Wriggling for England.

QUOTE:
"A MOTORIST accused of deliberately driving head-on at three cyclists to either force them off the road or "scare the living daylights" out of them blamed his brother for it, a court heard.

Dean Goble, 40, is on trial accused of targeting them in three separate incidents 10 days apart nearly two years ago in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

He is alleged to have deliberately swerved at cyclists David Jones, Jeremy Maiden and Amanda Adams in his V-reg Peugeot 206 hatchback car.

The first incident was captured on a camera mounted on Mr Jones's helmet and shows at the last minute the motorist swerving out of the way and disappearing into the distance.

The incident with Mr Jones is said to have happened on April 30, 2014, on Ashton Road in Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire; with Mr Maiden on May 7 on an unclassified road between Ewen and Cirencester, Gloucestershire; and with Mrs Adams on May 8 on High Road, Ashton Keynes.

Giving evidence at Swindon Crown Court, Goble admitted he was the motorist in the incident with Mr Jones but denied he was driving dangerously - insisting he was trying to avoid potholes.

But in the other two incidents Goble told the jury it was his brother driving because he had borrowed the car.

Goble described the local roads as "absolutely terrible" and said: "There are potholes everywhere."

Describing the incident with Mr Jones, Goble said: "I was in full control of the car. I do not agree it was dangerous, slightly careless.

"I can remember swerving towards a cyclist to miss the pothole. I have got no reason... I am a cyclist myself."

Goble denied he was driving the Peugeot in the alleged incidents with Mr Maiden and Mrs Adams.

"It was my brother. He had the car for about a month," he said.

"I can't remember the exact date but he kept hassling me so I let him borrow it."

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Michael Butt, Goble insisted he was not driving dangerously during the incident with Mr Jones.

"I am an experienced driver and have been driving for 22 years and I know when to swerve or to stop," he said.

"When you are driving along a road where the potholes have been fixed many, many times - I have got pictures to prove how bad it was.

"It was very, very bad and it's got repaired, you presume... the whole road had potholes on it."

Mr Butt said: "Mr Goble, you are lying through your teeth. You have invented this about potholes because there is no reason for you to swerve into the path of Mr Jones."

Goble replied: "I presumed there were potholes there. They must have been fixed."

Mr Butt said: "This is rubbish, absolute rubbish."

The defendant explained he had never told the police his brother was driving because he had been "in bother" and did not want to get him into more trouble.

"He admitted it to me yesterday," he said.

"But my brother has been in bother and I spoke to him on the phone yesterday and I said I could get two or three years and he said it's not fair and he said 'Tell them it was me'.

"I just didn't want to get my brother into bother. It's not a lie."

Mr Butt said: "What you are telling the jury is a lie invented yesterday or even last night as an act of desperation to try and weasel your way out of the allegations."

Earlier, the court had heard details of what Goble told police after he had been arrested.

He told officers he was a "keen cyclist" and added: "If it was me driving that car why would I want to swerve at someone?

"Was there a fox coming up, was there a badger coming up, was there a spaceship landing?"

Goble, of Parkway, Siddington, Cirencester, denies three charges of dangerous driving and the case continues."

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/n...two_incidents/