acknowledged the documents submitted relate to criminal charges and may differ from any civil claim made via an insurer.
"Our enquiries into the matter are ongoing at this point but we hope to be able to conclude these swiftly and we will then confirm how we can progress matters for you," ERS said.
ERS has not responded to a request for comment from road.cc.
Original story below...
A cyclist has recalled the shocking road rage incident which saw him assaulted after questioning a driver's mobile phone use behind the wheel.
The rider, who will remain anonymous throughout this article, told road.cc they are still yet to receive the £500 compensation a judge at Westminster Magistrate's Court ordered Akil James to pay along with a £2,000 fine and £820 costs on top of five penalty points on his driving licence.
"What concerns me most is that this dangerous driver remains a threat to other road users," the rider, whose bike suffered £450 worth of damage in the incident on the King's Road, Chelsea, on Christmas Eve 2021 told us.
The cyclist was returning from volunteering for disadvantaged youths in west London when James pulled out in front of him, blocking the road.
> Here's what to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling
"I could see the driver had a phone held up to his left ear and was talking into it and was not wearing his seat belt," the rider explained. "I asked the driver 'what are you on the phone for?'. The phone screen was clearly lit up in an active call.
"I said 'you shouldn't be on the phone while driving'. He responded 'you shouldn't be talking while riding'. When he said the word 'riding' he lunged at me with his right hand and struck me on the left side of my head. He then accelerated off as I said 'don't hit me — that's an assault — I'll be reporting you, you'll be reported, sir'.
"He told me to 'f*** off' and I respond with a 'thank you' and started to cycle away. I could see the driver turn his steering wheel to the right as I cycled away.
"I could sense what was about to happen and prepared to take evasive action. A second or two later he accelerated hard, whilst shouting 'get out of the road'. The vehicle then collided with my leg and bike.
"I said to him 'that's the second assault, I'll be calling the police, you've just hit me' as I picked my bike up off the floor. He responded 'shut up you f****** mug' and accelerated away.
"The vehicle was held up at a zebra crossing with pedestrians crossing. I limped my damaged bike to the pavement and approached the BMW on the passenger side to tell the driver I'd be reporting him.
> Best cycling cameras — capture your ride and relive it later
"He continued to hold his phone in his left hand in a phone call as a female pedestrian walked across the zebra crossing. Obviously angry, he failed to give way and narrowly missed her, accelerating off at speed."
The rider told us he was "blown away with the kindness" of those passing who checked he was okay and provided witness statements.
"As I said, this happened on Christmas Eve. This incident very much destroyed my family Christmas as I was in a very stressed state and couldn't stop replaying in my head what happened," they continued.
"I was lucky the bruising to my leg was minimal as I'd managed to leap off my bike as the collision happened. Damage to my bike caused by the collision included popping out many spokes, bending my rear wheel/cassette/gear assembly/brakes, totalling £450 in repairs.
"A damage report by the amazing guys at CycleWorks Kennington was submitted to the police but not submitted in court. I had to report this myself in court to the magistrate in order to get compensation."
Having provided an online statement to the Metropolitan Police the cyclist was later asked to provide an in-person statement at Hammersmith police station and in April 2022 received a "generic letter" informing "after careful review it has been decided that no further action will be taken".
"I couldn't believe this decision had been made. I contacted the investigating officer who stated that this letter was from the Met Police Traffic Unit but he was still being prosecuted by a different department for common assault, and driving without due care and consideration," our reader explained.
"I thought the video evidence I provided was compelling: offences I can see include using a phone whilst driving, failing to wear a seatbelt, dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to give way on a zebra crossing. I have no idea why they decided these offences were not worthy of further action.
"I wanted to claim against his insurance to repair my bike, but had to take legal advice to compel the police to release the driver's insurance details as the vehicle was a company car and had multiple policies against it. I finally found out that the driver was insured with ERS and have sent various emails to them but have not had any response [a silence repeated to road.cc's request for comment]."
In the meantime our reader twice attended Westminster Magistrate's Court, once in July and then again in September 2022, but both times James failed to show up.
"To save wasting everyone's time again, the magistrate gave instructions that I should give evidence without the driver being present," he continued. "The driver's hearing finally took place in November where he plead guilty to the charges [below]."
