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news
statue-justice-old-bailey-licensed-cc-2.0-flickr-ronnie-macdonaldFine for farm worker who injured cyclist due to dangerous load
A farm worker who caused a cyclist serious injuries due to a dangerous load he was transporting has been fined.
Teeside Crown Court heard that the rider sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries after he was struck by a one-tonne bag of grain that Stephen Dunn-Fawell was carrying with a telehandler tractor, reports Teeside Live.
Dunn-Fawell had reportedly pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing serious injury through careless driving, an offence that came into effect in June last year under the created by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 – although the incident took place more than 18 months previously on 24 November 2020.
Lewis Kerr, prosecuting, told the court that the cyclist had been riding uphill on Stillington Road, Stockton, when he was struck from behind by the unsafe load.
“There was no great speed in the defendant’s driving,” he said. “The defendant followed the cyclist as he moved up the hill although it appears the cyclist was not moving at the speed Mr Dunn-Fawell anticipated.
“The telehandler was driving with the arms in such a position that upright ahead of the cab were two one tonne concrete bags of grain. The bags themselves began to sway and a bag was able to collide with the cyclist from behind.”
Following the crash, the driver was said to have told the cyclist repeatedly “I didn’t see you.”
The offence that Dunn-Fawell, who had no prior convictions, admitted carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment as well as a mandatory 12-month ban from driving.
However, Judge Howard Crowson decided against imposing a custodial sentence on the defendant, instead fining him £375, and rather than disqualifying him for driving handed him five penalty points.
He told Dunn-Fawell: “I appreciate your anxiety today as to whether or not you lose your driving licence and I can tell you that you are not going to. I don't consider it necessary to impose a level of penalty points which will deprive you of it.
“At the time of this unhappy event you never intended to do it and had been driving in a manner which you thought you were taking care. You clearly remained at the scene in order to care for him and I accept your regret and remorse at the injuries you caused to him,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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12 comments
There is so, so much wrong with this but it sums up how useless the legal system is. I hope the cyclist recovers well.
“The defendant followed the cyclist as he moved up the hill although it appears the cyclist was not moving at the speed Mr Dunn-Fawell anticipated."
Following the crash, the driver was said to have told the cyclist repeatedly “I didn’t see you.”
So which was it
Obviously he has heard that smidsy is the get out of jail card for all collissions involving cyclists, but realised that if the reason for not being able to see the cyclist was the one tonne bag of grain swaying about between driver and cyclist it would not be a good defence, so he tried the Cyclist was going fastr/slower than I expected line.
Cotton batting sentence from a crazy judge, I'd say.
20 year old, inexperienced driver.
"Serious injury" is GBH level - it starts with broken bones.
Apparently did not even try and look. Either he loaded up his vehicle so he could not see out of it, or he was looking somewhere else if he could have seen - so that's at least medium culpability
Drove straight into a cyclist from behind.
Multiple aggrravating factors - commercial vehicle, vulnerable road user, Certain mitigatinbg factors.
Judge had, I think, the option of imposing a short ban and an extended retest, which would have made the driver a little less dangerous.
The driver is incredidbly lucky - sentencing guidelines for this offence have just been tightened.
One ton bags aren't going to move about much when being carried on a public highway, if at all. Therefore, one can only assume the driver of the telehandler was far too close to the cyclist in the first place.
It would be interesting to know if the defendant actually holds a licence for driving a telehandler, there is no mention of it in the report. When I used to drive a telehandler on construction projects, not only did you need a licence to prove your competency in driving the vehicle, but also a further licence, for under-slung goods when driving with materials effectively dangling from the forks.
Unfortunately, this is the problem with going in front of a magistrate, rather than to Crown Court, you are left in the hands of a well meaning individual who has no experience whatsoever in the circumstances that they are basing their judgements on and who will pass judgement from the meagre evidence put before them.
If something like this had happened on a farm I suspect that the HSE would have been all over it. In industrial settings there's a responsibility on the employer to ensure staff are competent and forklift operators are regularly retested. More importantly you would need specific qualifications for a telehandler. Why does this responsibility for health and safety seem to end when the same employee is on a public highway.
Motornormativity - people expect drivers to crash and society accepts it as a blood sacrifice to the motor industry gods.
"TEESSIDE"!
offt - rookie mistake. I remember making that mistake once - I was suitably chastised!
We're doubly blessed - we have Middlesbrough as well
"You never intended to do it" and you didn't see him. Never fails!!
"Judge Crowson said the defendant has driven in an "unblemished way" the last three years and demonstrated he is careful driver. "
Well that was fortunate! What if they hadn't?! It's taken 3 years to bring this driver before the courts.
Driving a telehandler with 2x one tonne bags swinging around blocking your view of the road sounds lethal. Surely a telehandler should only be used to load items onto a lorry/trailer, not for transporting goods on public roads.