Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

This has happened to me three times in the last week.
It is a good job my glasses are in dry dock, otherwise the drivers
would find themselves in another type of dock altogether.

QUOTE:
A bus driver was yesterday warned by a judge in Bristol that he faced
jail following a road rage incident in which he purposefully swerved
in to a cyclist breaking his leg, wrist and thumb and crushing his
bicycle under the wheels of the bus.

The driver of the bus, Gavin Hill from Frome in Somerset was arrested
by police at the scene of the incident which took place in the centre
of Bristol outside the city's Magistrate's Court in April last year.
Hill was immediately sacked by his employer Bugler Coaches which
operated the single decker bus.

Bristol Crown Court was told that cyclist, Phillip Mead spent two
weeks in hospital as a result of the injuries caused by Hill's
driving, and he also required a further operation to repair his left
knee.

The incident developed following a disagreement between the two men at
the James Barton roundabout, shortly afterwards the bus driver over-
took Mr Mead and swerved across him hitting his shoulder and hurling
him across the road.

Yesterday at a pre-sentence hearing at Bristol Crown Court the
presiding judge Recorder Frank Abbot said:

“My understanding is he drove his bus in the direction of the bicycle
after, at worst, losing his cool. He drove in his direction to
frighten him or show him whose boss but caused much more damage.”

Hill pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing grievous bodily
harm and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing but Recorder Abbot
warned him that:

“It must not be thought that this is not a serious matter.

“You drove in a way that was patently dangerous and in my view you did
it out of spite towards the cyclist with catastrophic results.

“He could have been killed and you would have been facing a much more
serious offence.

“However causing someone grievous bodily harm is a very serious matter
and the most likely sentence is a custodial one and you must realise
that is what will be at the forefront of the sentencing judges’ mind.”

Speaking about the incident Gerard Creed, managing directpr of Bugler
Coaches told the This is Bath website:

“We were deeply shocked when we heard of this incident and once we had
established what had happened Mr Hill was immediately dismissed as we
did not want him driving one of our buses ever again.”
He added: “We are proud of all our drivers who are extremely
professional and highly vigilant of the safety of passengers,
pedestrians and cyclists.

“We can assure all passengers that this was an isolated incident by a
driver that badly let down our company.
“As a cyclist myself I am very aware that some drivers of large
vehicles, both buses and lorries, treat cyclists as a nuisance as
indeed do some car drivers.”

While differences of opinion between bus drivers and cyclists on
crowded city streets are not uncommon and are sometimes heated
incidents of road rage resulting in violence or injury involving buses
are rare enough to be newsworthy - last year a Manchester bus driver
was convicted of assaulting a cycling pensioner. Many bus operators do
now have some sort of cyclist awareness training for their drivers
although the issue of buses passing too close when over-taking is
still something that concerns many cyclists.

Mr Hill was given bail after yesterday's hearing and will be sentenced
later this month.

http://road.cc/content/news/49880-ro...erving-cyclist

--
Simon Mason

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
This has happened to me three times in the last week.
It is a good job my glasses are in dry dock, otherwise the drivers
would find themselves in another type of dock altogether.

QUOTE:
A bus driver was yesterday warned by a judge in Bristol that he faced
jail following a road rage incident in which he purposefully swerved
in to a cyclist breaking his leg, wrist and thumb and crushing his
bicycle under the wheels of the bus.

The driver of the bus, Gavin Hill from Frome in Somerset was arrested
by police at the scene of the incident which took place in the centre
of Bristol outside the city's Magistrate's Court in April last year.
Hill was immediately sacked by his employer Bugler Coaches which
operated the single decker bus.

Bristol Crown Court was told that cyclist, Phillip Mead spent two
weeks in hospital as a result of the injuries caused by Hill's
driving, and he also required a further operation to repair his left
knee.

The incident developed following a disagreement between the two men at
the James Barton roundabout, shortly afterwards the bus driver over-
took Mr Mead and swerved across him hitting his shoulder and hurling
him across the road.

Yesterday at a pre-sentence hearing at Bristol Crown Court the
presiding judge Recorder Frank Abbot said:

“My understanding is he drove his bus in the direction of the bicycle
after, at worst, losing his cool. He drove in his direction to
frighten him or show him whose boss but caused much more damage.”

