Guilty plea from Edinburgh motorist who left cyclist clinging to bonnet in road rage incident

An Edinburgh motorist has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving following a road rage incident last November, reported widely at the time including here on road.cc, in which he drove aggressively as he tried to shake a cyclist off the bonnet of his car. The driver of the vehicle involved in the incident, 32-year-old Bernard Anderson, will be sentenced next month.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday by deputy fiscal Isobel Clark, prosecuting, that cyclist Iain Thomson, aged 32, had confronted Anderson on Johnston Terrace and had grabbed hold of his wing mirror, reports STV.

"The cyclist dismounted from his bicycle and was seen by the witnesses lying on the bonnet of the car being driven by the accused,” explained deputy fiscal Isobel Clark, prosecuting.

"The witnesses could see the car swerving from side to side. It was braking sharply in a bid to get Mr Thomson off the car. Mr Thomson was then seen coming off the bonnet of the car and he fell onto the ground. This was seen by witnesses in the street.

"The distance that was driven was about 100 metres and I understand Mr Thomson sustained minor injuries - he had a soft tissue injury to his finger. He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Hospital where he was treated," she added.

While the evidence regarding the central aspect ot the case was backed up by witness statements the events leading up to the initial confrontation between the two men did differ from the account given by Mr Thomson to the media at the time of the incident.

In November, he told The Scotsman that he had been rammed from behind by a Renault Clio on Johnston Terrace following an earlier altercation with the driver, who had not at that point been identified, on their way into the city centre.

Although that version of events seems at variance with STVs report of the court proceedings, it does not of course excuse the driver’s subsequent actions, as he Anderson himself appears to have acknowledged by entering a guilty plea to the charge of dangerous driving.

Sheriff Michael O'Grady QC said that Anderson will be sentenced next month after background reports have been obtained.