A wanted motorist who was found guilty of assaulting a cyclist in a road rage attack, after the rider called out his licence plate following a close pass at a central reservation, has “got away with it”, according to his victim – because the driver simply failed to turn up to court.
Essex Police has confirmed that an arrest warrant remains in place for 36-year-old Adam Fry, who pleaded guilty to careless driving, attempted criminal damage, and a public order offence in relation to the road rage incident on 23 May 2024.
Fry, who told officers during a police interview that he didn’t “need to see the video” of the incident because he’d “done nothing wrong”, was then found guilty of assault by beating on 11 August 2025, a verdict delivered in his absence after he failed to turn up to court.
Almost a year later, Fry is yet to be sentenced, with police currently unable to locate him, his victim noting that the motorist is likely to be still “driving on the roads with major anger issues”.
Cyclist Tony Envoldsen-Harris was cycling on Stifford Clays Road in Grays, Essex, on 11 December 2023, as part of his usual lunchtime ride, when he was close passed by a motorist at a pinch point in the road caused by a central reservation.
“The lane here is quite wide but still not wide enough for a driver to overtake safely through a pinch point, but that’s exactly what a driver did,” Tony tells road.cc.
As the driver passes him, Tony shouts: “Whoa, what are you doing?” The motorist, Fry, then slows down, travelling alongside the cyclist, and says: “What do you mean what am I doing? Get out of the middle of the road you prick”.
As Fry drives on, Tony stops and calls out the car’s licence plate, a common tactic used by camera cyclists to ensure every detail is available for police investigating the incident.
“The driver must have heard me doing this, as next thing I know they have slammed on their brakes, stopped their vehicle and jumped out and walked towards me,” Tony says.
In the video of the incident, Fry can be seen moving towards the cyclist, while asking: “What the f*** did you say, what did you say?”
He then can be seen kicking out at the cyclist, hitting him in the leg and casing him to wobble. The motorist continues to shout at the rider, calling him a “f***ing prick” and telling him to “f*** off, you nonce”.
Tony responds by telling the motorist, “congratulations, it’s all on camera”, prompting another sweary retort from Fry before he drives off.
“As I was steadying myself another driver stopped to check if I was OK after witnessing some of it,” Tony continues. “And I headed home, still feeling quite shaken by the event it took a while for me to calm down and get myself together.
“I reported the incident to Essex Police, initially through the Extra Eyes service, for the driving, but after mentioning the incident on social media, people told me I should report it for the assault as well, which I then did, and I’m very glad I did.”
Around a week later, Essex Police informed Tony that they required a formal statement and for him to upload his footage of the incident, with one officer praising him for calling out the driver’s licence plate number on camera.
In early 2024, the case was passed to the local policing team for investigation, who told Tony that the driver had been called in for an interview and that they had “reinstated” the driving offence committed in the clips (“implying the roads team weren’t going to take action,” Tony notes).
In the interview, according to an officer who relayed the details to Tony, the driver “came in with an attitude”, claiming that he “didn’t need to see the video” because he’d done “nothing wrong”, while telling the police that “real men sort it out”.
“From what the officer said he was very adversarial, showing no signs of remorse for his actions,” Tony tells road.cc.
Following the interview, Fry was charged with four offences: causing intentional harassment, alarm, or distress; driving without consideration for other road users; causing criminal damage; and assault by beating.
He pleaded guilty to the first three counts but contested the assault charge, with a court date eventually set for 11 August 2025, at Basildon Magistrates Court.
“I arrive in plenty of time and I’m shown to the witness/victim room, and after a short wait I’m taken to the court room,” Tony says.
“On the way to the room I’m told the defendant has not arrived for the hearing, but that the hearing will go ahead in his absence, with the defence barrister only there to take notes as there’s no one to defend.
“Once in the court room the magistrates start proceedings, I’m shown to the stand, sworn in, and go through my statement, the prosecutor plays the video, and everything runs smoothly. I can see the magistrates don’t appear impressed with the driving or altercation afterwards.
“They ask a couple of questions before retiring to consider the evidence and come to a decision. The wait isn’t long as they soon reappear, and state they find the defendant guilty, and due to his absence from court they will issue a warrant for his arrest. So far, so good.”