- Common assault
- Use of threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour with intent to cause fear of/provoke unlawful violence
- Criminal damage to property valued under £5,000
- Driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road/in a public place without due care and attention
- Assault by beating
James was sentenced, with the judge taking the guilty plea into account, and received five penalty points on his driving licence, a £2,000 fine, £620 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service (collection order made), £200 victim surcharge and £500 compensation to the cyclist (still unreceived).
"The driver has still not paid a penny in compensation," our reader told us. "I have again sent another email to his insurance in the vague hope of getting paid for repairs.
"What concerns me most is that this dangerous driver remains a threat to other road users. I don't post on social media, but hope this story shows how inadequate some of our legal processes are and that the rights of car drivers are put above the safety of cyclists."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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31 comments
Someone needs to inform the PBU of his rights as a patient. A medical license* very much does not give the individual the right to practise on you. A shit ton of other stuff needs to be in place first... much like the privilege of driving.
* 💋 pedants
+ breaking the law (twice)
+ assault
+ disrespect to the court
--------------------------
two thousand quid
.. well.. the judge doesn't mind to be treated like an annoying mosquito.
Best to capture the evidence on camera, but not engage with driver.
I do agree, you don't want to fight off someone who has a 1,5ton 200km/h sledgehammer.
Absolutely. This guy is not a cyclists friend. He's a vigilante at best getting motorists backs up. If you're going to engage with a motorist make sure to use the charm offensive. It didn't escape my notice that the driver drove over a zebra crossing whilst a pedestrian was on it, he was distracted and it could've been much worse than a cyclists bruised ego.
You're right. As cyclists we should really stop distracting drivers so they can get on with driving safely and competently as they always do when we aren't around.
In no way whatsoever is he a vigilante.
Well hello and welcome tempingblower!
I couldn't agree more, the driver Akil James isn't a cyclist's friend - he's nobody's friend and a danger to the general public ... oh! Wait!
Bingo! You mean the cyclist is not a cyclist's friend? In the context of ... a driver breaking the law, assaulting people with hand and vehicle? What a curious notion! Do go on:
Ah - I see. The dangerous cycling vigilante is distracting already distracted drivers and making them angry by pointing out they're breaking the law. That could cause them to run over people other than cyclists (who probably deserve it, right?)
With a promising start like this you'll clearly find friends here (1 - or maybe 2 once that one has snuck back under another alias - or is it you?)
We should have a sweep on which PBU Tenpin is.
So we're all agreed then...
1) That is is correct to say 'Driving should be seen as a privilege and not a right.'
2) Martin73 has the patience of a Bridge Troll.. 740 odd posts now and counting, I can't think of one where he's not stuck up for the hard done by motons or contradicted someone on here.
Drain the drama - just call it a licensed activity. That avoids all the emotive "but my rights!" issues. Also simplifies thinking about limitations e.g. children and people with certain conditions aren't allowed to drive plus all the other requirements we may want to impose.
Then - like other licences for operating dangerous machinery (firearms, planes ...) bring in a requirement for periodic re-checks of some kind. Immediate suspension of licence if you are not operating according to the conditions of the licence e.g. driving within the law / obeying the Highway Code. That could be pending further checks - which could lead to a temporary ban on being relicensed or possibly even a permanent one.
As for "rights" - for better or worse we don't have a consitution as a single given text. Even for places / people who do (e.g. USA) there is always a vigorous business in both interpretation and tweaking rules to do with "rights" after the fact.
The PBU is doing what a PBU does. Instead of engaging with a time-rich and self-esteem poor prick, a better use of time might be reading this debate: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-01-10/debates/5A577E0A-524E-4...
But which bit of the debate? This bit?
Or this bit?
Or this bit?
What about this bit?
What point could you possibly be trying to make by posting the transcript of a debate between people who’s job it is to propose and amend the very legislation that governs whether or not driving is a right, re-iterating at four separate points in the aforementioned debate that driving is, in fact, NOT a right?
/Sarcasm off.
It's an insightful debate, and draws out a lot of issues. One quite pertinent to this is the recognition that police do have the ability to take away the privilege of driving but appear to be ignorant and/or unwilling to use it. That said, it also appears to be recognised that the current removal rights of the police do not go far enough.
