Hit-and-run uninsured and unlicensed driver who seriously injured cyclist avoids jail

Compare and contrast with this, seen in the Sunderland Echo after following the link in the story. 

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/dangerous-driver-jailed-after-...

 A tragic outcome for his passengers, but they did make the choice to be driven in a stolen car by the defendant. No such choice for the cyclist not to be met by a dangerous driver on the wrong side of the road.

Five years jail as opposed to community service (No fine!??), differences being stolen car, disqualified as opposed to unlicensed driver, perverting course of justice as opposed to making the conscious choice not to phone an ambulance, and leaving the scene, even after being asked to dial 999 by the victim...Oh, and 'cyclist'.

This does not add up.

The most obvious way to punish these bastards is to use their £85 fines and buy them an Apollo bike and drive at them, very fast!

Very unclear why he escaped jail. There must be some reason, because everything here is damning of the individual concerned. There's no 'you did everything you could once you realised you had hit the cyclist' bullshit mitigation to this one. From beginning to end it is a litany of actions of someone who does not give a toss about anyone or anything (even his own family).

All the wrong messages, to everyone, all the time.

The sentence is a fucking joke.

They'd had got longer for downloading a movie off the internet.

Does anyone know what 'Community Service' these days actually involves?

Round here, litter picking is a voluntary, community affair - well over 100 volunteers and over 1,000 bin bags full in the past few months.

What do they make these wretched little shites do?  Cleaning and painting CS7 blue again by hand would be a decent punishment :o)

Quote:

Tate, who had no prior convictions, admitted failing to stop after an accident, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.

Except he had been breaking the law everytime he got behind the wheel of the car which should have also been taken into account. It is not an accident and not a first time. Also how come him and his sister wasn't charged with endangerment of he children she allowed in his car. Surely she knew he wasn't legally allowed to drive and knew how he drove if he came "around the bend on the wrong side of the road and hit him head on".

If the cyclist had thrown his bike and crash helmet into the hedge away from view,  this driver would have got a proper penalty because it wasnt a cyclist he nearly killed. It's getting fucking absurd, and if this government is serious about increasing cycling / walking they need to address this prejudice. So many people want to cycle but don't because it's too dangerous and anti-cyclists literally hate them when they get on a bike.

I've said this before, I'll say it again. Disqualifying/banning/revocation of licence is not punishment, it is mitigation of public risk, and so should be applied separately to sentencing.

This w£nker has been allowed to walk free from a heinous crime. No one can pretend that they are unaware of the horrific results of dangerous driving, whether you have a licence or not. This c_nt knew this and then drove in a high-risk manner. He was aware that he was unqualified, and therefore incompetent, knew what the likely outcome was, and not only continued to pursue this course of action, but after inflicting this utterly predictable outcome on an innocent member of the public, left his victim for dead.

What possible grounds are there for showing leniency?? Even the summing up comments show how trivial the judge saw this  - "escaped jail by the skin of your teeth.” He escaped nothing, the judge made a conscious decision not to punish.

Perhaps next time he does this, the judge will ban him from driving for two whole years. That'll show him!.

Here's a contrast: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/man-fined-after-driving-e-4983704

Quote:

A man will be forced to pay out more than £1,000 after driving an electric scooter in a Bristol park.

Souhail Somrani was driving the e-scooter in a park near Brandon Hill on April 18 last year when he was stopped by police.

In a statement, Avon and Somerset Police said the 44-year-old was reported for driving without insurance.

Somrani, from the Redfield area, was also reported for driving a mechanically propelled vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, the statement added, due to the fact that he was stopped while riding on a public footpath.

He received six penalty points, as well as fines and costs totalling £1058, after being found guilty of the offences by Bath Magistrates Court on Thursday, February 4.

Richard McKiernan, of Avon and Somerset Police traffic management unit, said: “This case demonstrates there can be very real consequences for those who are found to be using an electric scooter illegally.

I was going to comment, but words fail me.

I don't know where to start with this one. I've said it here many times, I'm not of the "bang'em up" brigade but as already said this should at least have got a suspended sentence. The 18 month driving ban is a sick joke. Should be at least 10 years if not a lifetime ban. As for driving without insurance I don't know what sort of compensation the injured cyclist will get but the uninsured driver should be made to pay it from his earnings at a percentage until it's all paid. 

I think there is some sort of warped idea that not being able to drive a car is such a harsh punishment that it should only be metered out in small doses. The fact is that many people do not drive and manage perfectly well. However people who clearly demonstrate that they cannot or will not behave responsibly behind the wheel of a car should not be given that priviledge. 

Hit and run, + no licence and insurance ... and still no jail ... that is truely amazing. 

So the judge takes the licence he didn't have. What does that change? And how is it a punishment?

He escaped punishment and justice. District Judge Meek couldn't have a more apt name.

Banned from driving. Not licenced, probably won't be in near future.

Take the car away, curfew him and fit him with an ankle bracelet.

Step sister took 15 minutes to call 999 AFTER the time to return to scene and should also be punished.

Time and time again we see the same things: the joke community order, the trivial ban, the exceedingly weak condemnation which is simply laughed off because no serious penalty has been imposed. It will be the same when you are knocked off, assaulted, generously given 'life changing injuries' which are deemed unimportant because not punished: this is a war we continue to lose.

So on the one hand you have life changing injuries and on the other you have "please don't drive for 18 months". To my mind, someone who panics after a collision and only thinks of themselves is not mature enough to drive - let's keep them off the road permanently as they had their chance to follow the rules.