A pensioner motorist who brutally beat a cyclist who irritated him by going the wrong way round a bollard has been suspended from driving and fined.
77 year old Brian MacDonald, from Doncaster, was driving in Scarborough when he spotted the cyclist, who he then verbally abused as he rode in a bus lane.
Scarborough Magistrates’ Court heard last week that MacDonald then stopped at a traffic light, and the cyclist caught up with him, pulling just in front of his Hyundai IX35, in which MacDonald’s wife was also travelling.
Katy Varlow, prosecuting, said: “With a long queue of traffic behind him, MacDonald nudged forward until the victim was slightly under the car,” according to Scarborough News.
“MacDonald then got out of his vehicle, which was also carrying his wife, and started repeatedly punching the cyclist.”
The pensioner hit the cyclist eight or nine times to the neck, face and helmet, without any response to his attack.
When the cyclist moved to grab they car keys from the ignition, MacDonald was further angered and punched the cyclist to the floor.
Another driver had to separate the pair.
The cyclist only had minor injuries after the incident.
Robert Vining, mitigating, said: “Mr MacDonald bitterly regrets his actions. If anyone could come into court and rely on good character, it is Mr MacDonald. He lost his temper but he is not prone to this.”
The magistrate Philip Catterall said: “This was a case of road rage. You used your vehicle to move forward on to the cyclist before repeatedly punching him in an aggressive manner. Because this is your first time in court and due to your good character a community order would serve no good for you.”
The driver was also fined £220, ordered to pay £150 compensation, a victim surcharge of £30 and costs of £85.
Last year we reported a similar penalty for an Edinburgh taxi driver who was caught on camera cutting up a cyclist before later swinging a punch at him.
City Cab driver Brian Allen, 69, had already been fined £360 plus costs and had his driving licence endorsed with nine penalty points following the incident, and later had his licence suspended.
Helmet cam footage showed Allen passing a cyclist closely triggering an exchange of words. He then drove ahead and got out of his vehicle to wait with his fist raised in the middle of the road.
The taxi driver admitted one charge of driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for others and a second assault charge when he appeared in Edinburgh Sheriff Court on April 14. The BBC reported that he was admonished and dismissed for the assault charge.
City of Edinburgh Council then suspended his licence.