Given the PBU here has advocated removing actual rights of children to further the abused privilege of driving by shitty motorists, they are not going to educated. Though it could be considered a public service to engage an Internet bottom feeder, saving the requirements if a carer or social worker.
I wonder if the company would like to know this is how the driver behaves in their company car?
After reasonable effort you should go to a small claims court for the compensation... and eventually let the bailiffs deal with the imbecile (it will cost him more that way, but it was his choice!)
You might find that the driver is the sole director and shareholder of the company which leases/owns the company car, in which case the company really couldn't care less...
Can you make a civil claim separately from the criminal one? That would get you compensation. Definitely worth seeking legal advice on this
It seems scandalous that the insurance company can get away with just blanking the claimant, but I suppose it's good for profits. Is there an Ombudsman or regulatory authority to whom they answer?
Quite likely to be FCA registered. It's worth starting a formal complaint with the company as that'll cost them some money straight away, no matter the result of the complaint.
https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/how-complain
Start the next communication with: "this is a complaint"
A whole set of procedures kick in. ERS are managed by IQUW and the contact email on the FCA register is Simon.mahaffey [at] iquw.com who is their compliance oversight officer.
In the complaint detail every time you have contacted them and by what channel, and state that you expect your compensation to be paid within 8 weeks of your email.
Also, may want to add that you are an eligible complainant as you are an individual with the legal right to benefit from a claim under a contract of insurance... this stops any funny business about you not being thier customer.
After 8 weeks you can go to the financial ombudsman
The driver seems to have anger management issues. I'm not sure the penalty reflects this. The common assault charge is the one that'll really give him problems in the future though.
Respect to the bike rider for pursuing this.
For me the standout is the triviality of the motoring offences ,and those not charged. Why is this just Without Due Care?
Ok, driving whilst using a mobile phone is 6 points at a minimum and can be charged in line with careless driving can't it? They also seemed to miss out charging him for leaving the scene of an accident without leaving details which is also a points record. I also don't see why multiple careless driving charges can't be charged for the recorded offences. I mean him driving into the cyclist, then driving across the crossing whilst pedestrians were on it.
Long way to state the driver was very lucky to only get 5 points.
Excuse me, but the cyclist involved here himself appears to have been co-opted by the common motocentric view of our transportation systems, ie. "this story shows how inadequate some of our legal processes are and that the rights of car drivers are put above the safety of cyclists."
There is no right to drive. It is a privilege. But until it is recognized as such, people like James will continue to get away with the sort of behavior outlined above. The judge should have taken away his license for six months or more to teach him a lesson but that almost never seems to happen unless someone dies.
And even then the drivers seem to get their driving privileges back pretty quick.
Who is the person who continually likes Martin73's posts? Does he have another fake account?
"I asked the driver 'what are you on the phone for?'. The phone screen was clearly lit up in an active call
https://upride.cc/incident/yh66utp_audia1_handheldmobile/
The driver wouldn't have been at all bothered about being filmed 'on the phone' in Lancashire- the police aren't interested. This offender is holding the phone and the wheel in the right hand, and changing gear with the left. I don't think it's worth confronting a driver over phone use, or almost anything else, but that may be because I have to catch them when they're moving so I don't get to stroll around traffic queues filming them through the window. I suppose the interaction enables you to get better video, but you might as well do that without speaking
"How dare you tell me not to break the law!"
Is there any way of getting the courts to enforce the compensation? Isn't his not paying that compensation contempt of court or something? (I mean, the court has ordered him to pay, and he hasn't).
Had one the other day. Tailgated by a van going passed parked cars. Looked down at at my Garmin to confirm that I was already above the speed limit 21mph in a 20 so stayed in a very primary position round the next bend . He eventually overtook me which allow me to to actually speed up to 24mph. 200yds further and he pulled in at the Co-op and wound down the window; "why are you cycling all over the f###ing road?" I replied with "I was doing the speed limit it's not my job to facilitate your law breaking". Didn't hang around to listen his expletive laden reply. Nice bloke though.
Go back to the court and update them about the missing money, a letter to the clerk should suffice. They have several options for enforcing the order including fetching the lunatic back before the bench.
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