But that’s when, as Tony notes, things grind to a halt.
“Months go by and I hear nothing, I reach out to the courts teams and ask for an update. I’m told he hasn’t been found yet and that they will update me when he is located,” the cyclist says.
“This goes on and on, with me chasing, and getting the same response from the courts team. In May 2026 I contacted them once again asking for an update, and to be told what they are doing to try and locate the driver.
“The courts team replied saying they don’t have access to those details, but that I can try reaching out to the police directly, which I did on 18 May 2026 and again on 16 June 2026. No replies to either. I then contact the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex by email, but essentially get fobbed off.
“So, at this point the driver has got away with it. Despite pleading/being found guilty of four offences he’s never been sentenced, still driving on the roads with major anger issues, and the police don’t seem able to locate him.”
At the end of June, Essex Police’s witness care team contacted Tony, reassuring him that the warrant remains in place until Fry is found, “even if it takes years”.
“The case remains open at this time,” the police’s letter reads. “The defendant failed to appear at court and enquiries are on-going to ascertain their location. A warrant has been issued for their arrest with our warrants officer making the enquiries to ascertain their current location.
“The suspect has been circulated as wanted, meaning if they are stopped by Police and checks made they will be apprehended. Similar checks are routinely made at airports/other ports both exiting and entering the UK, meaning they may be apprehended here too.
“Please be assured this has not been forgotten, and whilst there are currently difficulties locating the suspect, our enquiries will continue until such time they are arrested and taken before the courts.”
In a statement provided to road.cc, a spokesperson for Essex Police said: “A warrant remains in place for the arrest of 36-year-old Adam Fry.
“Fry pleaded guilty to careless driving, attempted criminal damage and a public order offence on 23 May 2024, and was found guilty in his absence of assault by beating on 11 August 2025.
“Our officers are continuing to search for Fry and ensure he appears before court for sentencing.”
28 thoughts on ““I’ve done nothing wrong”: Wanted road rage driver “gets away” with assaulting cyclist because he failed to turn up to court”
It is 2026.
With technology as it is, the authorities should be able to find him relatively easily.
So either they are failing to do their job or he should be recruited by MI5.
Should there be a change in law that anyone wanted and absconding should automatically be put in prison when captured for the length of time they were hiding?
Another example where I advocate for loss of taste buds and libido as a deterrent for the criminal and others thinking about behaving badly and hiding.
And what of anyone assisting his absence…?
Yeah – I mean surely they can just activate his ‘covid vaccine’ chip and track him through that?
On no evidence whatsoever I have an odd feeling he might be a “freethinker” who didn’t bother with “state-mandated” things like that…
Wherever he is, you can be sure that he is
A) Still angry, and,
B) Still hasn’t dropped any fag ash ( it looks like a ciggy in his hand).
I don’t think the nation’s security services want a violent thug on their books that they might have to back up in court … oh, wait…
I apologise for harping on about Marcus Wright’s Transit HN21 VXB, but it’s another example where the police try really hard to not find somebody. They’re pretty good at that sort of thing, looking the other way at all times, lying etc. No MOT for a year ( criminal offence), deliberately making it difficult for the authorities to find the registered keeper (criminal offence), no VED for over 2 years- vehicle regularly seen and filmed around Garstang by me, but apparently never detected by all the ANPR equipped police vehicles regularly seen outside Garstang Police Station or in the adjacent Aldi carpark. When they and the useless PCC want to help out an offender they can do so with impunity, as the Hillsborough protesters found out over decades.
😲
The end times truly are upon us!
He’ll have an NI number and if he’s paying tax, HMRC will know who his employer is. Just need to turn up there…. They can find him if they need to but it’s obviously not a priority!
@mikewood With that type of person, the “if” is a big one here. There are an estimated two million people in the UK working cash in hand, he looks the type, with that level of aggression, who might be doing door work if not outright criminal stuff and doesn’t declare anything.
One interesting thing here is the fact that, if I have understood correctly, they initially decided on NFA for the close pass but then included it in the charges. Surely it was either an offence before they found out about the assault or it wasn’t. It was based on the same video evidence.
I find inconsistent outcomes from my reports which are pretty near identical frustrating but this is different outcomes for the same report, that takes some doing.
