Here's the film, yes I have edited it; an unedited version is out there.
On 4th November 2010 while cycling into work I was subjected to a barrage of abuse from a motorist, Scott Lomas, which culminated in a threat to kill me. I have documented in this blog the efforts I have had to make to get action taken after I reported this to the police.
Today Lomas was finally convicted, on his plea of guilty, to the Public Order Act offence of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.
It transpires Lomas was in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed by the Crown Court in April 2010 following his conviction of a crime of violence, malicious wounding, He was not referred back to the Crown Court for consideration of whether to activate that earlier sentence.
For the offence involving me, he was fined £250, a victim surcharge of £15 and prosecution costs of £300 (total £565).
It is sadly too much to hope that all mindless aggression and violence directed at cyclists will instantly cease but at least this conviction may help to discourage similar incidences of ‘roadrage’ against vulnerable road users. I hope it may also serve to encourage police officers to treat complaints of this type of crime seriously. I commend the CPS for having the moral fibre to reverse the Metropolitan Police Constable’s attempts to drop this case, notwithstanding the strength of the evidence due to my use of a helmet mounted camera.
Regular readers will know that I am not slow to criticise public servants who fall down on the job, so it is only right that I emphasise that this case would have got nowhere if it had not eventually landed on the desk of a Crown Prosecutor highly endowed with both integrity and competence. I am grateful to prosecuting counsel (a cyclist it transpires!) who dealt with the case today both efficiently and courteously. Finally I am grateful too for the moral support I have received from the CTC, Roadpeace, The Road Danger Reduction Forum and the vast majority of cyclists who have contacted me.
Regular readers will know that I am not slow to criticise public servants who fall down on the job, so it is only right that I emphasise that this case would have got nowhere if it had not eventually landed on the desk of a Crown Prosecutor highly endowed with both integrity and competence. I am grateful to prosecuting counsel (a cyclist it transpires!) who dealt with the case today both efficiently and courteously. Finally I am grateful too for the moral support I have received from the CTC, Roadpeace, The Road Danger Reduction Forum and the vast majority of cyclists who have contacted me.
Congratulations Martin.
ReplyDeleteReward for all your efforts.
great news. i just wish the police did more.
ReplyDeleteric
Congratulations indeed. I'm glad that you were finally able to force the system into doing its job. Thankfully all it took to reach this was for the victim to be an experienced barrister.
ReplyDeleteI am genuinely pleased that you were able to win one for the good guys though :)
This is good news, Martin. Your persistence in pursuing these cases is exemplary. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWell done on sticking with it and congratulations on the result.
ReplyDeleteWonder if the suspended sentence had anything to do with police wanting to drop it.
Good news, well done for sticking with it. Hoping this gives "closure" to the drawn out aftermath of what was a pretty horrible incident in the first instance.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your efforts to see some justice done, on behalf of all other bicycle users. Hopefully this case will be used in future as an example of how the law should be applied.
ReplyDeleteI hope this makes it slightly more difficult for people to get away with illegal threatening behaviour just because they did it on a public road.
Nice one Martin, on behalf of all london cyclists I salute you!
ReplyDeletewell done.
ReplyDeleteGood - well done, even though it's taken ... 18 months?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and thank you for sticking with it.
ReplyDeleteGreat result, well done and thanks for sticking up for all of us.
ReplyDeletePhew, at last! So there is a glimmer of hope for us, after all (I think).
ReplyDeleteAggressive bully gets taught a lesson. The worry is, why did he feel entitled to intimidate, endanger and threaten you? And what did he expect to achieve?
ReplyDeleteIt's unlikely that he expected a fine and costs exceeding £500?
This incident should not have occurred in the first place, and its effects have been compounded by the sadly typical lack of action from the Police.
ReplyDeleteRather than offer congratulations I would prefer to offer thanks, from all the cyclists and would be cyclists that will hopefully benefit from your tireless efforts: Thank you Martin, and please keep up the good work!
re. the suspended prison sentence for previous violence and the lack of referral back to the Crown Court...
This highlights the fact that we live in a country where thugs and financial fraudsters thrive whilst the morally upstanding majority quietly suffer. Still, at least we've got freedom and democracy :/ Ho hum.
1) Thanks for trying on behalf of all intimidated cyclists everywhere (S.London, here).
ReplyDelete2) This is neither punishment, nor deterrent. It's £550. This when this convicted criminal was already under a suspended prison sentence and should have been on a 'hair-trigger' to go back inside if breaking the law!
Great example, CPS/Police/Courts. F**k you very much in return, you worthless tax-sponges since "f**k-you, cyclists" is the message given out by that, no more, no less.
3)"He was NOT referred back to the Crown Court for consideration of whether to activate that earlier sentence." What does that mean, that the system of suspended sentences is also a futher-conditional one, where you're not going to go to prison even if you take the p**s like this? So, does this mean that on the street, we can threaten people with impunity? Or just cyclists? That's the message being sent.
4) Ahhh just F**K THE POLICE, Case Study No. 25235 billion or whatever. They are some short-sighted, crime-enabling fools themselves, and the few good ones ought to complain to all their many colleagues for this situation, not shoot the messenger, as galling as being tarred with the same brush might be. Sick of their laziness in London, and them only bothering when it suits them, being politicised (this is another example, as the motoring lobby wins again, may as well get Jeremy Clarkson in as Met Commissioner at this rate).
