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Ely taxi driver Adrian Maltby fined after knocking cyclist off his bike in Cambridge



A cyclist was left with serious cuts to his face after he was hit by a taxi driver in Cambridge.

Adrian Maltby, 53, of Cowslip Drive, Little Thetford, denied the charge of driving in a public place without due care and attention on March 3 this year.

But he was convicted after trial at Cambridge Magistrates Court on Tuesday after the bench found him guilty of driving "below the standard of a reasonable and prudent driver." He was fined £200, £600 costs, a £20 victim surcharge and given five points on his licence.

Cyclist Matthew Rumble had to have 18 stitches in his chin, lip and nose after the force of the impact sent him flying over his handlebars and the bonnet of the black Skoda Octavia.

He landed face first in Mill Road and spent six hours in Addenbrooke's being treated for the serious cuts to his face which included one to his forehead which went down to the bone.

The court heard Mr Rumble was cycling down Mill Road towards Anglia Ruskin University between 3pm and 3.30pm and saw a taxi indicating to turn right into Tenison Road just after he passed the church and said there was nothing he could do to avoid the vehicle.

"I was about two meters away when he started turning," he said. "I flew pretty much straight over the bonnet of the car and landed just on my face. All I remember was going over the handle bars and realising what was happening as soon as I was going to hit the ground. I had a lot of blood coming out my forehead and my nose."

The accident was witnessed by a pedestrian who was walking on the other side of the road and saw the taxi hit the cyclist as it was turning.

Defending himself, Maltby said he was part way through the manoeuvre but had to brake suddenly to let a pedestrian walk across Tenison Road. "I've been hit in the rear [of the car] but I've never hit anything myself in 30 years of driving round Cambridge streets," he said. "I look out for anything, if he was that close when I started my manoeuvre and I braked for that pedestrian he would have been passed the junction or hit me a lot sooner."

Magistrate Glynis Younger said: "A driver turning right across another's right of way has to take extra care during that manoeuvre." Following the decision, Maltby said he would appeal the conviction.


Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Ely-tax ... z3LaqD6LXz

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Fella down here had his driver's license revoked for hitting a cyclist.

But he did pick up and drop off the job he was on the way to before he reported it.

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IDFIMH