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Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Van driver who laughed as he drove at cyclists jailed for six months
A van driver who laughed as he deliberately drove at a group of cyclists has been jailed for six months.
According to a report from the Daily Post, Joel Reece Morris drove his white Transit van on the wrong side of the road at the 20-rider group “for fun”, swerving back to his side of the road moments before a collision.
Many of the riders fell off their bikes as the group stopped, believing they were going to be hit.
Morris, 25, of Connah’s Quay, Flintshire, North Wales was jailed for six months. He was also banned from driving for six months and will have to take an extended driving test before being allowed to drive again.
The incident happened at 10.45am on Sunday November 17, 2013. The cyclists from Ellesmere Port were riding two abreast along the B5125 at Northop Hall, Flintshire.
Witnesses described Morris laughing as he drove at the group.
Afterwards he stopped and as riders approached him to get his registration number he reversed with his tyres screeching as his passenger gave them a V sign.
Morris had previously claimed he had swerved to avoid something in the road, and had not deliberately driven at the riders, but at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday he accepted the prosecution case in full.
David Mainstone, prosecuting, said that a female cyclist at the head of the group swerved to the left and told how she would have been hit if she had fallen to the right.
Morris had two previous convictions for drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Jayne La Grua, mitigating, said Morris appreciated the seriousness of what he had done. He had sought the help of a driving instructor with his impulsive actions behind the wheel.
He was a cockler and the loss of his driving licence meant the loss of his job. “This was a phenomenally stupid and dangerous thing to do,” she said.
Judge Niclas Parry told Morris: “This was an inexplicable piece of dangerous driving. For some reason, known only to you, you decided to goad and, more seriously, intimidate a group of cyclists doing no more than what has become a very common, enjoyable and worthwhile past time of riding in a group on a Sunday morning.
“For fun, you deliberately drove at them to alarm them and to make them lose control. You drove intentionally at that group.”
Only the alertness of the cyclists prevented any major injuries, said the judge. The evasive action riders were forced to take resulted in some of them colliding with each other, with some falling off and sustaining minor injuries and damage to their bikes.
The judge mentioned recent incidents in which cyclists had been seriously injured or killed and said: “There is a duty on every motorist to respect the safety of cyclists.”
Follow-up: Ride leader Terry Hughes has given a detailed account of what happened.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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69 comments
double post. oops.
No. It will be six months after he leaves prison. Not sure why he should get a licence back at all. But 6 months after he will have to take an extended driving test. If he passes he gets back an endorsed licence. I don't think he will enjoy the discussion with the insurance company either.
Not long enough in my opinion but don't underestimate the impact of even 6 months in prison and the massive extra costs of driving again. Oh and plod will have an ANPR interest marker for previous DQ against any vehicle he owns or insures. So he had better drive nicely and make sure he doesn't fall foul of them for any minor things. He can look forward to regular document checks, vehicle inspections and will get to be an expert on breathalysers. Oh and with this as previous any more reports from cyclists about his behaviour and he'll get the book thrown at him and really hard (and I hope it hurts).
It's entirely possible the local cops will take a strong interest in this bloke. If they need to keep up their arrest records, he'll be an easy mark if his record is anything to go by. I do wonder whether he'll learn lessons from this, since trends with regard to offenders and modes of behaviour suggests he won't.
Publishing his name isn't a great idea. The local cops will have him in their sights. Keeping him off the road will be of benefit for car drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians, not just cyclists.
Sounds like a decent Judge for a change, well done m'lud.
As for the driver, what an absolute endbell, going to prison with all the associated problems for his future and for what ? Seriously hope he continues to suffer for a long time, someone could have been killed
Finally, a sentence that isn't suspended! Realistically, he'll serve 3 months, and as the ban will run concurrently (believe this is correct?), will only be banned for a further 3 after that. However, not only has he lost his job, he'll probably lose his home in that 6 months unless he's still at his parents, and his car insurance will go through the roof. I wouldn't expect him to be insured to drive any employers' vehicles again. He's ruined his future, and for what? What a tool.
Good also that m'lud acknowledged "cyclists doing no more than what has become a very common, enjoyable and worthwhile past time of riding in a group on a Sunday morning"
Finally, a sentence that isn't suspended! Realistically, he'll serve 3 months, and as the ban will run concurrently (believe this is correct?), will only be banned for a further 3 after that. However, not only has he lost his job, he'll probably lose his home in that 6 months unless he's still at his parents, and his car insurance will go through the roof. I wouldn't expect him to be insured to drive any employers' vehicles again. He's ruined his future, and for what? What a tool.
Good also that m'lud acknowledged "cyclists doing no more than what has become a very common, enjoyable and worthwhile past time of riding in a group on a Sunday morning"
Chapeaux for the Jail term but a 6 month ban? his drink driving and leaving scenes of accidents were justification of banning him for life, yet alone this inciddent
Would not be surprised if this guy will be back in the news after his ban, with a tragic outcome. So he will have to pass an extensive driving test again? Does that include a test to see whether he is actually mentally fit to drive a car? Probably not. Should get forced to ride a bike daily on a busy road for the couple of months or weeks that he will actually be in jail. Maybe that would get him the maturity that he has been lacking up to now.
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