Hill pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing grievous bodily
harm and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing but Recorder Abbot
warned him that:

“It must not be thought that this is not a serious matter.

“You drove in a way that was patently dangerous and in my view you did
it out of spite towards the cyclist with catastrophic results.

“He could have been killed and you would have been facing a much more
serious offence.

“However causing someone grievous bodily harm is a very serious matter
and the most likely sentence is a custodial one and you must realise
that is what will be at the forefront of the sentencing judges’ mind.”

Speaking about the incident Gerard Creed, managing directpr of Bugler
Coaches told the This is Bath website:

“We were deeply shocked when we heard of this incident and once we had
established what had happened Mr Hill was immediately dismissed as we
did not want him driving one of our buses ever again.”
He added: “We are proud of all our drivers who are extremely
professional and highly vigilant of the safety of passengers,
pedestrians and cyclists.

“We can assure all passengers that this was an isolated incident by a
driver that badly let down our company.
“As a cyclist myself I am very aware that some drivers of large
vehicles, both buses and lorries, treat cyclists as a nuisance as
indeed do some car drivers.”

While differences of opinion between bus drivers and cyclists on
crowded city streets are not uncommon and are sometimes heated
incidents of road rage resulting in violence or injury involving buses
are rare enough to be newsworthy - last year a Manchester bus driver
was convicted of assaulting a cycling pensioner. Many bus operators do
now have some sort of cyclist awareness training for their drivers
although the issue of buses passing too close when over-taking is
still something that concerns many cyclists.

Mr Hill was given bail after yesterday's hearing and will be sentenced
later this month.

http://road.cc/content/news/49880-ro...erving-cyclist


Why would a bus driver do that unless provoked by the cyclist?

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Jan 5, 1:27*pm, "Mr Benn" wrote:
"Simon Mason" wrote in message

...









This has happened to me three times in the last week.
It is a good job my glasses are in dry dock, otherwise the drivers
would find themselves in another type of dock altogether.

QUOTE:
A bus driver was yesterday warned by a judge in Bristol that he faced
jail following a road rage incident in which he purposefully swerved
in to a cyclist *breaking his leg, wrist and thumb and crushing his
bicycle under the wheels of the bus.

The driver of the bus, Gavin Hill from Frome in Somerset was arrested
by police at the scene of the incident which took place in the centre
of Bristol outside the city's Magistrate's Court in April last year.
Hill was immediately sacked by his employer Bugler Coaches which
operated the single decker bus.

Bristol Crown Court was told that cyclist, Phillip Mead spent two
weeks in hospital as a result of the injuries caused by Hill's
driving, and he also required a further operation to repair his left
knee.

The incident developed following a disagreement between the two men at
the James Barton roundabout, shortly afterwards the bus driver over-
took Mr Mead and swerved across him hitting his shoulder and hurling
him across the road.

Yesterday at a pre-sentence hearing at Bristol Crown Court the
presiding judge Recorder Frank Abbot said:

“My understanding is he drove his bus in the direction of the bicycle
after, at worst, losing his cool. He drove in his direction to
frighten him or show him whose boss but caused much more damage.”

Hill pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing grievous bodily
harm and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing but Recorder Abbot
warned him that:

“It must not be thought that this is not a serious matter.

“You drove in a way that was patently dangerous and in my view you did
it out of spite towards the cyclist with catastrophic results.

“He could have been killed and you would have been facing a much more
serious offence.

“However causing someone grievous bodily harm is a very serious matter
and the most likely sentence is a custodial one and you must realise
that is what will be at the forefront of the sentencing judges’ mind.”

Speaking about the incident Gerard Creed, managing directpr of Bugler
Coaches told the This is Bath website:

“We were deeply shocked when we heard of this incident and once we had
established what had happened Mr Hill was immediately dismissed as we
did not want him driving one of our buses ever again.”
He added: “We are proud of all our drivers who are extremely
professional and highly vigilant of the safety of passengers,
pedestrians and cyclists.

“We can assure all passengers that this was an isolated incident by a
driver that badly let down our company.
“As a cyclist myself I am very aware that some drivers of large
vehicles, both buses and lorries, treat cyclists as a nuisance as
indeed do some car drivers.”

