Ex-Brookside actor was peeling fruit behind wheel of bus when he ran over cyclist

So which bus company employed a driver
with a previous conviction for DWDCA?

Utter, utter, utter, utter C***T!  

There's someone who doesn't have any self discipline or professionalism.  He doesn't take responsibility for his actions.  He doesn't learn.  The Navy just had a close miss.  

He has since become a Royal Navy chef and Ian Harris, defending, said he had “worked phenomenally” to reach his position and wanted “to devote his life to our security and safety.” 

He's watched Under Seige too many times.

I bet he thought that working in the Navy would get him a lesser sentence.

What a gutless coward.

Bus driver, chef, actor, sailor?

"McKechnie told police that he had seen the cyclist and believed he had left enough room." 

Another "Proffesional" driver who obviously has not a clue about the highway code. Its the reason they put  pictures in the highway Code, so that those who cant read can still look at the pretty pictures and figure it out.  

So...19 month ban,12 months of which are at her Majesty's pleasure so presumably don't involve a lot of driving..?    

On those facts here alone it sounds remarkably lenient.  Obviously without full facts etc difficult to comment. 

Regardless of the standard of driving, I think a large contributory factor to incidents like these (before you flame me, not necessarily saying this case) is that many modern vehicles are simply too large for the existing roads: most roads were built when a "mini" was actually a small car, and inner cities weren't full of wannabe landrover-a-likes(that would be hopless off road anyway, and have less room than an old fiesta for your shopping), but small hatchbacks that are actually suited to city driving.   Compare a modern bus design with an old one (for the sake of argument, say something from the 80's or 70's) and they seem much bigger with a much larger road footprint (if you get what I mean) but without much more capacity.  Less room to maneuvre round bends etc. Particularly if you are eating fruit at the time.

Or am I just hitting middle age?

"and wanted “to devote his life to our security and safety.”

lol what a fucking joke, where was his devotion when the crashed 2tons of metal into the back of a fellow human being. 

I hope this failed actor has a really "hard time" inside

Sounds like a boat is the safest place for him to be, not many cyclists on the high seas...

A 19-month ban.  Pathetic.  He should be banned for life.

Hmmm - "to devote his life to our security and safety" by becoming a chef? (Not trying to disparage Royal Navy chefs' work, but it sounds like they're exaggerating the security aspect of beans on toast).

He's previously been convicted for careless driving (and we know how often people can get away with that), so I reckon he's already demonstrated that he can't be trusted with another chance. They should revoke his driving privileges permanently in order to protect the general public. At least he shouldn't need to drive in his new job.

I bet the bus had a "Cyclists: Do not pass on the inside of this vehicle" sticker on the back and everything.

This is the scenario which bothers me most. Doesn't matter how defensively I ride if I get rear-ended by a fuckwit.

No remorse until confronted with the evidence. #crocodiletears

'Pleaded guilty' once he was shown cctv footage demonstrating that he couldn't plead not-guilty.

'Genuinely remorseful' because of the perceived consequences to his own life, not because of the consequences to the bloke he ran over.

/cynicism=off/