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Cyclists' Defence Fund joins fight for justice for Michael MasonMichael Mason

Cyclists' Defence Fund joins fight for justice for Michael Mason

Driver who hit retired teacher escaped prosecution
by John Stevenson
Fri, Dec 19, 2014 14:55
12

The family of Michael Mason will be supported by the Cyclists' Defence Fund in their fight to reopen the inquiry into the death of the 70-year-old cycling campaigner earlier this year.

Michael Mason was hit from behind by the driver of a Nissan car on Regent Street on February 25 and died from his injuries on March 14.

No prosecution was brought against the driver; the Metropolitan Police did not refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), in what the CDF says is an apparent clear breach of CPS guidelines.

Martin Porter QC will engage with the Metropolitan Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions on the family's behalf with the aim to reverse the decision not to prosecute.

If that fails, the family may consider a private prosecution.

Anna Tatton-Brown, Michael Mason’s daughter said: “Mick felt very strongly about the dangers to cyclists on our roads, and would get very angry about the amount of careless or even reckless driving he experienced.

"He and I would often discuss the many near misses we both had on London roads. If I he were alive now, I've no doubt that he would be fighting tooth and nail to get some kind of justice.

"It doesn't feel right to just let this lie.”

Martin Porter QC represented the family at the recent inquest into Mason's death and covered it in his blog

Porter wrote: "Witness evidence and CCTV evidence was less than entirely clear but left no doubt that no witness aside from the Nissan driver failed to see Mr Mason on his bicycle.  The evidence was quite clear that he had the required lights including a brightly flashing rear light fixed above a red reflector which would reflect back light from car headlights.  The evidence was also clear that the area (as one might expect) was well lit by street lights."

Mason was riding toward the centre of the road when he was hit. Porter wrote: "The police investigator had no difficulty in agreeing that Mr Mason had every right to be there for any number of reasons and there is no possible criticism of his position in the road."

When the driver hit him, Mason was exactly in front of her postion in the car.

Porter reports that the driver "gave evidence consistent with her accounts to the police that she did not see Mr Mason or his bicycle at any time before the collision.  She was travelling at somewhere between 20 and 30 mph and did not brake before impact.  She carried on and parked 30 metres up the road before returning to the realisation she had hit a cyclist. 

"In answer to a question which she was warned that she need not answer she accepted that if the cyclist was there (which from the physical evidence he unquestionably was) she should have seen him.

"The Coroner returned a finding of accidental death."

Now the Cyclists’ Defence Fund is appealing for help funding the fight for justice for Michael Mason and its other activities.

CDF trustee Roger Geffen said: “The Cyclists’ Defence Fund was set up precisely to champion and support issues related to cycling and the law. In the tragic case of Michael Mason we will aim to reverse the Met’s decision not to prosecute and help achieve the closure of justice for his family.

“We now need to build up our fighting fund so that we can ensure CDF can continue to provide all necessary support throughout the legal process ahead.”

To make an online donation to CDF go to their Justgiving page or you can make donation through other ways.

Michael Mason
CDF
Cyclists Defence Fund
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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12 comments

Avatar
StraelGuy | 9 years ago
0 likes

Another tenner in. The way people who kill or injure cyclists are prosecuted (or not) in this country is a surreal travesty!

Avatar
Airzound | 10 years ago
1 like

Just like the bitch driving the BMW Mini who mowed down a couple cycling along minding their own business, killing the girl and injuring the boy friend then claimed the girl cyclist crashed into her car!

What an absolute fucking travesty. Can't the plod be done for neglect or misconduct in public office for not even charging this woman? What if it had been a pedestrian or child? I doubt the woman would have faced no prosecution or no charges. Well, it's only a cyclist isn't it ………. no problem. Must be the same Met cops who originally handled the Stephen Lawrence investigation.

Donated £25 and might give some more if I can afford. This is absolutely awful.

RIP Michael Mason.

Ps It looks like Michael Porter QC is taking this on Pro Bono (free), but would a big wig high profile lawyer such as Michael Mansfield QC also be interested? Just a suggestion.

Avatar
bobbinogs | 10 years ago
0 likes

Yepp, donated. How can someone driving not see a cyclist when they run one over? Even if the impact was unavoidable, surely the cyclist must have been visible at some point!

Avatar
truffy replied to bobbinogs | 10 years ago
0 likes
Bobbinogs wrote:

How can someone driving not see a cyclist when they run one over

Because at that point the cyclist is under the car. Now, before they run them over, that's another matter entirely

Avatar
OnTheRopes | 10 years ago
0 likes

Donated

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StraelGuy | 10 years ago
0 likes

Just donated a tenner as well. What an appalling decision not to charge the driver 102 .

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The _Kaner | 10 years ago
0 likes

Tragic....she has no recollection of seeing the cyclist (by her own admission), yet she knows she was travelling at a speed of between 20 and 30 MPH....?
Have any witnesses corroborated that?
I fail to believe that she was paying any attention whatsoever, therefore would have no idea of the speed stated
...also 30mph is 50% faster than the lower speed mentioned...so maybe she was doing 45 instead of 30...? Failed to brake - at 30mph the total given stopping distance is 23 metres, claimed stopping distance was 30 metres....looks like a well rehearsed chat with a legal consultant
...even less total stopping distance if going at 20mph (if you're emergency braking to avoid a collision)....but looks like her reaction time may have some bearing...seeing as she didn't seem to think she had hit something...let alone another human being...or was that guilt pangs made her pull over?

All in, I hope the family of the cyclist get some closure and the correct decision is made to re-investigate/re-open the prosecution.
I wish no malice toward the driver, we all make mistakes...and I'm sure if the situation were reversed, the driver would be following the same path...and feeling bewilderment that nobody was being 'held accountable' for the death of a family member...

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Simon E | 10 years ago
0 likes

2

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dafyddp | 10 years ago
0 likes

Before donating, I had a good read of the CDFs website and would encourage all other cyclists to do the same. It's important to look after one another, and to appreciate the important work this organisation is doing.

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mrmo | 10 years ago
0 likes

WTF, how can you being driving along paying attention to what you are doing and not see a cyclist directly in front of you. Then again where is the evidence that the driver wasn't searching in their glovebox, picking up a CD from the passenger footwell, fiddling with the radio etc etc etc.

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KiwiMike | 10 years ago
0 likes

£10 to make me feel that maybe in a year or two the Met and other police forces will stop treating road slaughter as a trivial matter.

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JamesE279 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Well worth a little donation. I've put my money where my mouth is. J

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