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Western Morning News (Plymouth)
September 15, 2007 Saturday
Jail for taxi driver who hit cyclist on blind bend
A taxi driver caused an horrific crash when he pulled into the path of a motorcycle after a colleague rang his mobile phone and said the road was clear.
Andrew Hallam, 39, from Newquay, overtook a lorry on a blind bend on a coastal road when his woman taxi driver colleague, who had just overtaken the lorry, called him and said it was safe to pull out.
A judge at Truro Crown Court yesterday condemned the "incredible" actions of Hallam and sentenced him to nine months in prison for dangerous driving.
The motorcyclist, Christopher Youde, who was working as a trainee chef at RAF St Mawgan, was on a life support machine for two weeks - he suffered 52 broken and fractured bones and a punctured lung.
Prosecuting, Ron Ede told the court that the collision took place on November 14 last year on the road between Porth and Watergate Bay when two taxis were travelling towards Porth behind a scaffolding lorry.
Mr Ede said: "The first taxi overtook the lorry and at some stage called the defendant to indicate that the road was clear.
"The defendant overtook the lorry on a blind bend where the road narrows - as the defendant overtook the lorry he was confronted by Mr Youde on his Aprilla motorcycle."
The court heard that Mr Youde was dragged underneath the taxi and had to be pulled clear later by the lorry driver and ambulance crews.
The female driver of the first taxi was not named at Truro Crown Court yesterday and no charges are to be brought against her.
Mr Ede told the court that in police interviews Hallam said: "She rang to say it was clear but when I overtook there was the bike. I overtook on someone else's say so. It was my fault."
Upon hearing the evidence Judge Jeffrey Rucker said: "It is so bizarre - it's incredible. If somebody had written this in a novel people would not believe it."
Sentencing, the judge said: "Never before have I heard of two drivers with the lead car advising the second car.
"If that is a common practice it ought to stop immediately because it is incredibly dangerous."
The judge said that Hallam's driving fell far below the standard of a careful and competent driver when he deliberately overtook on a blind bend.
He said: "The consequences were grave for the motorcyclist. Were it not for modern medicine he would not have survived."
Mr Youde now walks with the aid of a stick and his consultant cannot say when he will make a full recovery.
Hallam was disqualified from driving for three years and will have to retake his test before driving again.
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