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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgFormer ITV cycling presenter fined for drunk police chase
A former ITV cycling presenter who led a police chase on his bicycle while drunk, has been fined after being found guilty of being drunk in charge of a pedal cycle and failing to stop for a police officer.
Richard Cunynghame allegedly cycled into a police car following the pursuit in Chelsea.
He now faces a12 month conditional discharge and has been to pay £620 plus a £20 surcharge, paid in weekly £20 instalments.
Richard Cunynghame, aged 36 and a past host of The Cycle Show which first aired in 2012, pleaded not guilty to the charges at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court, as we reported in April.
He was bailed to reappear at the City of London Magistrates Court for a trial, where he said he only had two glasses of wine.
After the presenter smashed into the car, he told officers 'what the f***' before drunkenly slurring 'I was run off my bike', according to the Daily Mail.
Magistrate Annie Allum said: “We believe in the evidence of the two police officers.
“We believe that Mr Cunynghame's judgement was impacted by alcohol, not what would be expected by an experienced professional cyclist which he says he is.
“For the offences we find the police to be credible, we do not believe Mr Cunynghame's evidence that he did not see or hear the police officers or hear the police car.
“We are satisfied in both cases that these offences have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.'
Defence lawyer Mr Vollans said: “The finding if guilty will have adverse consequences - it will affect his sponsorship.'
“It will affect his long-term employment, it will affect his ability to gain employment and it will affect his employment as it stands today.”
The court also heard that Cunynghame earns £20,000 a year and had a previous drink drive conviction dating back to 2000.
British national downhill champion in 2012 in the masters 30-34 age group, besides his work on The Cycle Show Cunynghame has worked as a director for the likes of Dirt TV and Red Bull, for whom he made the long-running online video series, The Atherton Project.
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11 comments
I would contend that if the plods were decent it wouldn't have got to court. Seeing how drunks coming out of nightclubs are dealt with when they are being filmed for tv, surely they could have done similar action here? And yes the punishment is way beyond the crime.
£620!!! Wow. That's insane. Motorists who have killed people have been fined less than this. Personally I think it's a bit backwards that you can be charged for failing to stop/drunk in charge of a pedal cycle in the context that you can't also be charged for speeding on a pedal cycle (something which I always find baffles people). Would you get done if you were drunk on a horse? How about a foot powered scooter? A parachute? A hand glider? A kayak? All could cause others/the user damage...
He's a cyclist, who knows what else he's capable of! Send him down!
Indeed! It's great coming on here to read some humourous posts sometimes.
Someone threw a butt plug at me once out of a car window. And yes you guessed it. No heavy-handed police action or fines for the motorist.
(Yes I actually bactracked to see what the object was. I thought it was a cork at first. Well I suppose it serves the same purpose I guess).
Needless to say I never picked it up...
perhaps they were trying to tell you your lycra's getting a bit thin back there
You can actually lose your Driving License for being found drunk in charge of a bicycle.
This is bollocks, London with cameras everywhere and yet we're reliant on the statements from 2 (anti cyclist) police. Get me in the jury and I'll acquit him all day.
Anyone whose surname looks like it was written by Chaucer is alright by me.
Flame on. So if he had issues with drink, why wasn't he just fined £30.00 and ordered to attend counselling like a car driver would? And of course plods pulling out in front of a cyclist wouldn't lie to protrct themselves would they?
What he said☝️
If you were drink driving and tried to run from the cops, requiring them to block you in and you crashed into their car, there is no way you would get a 30 quid fine.
Those plods might just be decent, respectable people with a family to raise, doing their best at their job, and like 95% of the rest of the population woul dput their hand up if they made a mistake, just like you would.
If we want to be treated with respect on the roads, just like any other road user we need to act in a way that deserves that respect.
Sounds like the guy may have a drink problem. Hopefully this acts as a wakeup call
This is effectively a second drink driving offence. Though a fine of 620 quid for DIC of bicycle seems steep, viewed as a second drink driving offence, if it was a car driver we'd be calling for his bollocks to be hung from a chyrch steyple (for the Chaucerians out there)