Helmet Camera Secures Roadrage Conviction
ByOn 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 my 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 mindless ‘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 the my use of a helmet mounted camera. I am grateful to prosecuting …
25 Comments
January 20th, 2012 at 1:41 am
Great to see the CPS give someone a fine reminder of their obligations towards other road users.
January 20th, 2012 at 9:28 am
@johnchristie111 On average, cyclists pay more tax than motorists, since they are over-achievers and earn more than the UK national average wage. For example, 6 in 10 Boris bikers earn more than £50,000pa. Perhaps you ought to be thanking cyclists – not only are they contributing more to society than the average citizen, they’re reducing traffic queues in front of you by not taking their cars, reducing pollution, plus their health and fitness means they’re less of a burden on the NHS.
January 20th, 2012 at 9:30 am
@martinx70 Crikey, you really are scum – just went on your profile to see the comments you wrote, despite being ashamed enough to delete them here, they’re still visible.
January 20th, 2012 at 9:40 am
@magnatom For the most part threats in real life are and should be taken considerably more seriously than keyboard warriors on YouTube.
January 20th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
@westcountrytim My thoughts exactly. Well done Martin.
January 20th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
@CyclingMikey lol, the opinion of a cyclist means less than nothing, you are mearly a worm to be crushed by the mighty motorist. so on ya bike sonny lol
January 20th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
@martinx70 …and yet I’m not the worm who was ashamed enough to delete my comments. You’re all fart and no poo.
January 20th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
@CyclingMikey did you just realy put the words fart and poo in a comment lol what are you eight years old, now let daddy back on the pc sonny lmfao
January 20th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
@martinx70 Aw diddums. I see you’re a racist too, telling someone to go back to the West Indies. Looks like I’ve judged you just fine.
January 20th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
@CyclingMikey if you had bothered to watch the vid i commented on you would see it was completely in context to the rant made by the gentleman in question, no poo off farty pants lol
January 20th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
@martinx70 Context, ah yes, isn’t that quite the excuse used by many racists? Scum you are.
January 20th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
@CyclingMikey your opinion is worthless, go try and get a rise from someone who gives a shit, .go troll someplace else. fyi i delete my comments to make the answers look as ridiculous and meaningless as the are. this is my last comment. bye worm
January 20th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
@martinx70 It’s the internet – opinions are like arseholes, we all have one. I’ll just repost some of your comments here for others to enjoy:
“if you were to ride you stupid bike down the middle of the road so that ROAD TAX PAYING CARS can not get past, i would treaten to kill you idiot”
“may all militant cyclists die under the wheels of cars, get some road tax cunts.”
“fuck of back to the west indies if you do not like this country!”
Perhaps you ought to get a refund on your education, eh?
January 20th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
i tweeted this video to jeremy vine from BBC and he re tweeted it
January 20th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Well done for pursuing this and getting a good result.
But I do not think it would be a wise idea for other people to react to motorists in this way, as some people are so crazy they wont threaten to kill you. They will try to kill you in retaliation. You might as well just ignore them in the safest way you can.
This is coming from someone who has been knocked down by a car trying to overtake them, so I do understand the serious of what the driver was doing at the start.
January 20th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
@CyclingMikey Please don’t feed the troll
January 21st, 2012 at 4:02 am
@MrCyclesafe why he thinks the motorist is a victim?
January 21st, 2012 at 9:15 am
Good result
January 21st, 2012 at 11:33 am
Good work! How did you get the case moving after the police decided to not file charges??
January 21st, 2012 at 12:30 pm
@urkinolalloso he doesnt, he a cyclist himself
January 21st, 2012 at 12:32 pm
@CyclingMikey I just had a look at this idiots channel, I see he’s favourited “How to Stop a Panic Attack” seems like the poor guy has problems (as if we didn’t know!)
January 21st, 2012 at 2:53 pm
@TheVexatiousLitigant Yeah, I laughed when I saw that.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:42 pm
OOOOOPS!
)
January 21st, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Congratulations on a successful outcome. Your commitment and perseverance are to be commended.
January 21st, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Well done that man!