A cyclist who knocked over a pedestrian on a zebra crossing, causing him a life-changing brain injury, has been fined £430 after being found guilty of cycling without due care and attention.
Niall Morgan, aged 29 and said to have a history of mental illness, was found guilty of the offence at Bromley Magistrates’ Court earlier this month, reports Mail Online.
The victim, 54-year-old Gary Ibbott from Sevenoaks, Kent, now suffers from memory loss and was forced to give up his job as chief financial officer and partner of a hedge fund as a result of his injuries.
The incident happened on London’s Piccadilly at 8.45am on the morning of 6 March 2017 and left Mr Ibbott with a brain haemorrhage.
Morgan, who was reported to have been working as a bike courier at the time but is now unemployed and in receipt of disability benefit, told the court he suffers from epilepsy and has had mental health issues.
Representing himself, he insisted the collision was a “minor unavoidable accident.”
But District Judge Catherine Moore, after retiring to consider her verdict, said: “A competent and careful cyclist would not have approached the crossing in the way he did – for this reason I find Mr Morgan guilty.”
During the trial, the judge had threatened to exclude Morgan from the court due to what was described as his ‘aggressive behaviour’ towards Mr Ibbott as well as a police witness.
After he was fined, he reportedly told Mr Ibbott, “I have no money – you can’t get blood out of a stone.”
The judge ordered Morgan to pay the fine at the rate of £10 a fortnight. Solicitors for Mr Ibbott have indicated that they plan to launch a civil action for damages and have called for cyclists to be required to have third party liability insurance.
The Mail Online’s report of the case draws comparisons with that of cyclist Charlie Alliston, who was convicted last year of wanton and furious driving in connection with the death in 2017 of pedestrian Kim Briggs.
The case received a huge amount of media attention and has resulted in the government launching a cycle safety review, which may result in the creation of new laws regarding dangerous or careless cycling.
However, cycling campaigners point out that compared to collisions involving motor vehicles, those involving a cyclist which lead to the death or serious injury of a pedestrian are comparatively rare and legislators should focus their road safety efforts on areas of greater harm.