While differences of opinion between bus drivers and cyclists on
crowded city streets are not uncommon and are sometimes heated
incidents of road rage resulting in violence or injury involving buses
are rare enough to be newsworthy - last year a Manchester bus driver
was convicted of assaulting a cycling pensioner. Many bus operators do
now have some sort of cyclist awareness training for their drivers
although the issue of buses passing too close when over-taking is
still something that concerns many cyclists.

Mr Hill was given bail after yesterday's hearing and will be sentenced
later this month.

http://road.cc/content/news/49880-ro...faces-jail-swe...

Why would a bus driver do that unless provoked by the cyclist?

Motiveless malignity?

Why would a bus driver do that if provoked by the cyclist?

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 06:35:03 -0800 (PST)
Squashme wrote:
Why would a bus driver do that if provoked by the cyclist?

Perhaps he'd been putting up with idiot cyclists for the last 6 hours and
finally had enough. Everyone has their limits.

B2003

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On 05/01/2012 13:25, Simon Mason wrote:

This has happened to me three times in the last week...

QUOTE:
A bus driver was yesterday warned by a judge in Bristol that he faced
jail following a road rage incident in which he purposefully swerved
in to a cyclist breaking his leg, wrist and thumb and crushing his
bicycle under the wheels of the bus.

So drive more carefully. Then it might not happen to you three times in a week.

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On 05/01/2012 13:27, Mr Benn wrote:


Why would a bus driver do that unless provoked by the cyclist?

I've had a bus driver do this to me. It is possible that you may
consider me to have "provoked" him by not making enough effort to get
out of his way and let him overtake.

So to me it sounds a lot like you are excusing extremely dangerous
behaviour in very much the same way as people used to excuse a rapist
because a girl was wearing a short skirt. Buses are dangerous machinery
and their operators have an absolute legal obligation to operate them
safely regardless of provocation, imagined or otherwise.

I hope this bus driver receives a long jail sentence as an example to
others.

Based on my and Simon's experience I would assume this type of behaviour
is not uncommon and it is only because cyclists are normally uninjured
that no action is taken. Hopefully in the future with the increased use
of video cameras by cyclists drivers who indulge in this type of
intimidation may be stopped before they cause serious injury.

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Jan 5, 2:42*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 06:35:03 -0800 (PST)

Squashme wrote:
Why would a bus driver do that if provoked by the cyclist?

Perhaps he'd been putting up with idiot cyclists for the last 6 hours and
finally had enough. Everyone has their limits.

B2003

Then they get sacked and jailed if they go past those limits.
Darwin in action :-)

--
Simon Mason

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Jan 6, 2:30*am, Simon Mason wrote:
On Jan 5, 2:42*pm, wrote:

On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 06:35:03 -0800 (PST)

Squashme wrote:
Why would a bus driver do that if provoked by the cyclist?

Perhaps he'd been putting up with idiot cyclists for the last 6 hours and
finally had enough. Everyone has their limits.

B2003

Then they get sacked and jailed if they go past those limits.
Darwin in action :-)

--
Simon Mason

Sounds like bus approaching bus stop bay, cyclist creeping along at
relatively no speed, bus passes cyclist then pulls into bay, cyclist
claims he has been driven into.

Only the poor use buses and only the poor use cycles so I see no
reason to become concerned.

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Fri, 6 Jan 2012 03:23:08 -0800 (PST), NM
wrote:

Sounds like bus approaching bus stop bay, cyclist creeping along at
relatively no speed, bus passes cyclist then pulls into bay, cyclist
claims he has been driven into.

Or, more likely, bus misjudges speed of cyclist, overtakes when there
is not time to do so, assumes cyclist is behind as soon as he
disappears out of straight-ahead vision, and pulls in, endangering the
cyclist's life. I see that happen quite often, though it's more
usually car drivers doing the misjudging.

Only the poor use buses and only the poor use cycles so I see no
reason to become concerned.

If you genuinely believe what you wrote then you are both ignorant and
a sociopath. Actually I think it's much more likely that you were just
trolling.

Guy
--
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.

Road rage bus driver faces jail for swerving in to cyclist
 

On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 13:27:50 -0000, "Mr Benn"
wrote:

Why would a bus driver do that unless provoked by the cyclist?

It was a traffic tantrum. Whatever the proximal cause, the main cause
is excessive motor traffic.

Why did you add a crosspost without mentioning it? Oh yes, I know: to
start yet another **** fight.

Guy
--
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.