@Bungle_52 “NFA” doesn’t mean it wasn’t an offence, it just means that they aren’t going to do anything about it. They proceeded with this one in light of the other – because A. it doesn’t cost them anything and B. it bolsters the rest of their case. I wonder if the reason you get different results for near identical reports because sometimes they already hit their quota for the month – If they can’t just send a fixed penalty, I guess resources aren’t infinite, so there’s probably a fixed number they deal with each month and the rest just get NFA’d
@jh2727 I fear you may be right but if you are I find it a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.
If it is an offence then they have the choice of sending a NIP, a warning letter or an advisory letter instead of NFA. All of these should be just a matter of pressing a button. In the case of the NIP, once the driver has been identified and checked for previous they have the option of a course, a fixed penalty notice or taking it to court. The first actually generates income, the second only goes to court if it’s contested. I can see why they don’t always use the courts but I can’t see any reason not to use the others.
Some on here would say that letters and courses are a waste of time but I don’t. It hasn’t happened to me yet but if a driver has already been dealt with in that way then the next time it’s going to be very difficult to justify not taking action.
I have also noticed a marked improvement in driving around me since Gloucestershire started sending advisory letters rather than NFA for close passes.
When I worked for DWP I could locate just about anyone with only a name and date of birth from the JSA, UC or child benefit records if required. There is no excuse for not being able to find this particular scrote, DVLA will have his vehicle history, the health service his medical records.
In my view Tony is a victim of two tier justice. Essex police *could* easily find the perpetrator if they wanted to, but their priorities lie elsewhere.
In the same period, Essex police have hounded people for posting hurty words on twitter. For example, in November 2024 they attended Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson’s home to “investigate inciting racial hatred” when she posted a photo of woke police officers standing next to campaigners with the caption “how dare they”.
They infamously provided a bus service for counter protestors when the local community was protesting in Epping about the Bell Hotel.
Essex police have also spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on DEI initiatives over the same period, de-prioritising actual policing such as violent crime as a result.
@jackcycles
The counter protestors were being taken away from a dangerous situation if you bothered to look it up.
We don’t have DEI in this country – that is the US we have EDI which aims to
ensure that everyone has the same opportunities, and no-one is treated differently or discriminated against because of their personal characteristics. These are known as ‘protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act 2010. The nine protected characteristics are:
age
disability
gender reassignment
marital or civil partnership status
pregnancy and maternity
race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins)
religion or belief (including lack of belief)
sex
sexual orientation
The police particularly have issues racism and misogyny.
It’s a fairly common name, but could this be the same person? Age is roughly the same:
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4657477.insane-violence-gang-man-21-jailed-for-five-years-over-west-howe-stabbing/
Is self defence legal in UK? Or do you just have to take a beating then file a report?
A strategy in same situation would be to get off bike and keep bike between yourself and the attacker. You can then use the back wheel of the bike as a metal tennis racquet as required.
Self defence is certainly lawful in the UK albeit it’s not a “get out of jail for any violence” card. *
Otherwise you’re right it’s wise to a) get off the bike if you’re stopped unless you have fast reactions and an Olympic-level sprint start and b) get it between you and any threat.
You might be able to make a case for having a sturdy lock / long bike pump ** at hand also. But… do you practice combatives daily? And even if you do you would want to be circumspect about being armed before it kicks off, to avoid the appearance of escalation. And have a believable story eg. “at this point I noticed the lock had fallen on the ground and without thinking I picked it up”.
* One example being that if you own potentially lethal projectile weapons getting some legal advice in advance on what constitutes “self defence” would be a very good idea. The UK view on that *is* different compared to some other countries.
** Guessing not may people have decent length metal bike pumps on their bike now…
@Aluminium can You have no idea what size CykelTony is, how old he is, what disabilities he might have or anything else. Unless he is very large and used to fighting he did exactly the right thing in not engaging with this psychopath, who is not only very large but also obviously accustomed to employing violence and, if I’m any judge, either on cocaine/meth or coming down from same. He’s also got a mate in the car with him as well, and looks the type of person who if he was challenged might well produce a knife or other weapon. Personally, although I’m 6 feet tall, pushing 90 kg and a former rugby player who can, I suppose, “handle himself” reasonably well, I would, I hope, have had the sense to behave like CT, minimise the risk, get away as quickly as you can and report to the police. If you try and take someone like this (and his mate) on, it is not going to end well for you.
