Road rage bus driver hit cyclist in Bristol
A bus driver who swerved towards a cyclist out of spite in a terrifying act of road rage has been told he faces jail.
Cyclist Phillip Mead suffered a broken leg, wrist and thumb when he was hit by the bus driven by Gavin Hill while his bike was crushed beneath the vehicle's wheels.
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Gavin Hill
Mr Mead spent two weeks in hospital and needed an operation to repair his left knee.
Hill, 29, from Frome, Somerset, was immediately sacked by Bugler Coaches for whom he had been driving during the incident at 8.30am on April 5 last year. He admitted assault causing grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving at court yesterday.
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Mr Mead and Hill had been involved in an altercation at the St James Barton roundabout in Bristol and words were exchanged. Shortly after the confrontation the single-decker bus overtook Mr Mead before lurching sharply towards him.
Mr Mead was struck on the shoulder knocking him 10ft across the road and crushing his bike outside Bristol Magistrates' Court on Marlborough Street. Police attended to find Mr Mead being treated by paramedics and Hill was arrested at the scene.
At Bristol Crown Court yesterday, 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."
Timothy Rose, defending, agreed saying: "Doing it caused obvious risk of serious harm."
Mr Rose said Hill had initially entered his guilty pleas at the first possible opportunity on October 6 and requested a pre sentence report.
Recorder Abbot told Hill: "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."
Gerald Creed, managing director of Bugler Coaches said: "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."
Hill, of Slipps Close in Frome, was granted bail and will be sentenced later this month.
Comments
by Gavinhill106
Tuesday, April 10 2012, 2:08AM
“I. Love you bus I m -) :-(”
by stevegs
Monday, February 20 2012, 1:39AM
“Quote from http://tinyurl.com/7bxabun
"Causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm - Section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861;
This offence happens when an offender inflicts grievous bodily harm (GBH) intentionally, or causes it to prevent himself or someone else being lawfully apprehended or detained.
GBH means really serious physical harm or psychological harm, while wounding requires a breaking of the skin. The types of injuries inflicted include permanent disability, disfigurement, broken bones and injuries requiring lengthy treatment.
The new guideline gives a sentencing range of between three and 16 years imprisonment, which will cover the majority of cases, but judges can impose a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for exceptionally serious instances of the offence."
This man was obviously guilty of GBH, and using his bus as a weapon was certainly a 'serious instance of the offence'. He got off far too lightly, if the guidelines above are anything to go by. I'm glad I don't live anywhere near Bristol if some of the psychotic idiots who have commented in his favour are also car drivers.”
by suzyblues
Sunday, February 19 2012, 6:39PM
“this guy got 17 months in prison for attempted murder - watch the video!! disgusting.
http://tinyurl.com/7sewb2u”
by Pogo_T_Clown
Wednesday, January 11 2012, 3:27PM
“"whose boss"
Pls lurn to spel.”
by SamSaunders
Saturday, January 07 2012, 5:49PM
“Charlespk wrote: "Wake up, 'smell the coffee' , remove all the signage and keep moving safely.
http://tinyurl.com/3hduugg"
It is tempting to adopt simple suggestions that seem to promise immediate benefits and in the context of Bristol as we know it I think that signage is a real issue. Nevertheless, simply getting rid of it would probably (like the related "shared space" idea) be a backward step.”
by Charlespk
Saturday, January 07 2012, 1:45PM
“Viva democracy.
http://tinyurl.com/79btr5x”
by katachua
Saturday, January 07 2012, 1:37PM
“@Bristolexpat
"did you know leo has posted 35 comments since yesterday?
this must be a new record...."
What sort of award would you propose?”
by Charlespk
Saturday, January 07 2012, 11:18AM
“Wake up, 'smell the coffee' , remove all the signage and keep moving safely.
http://tinyurl.com/3hduugg”
by SamSaunders
Saturday, January 07 2012, 10:50AM
“We all know that roads make us anxious. There are serious dangers on them and there are more things happening in the busiest places than most of us can cope with. The angry posts in this set of comments are good evidence that there are real underlying problems, not necessarily with people or even categories of people, but with the roads and the traffic.
In this case the problem seems to be the pattern of roads and traffic management leading into and around the Sir James Barton Roundabout. Compared with other parts of Bristol this is one of the worst sites for collisions. Like the Bath Bridge Roundabout it presents specific problems for all road users and inevitably there are more incidents of all kinds.
There is not much we can do about angry or placid road users - human nature is fairly constant. But we can change our roads and the regulation of them. The roads in the immediate area of this roundabout need redesigning, and perhaps cyclists and pedestrians need separate provision so they are nor competing with buses, lorries or fast-moving cars. The current design does allow (or even encourage) relatively high speeds once lights have changed. Its complexity definitely adds to the anxiety and so loss of emotional control is more likely. After 30+ years of cycling in cities, this is a bit of road I take care to avoid.
I feel very sorry for the cyclist concerned. I hope he gets back on his bike soon. I also feel very sorry for the bus driver. I hope he comes out the other end of this with a chance to start again.
Bristol City Council proved an excellent interactive map on their web site. One of the things you can see is the pattern of traffic incidents, as reported by Police officers. http://tinyurl.com/7kw5cxc”
by Bristolexpat
Friday, January 06 2012, 7:40PM
“did you know leo has posted 35 comments since yesterday?
this must be a new record....
BEP please confirm....”