Sorry for the doom and gloom, and thanks again for your efforts, but the above is the unbiased, unprejudiced, relatively-accurate truth as I see it after ten years cycling on London's roads and some considerable milage elsewhere in various countries for cultural/political comparison.
Safe roads, brother.
From a regular cycle commuter, thanks for persisting and well done!
ReplyDeleteJust watching the video made me feel very tense - I've had so many incidents of roughly this kind. It's making me wonder whether I should follow your lead with a helmet cam. Your complaints about the police are absolutely spot on. I got knocked off in February 2009 by a white van driver who simply wasn't looking and turned across me into a side street when I was in full view. Prosecution was first "not in the public interest" then, when I pointed out that it would be, it became an "insufficient evidence" case.
ReplyDeleteFor the moment, I'm just trying to let off steam by writing about it on my own new blog at http://invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.com/
nice one pal, congratulations
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations and thank you for your persistence. It is sad that, even given your video evidence, you had to force the issue.
ReplyDeleteI am also curious, given the proximity of the driver to you and the other cyclist at the traffic lights, why he wasn't immediately prosecuted for dangerous or at least inconsiderate driving, or are these lesser offences?
Second, why
Just curious about the legal stance of video recording people without their permission, thinking about getting a helmet/bike cam myself and you seem like the perfect person to ask the question of.
ReplyDeleteThanks
It's perfectly legal to record images of people in a public place, video or still. There's issues if you choose to sell the images (i.e. you should have got permission) but recording people and using it in such a manner is perfectly within the law, and rightly so.
DeleteAnon, I have addressed this issue here http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2011/05/rights-to-privacy-am-i-invading-them.html
ReplyDeleteIf you confine your filming to people on the roads or other public places you should have no issues. Personally I value safety above privacy, but I will not needlessly embarrass someone who has endangered no-one else.
Other anon; it is really terribly difficult to get action taken against drivers for careless or dangerous driving. I agree with you there was careless/inconsiderate driving here but far worse goes unprosecuted. Also a Notice of Intended Prosecution would have had to have been served within 14 days of the offence and that was not done.
ReplyDeleteWill he pay the fine. Scum
ReplyDeleteThis is just one case but the sad reality is that this kind of crime occurs and goes unpunished on a daily basis. I wonder what the result would have been if the motorist had knocked you over, driving without due care? Some points on his licence? It seems like the whole system is biased against cyclists; its so hard to get police interested in what is effectively life threatening behaviour.
ReplyDeleteAs a cyclist who suffers London's aggressive drivers every day I'm so pleased for you. Well done and keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteWell done Martin
ReplyDeleteI can't see 100%, maybe you have other footage.
Does the driver actually have his seat belt on ?
Great result - congratulations ( coventry)
ReplyDeleteHow did the guy get away with the reckless driving charge here? He not only threatened you but the driving should been procecuted too.
ReplyDeleteJust seen about this on BBC news, great coverage for your cause, keep up the good work for all us legitimate road users!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post, I have also seen this on the BBC News website. We need to make more space for cyclist on our roads like in Europe.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for doing this! I think I speak foe thousands of regular cyclists when I say that we simply couldn't do anything about this sort of thing ourselves for lack of the knowledge of law.
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance you could publish an article on how you record your daily commute?
Well done on your persistence. I know some are frustrated there was no prosecution for anything more serious / for the modest punishment, but it is about more than just Scott Lomas. It is also about the attitude of law enforcers to the difficulties and dangers faced by cyclists and improving their awarenss. For that Martin, this is a significant victory
ReplyDeleteDid Lomas apologise to you? Probably not!
Jamie C
yeh man, nice one bruv. Like many others on here, i get sik of inconsiderate drivers who endanger lives like this fella and the asda lorry driver. We've all got anecdotes of near death experience cycling on roads. Thanx martin for bringing some weight 2 this argument, coz being a normal fella on the street don't get me heard by da po-po for s***. Also another thing worth a mention is that matey Lomas ain't wearing his seat belt neither.
ReplyDeletenice one martin, big up urself.
Ross W
Thanks for your persistence with this case. You and others with cameras are reporting what many of us cyclists encounter (as well as pedestrians). It's great you and others are documenting and publicising these situations and raising awareness as the media pick up on these stories.
ReplyDeleteSome of us don't know our way around the law well enough to know how to bring somebody like this into the courts. I'd also be too intimidated to try and bring violent people to face justice. So I for one thank you for doing this brave work.
Thanks for making the world a little bit safer and more sane for us all!
Well done and Thank You!
ReplyDeleteI recognised the stretch of road as soon as I saw the video - cycled it to work in Hounslow every day last summer (until I got upended by a van driver on the other side of feltham). The bridges are particularly dicey and cars often don't give enough space - well done for highlighting this.
ReplyDeleteTim
Can I ask what make and model the camera is? I'd like to use one on my daily commute too, just in case. Dan.
ReplyDeleteThank you Martin
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and well done for seeing this through. I've just read the report on the bbc and it saddens me that idiots like this are on our roads. Im sure there are many other cyclists who have collected similar footage but havent seen it through. Hopefully this will help them see its worthwhile!
ReplyDeleteWell done and thank you. I had just come across this on BBC news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-16726409). So many times I have been in similar situations on the way to work in Southampton. Police are generally uninterested in this behaviour.
ReplyDeleteI think that was brilliant. Well done Martin
ReplyDeleteJust read about your story, great work.
ReplyDeleteWow terrible Driver, absolutely disgusting!
ReplyDelete