Bit of an odd thing to say. You’re basically admitting you’d only fight women and children.
@jackcycles
That, in turn, is a very odd thing to say.
@jackcycles
I’ll try my best not to fight anyone unless my safety or that of another person is at risk, but in any case, not quite sure how you’ve managed to get from “I wouldn’t fight this very large clearly psychopathic probably drugged bloke who might very well have a weapon and has a mate who could join in” to “admitting” I’d only fight women and children. Actually, I am sure, it’s because you’re a troll. Suspected as much from your first appearances here but gradually been more confirmed and that utterly imbecilic comment seals it.
Or mostly here for some “specific belief bingo” (see their entry earlier)? “Tell me the issue and I’ll explain how it’s down to cultural weakness (wokeness)”?
Rendell, If that isn’t what you meant, apologies, but please try to be more careful and precise in your phrasing in the future if that’s ok?
To Chris on a trike, I do talk about cultural issues because certain commentators (environmentally-driven cycling activists on the left, and their adversaries on the right) have made apolitical activities – such as cycling and driving – political charged debates.
Cycling is about freedom, individuality, and mobility, all inherently libertarian ideas, but somewhere along the line it has been hijacked by left wingers as a poster child for curtailing others’ freedoms and limiting perfectly reasonable alternative modes of transport.
For example, see cycle lanes and LTNs, both idiotic ideas dreamt up by pseudo-totalitarians hell-bent on controlling others’ lives, wrapped up as “pro-cycling” measures. They are not. These people speak neither for cyclists not for society at large, and simply divide people.
I want to ride my bike on a road, not a silly cycle track where I can leer at upset drivers stuck in the resultant jams that my lane has caused. It’s just common sense and societally cohesive, and inherently fair that anything with wheels (and road legal) should share the same space – and will naturally lead to fewer”rage” incidents from drivers.
On two-tier justice, police DEI schemes and a warped sense of priorities have led to cases like the one in the article being ignored, which again ultimately affects all cyclists negatively.
Yup, reckon jackcycles has got a full house there!
To paraphrase Prof. Ian Walker’s joke “tell me what you care about and I’ll explain why the answer is less driving and more active travel”. Cycling can indeed be framed in terms that folks all across the spectrum ought to approve of (individualist, traditionalist, business-ist *, environmentalist, socialist…)
Unfortunately where that potential agreement falls down is on “getting more people to do it”.
There are some who feel that is a non-goal – if not a negative. (“I’m alright Jack – and it’s no business of anyone to dictate what others do”). I’d just point out that the motor industries have managed to effectively achieve change that benefits them under all kinds of governments and cultures. And wish them “good luck with getting better cycling conditions / protection”…
From where we are in the UK change is hard. But there’s only one way ** that’s been shown in practice to make much difference to numbers of people cycling. And improve the attractiveness and convenience of the same. And it’s been shown to work in lots of different places.
* Actually… it’s not so good for the giant multinationals / those keen on emulating them. Mass motoring is a far better way of accumulating large amounts of cash (which can then be used to … bend the politicians your way). A lot of the “good” in cycling seems to come from it being “small and low-resource-using”.
** Well – perhaps two; but “turn off all the fuel stations” isn’t something that those in power not seeking martyrdom choose to do…
@Aluminium can
Self defence is proportionate to the perceived threat and there is a lot of latitude. People have in a handful of cases killed another and it has been ruled self defence.
@Hirsute I have no experience of Essex Police, but I know a lot about the attitudes of officers in Lancashire Constabulary. They don’t consider motoring offences to be real offences, especially if they’re offences against cyclists. This is odd, because there are very few cyclists up here in North Lancashire and not much active travel for the specific purpose of getting to a specific place, beyond walking short distances. If this assault case had been in Lancashire, I would be pretty sure that the police are deliberately not trying very hard to catch the offender, because they think the cyclist was ‘asking for it’ by just being there, and is now ‘asking for it’ by having initially reported it and for repeatedly pestering the police about what they consider to be a trivial offence.
He hasn’t got away with it. He will eventually be caught, most likely when he commits further offences. When this happens he will also be charged with non-appearance.