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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgLeicester taxi driver loses appeal against conviction in Sam Boulton dooring death case
A Leicester taxi driver has lost an appeal against his conviction earlier this year of allowing his passenger to open the door of the cab, causing the death of cyclist Sam Boulton who was knocked from his bike into the path of a van.
Farook Yusuf Bhikhu had pleaded not guilty at his original trial in June at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court in June of the offence of opening a car door, or causing or permitting it to be opened, so as to cause injury.
Upon conviction, he was fined £300 plus a £30 victim surcharge and £625 court costs. After the rejection of his appeal today, he has been ordered to pay additional costs of £300.
Bhikhu was parked on a double yellow line outside Leicester railway station when his passenger, Mandy Chapple, opened the door as Mr Boulton, a schoolteacher who turned 26 that day, approached.
In March, Chapple was fined £80 after entering a guilty plea to the same offence that Bhikhu was later convicted of.
The driver of the van, Nigel Ingram, stood trial the same month and pleaded guilty to failure to stop and driving while over the legal limit for alcohol.
He was given a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and conditional on attending a 12-week course for treatment for his alcohol addiction.
Ingram was also banned from driving for 28 months.
After Bhikhu lost his appeal today, the victim’s father, Jeff Boulton, said: “I’m relieved to hear the court uphold the decision from June earlier this year.
“In July 2016 our family received a lifelong sentence, because Bhikhu parked irresponsibly to save a couple of minutes and took no responsibility for his passenger’s actions.
“Despite Bhikhu’s major role in the events leading to the death of my son, his refusal to see how his action resulted in the death of a wonderful and talented young man, is almost as upsetting as the way the law trivialises car-dooring.”
Mr Boulton and the charity Cycling UK are campaigning for the government to introduce a new offence of causing serious injury or death by car-dooring with higher penalties than the maximum £1,000 fine currently in force.
Duncan Dollimore, head of advocacy and campaigns at Cycling UK, commented: “This tragic case should act as a reminder for all drivers about their responsibility to ensure passengers do not cause injury or death when exiting a vehicle.
“Sam’s needless death also highlights the need for urgent action from the government to change the law on car-dooring offences.
“A maximum £1,000 fine is inadequate for entirely avoidable behaviour which can kill.
“This is why Cycling UK and the families of those affected by dooring have asked government to introduce a new offence of causing or permitting serious injury or death by car dooring, with tougher penalties.”
He added: “Driver education must be improved. In early September, Cycling UK wrote to Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, about the potential to educate UK drivers and their passengers about the “Dutch Reach”, a technique which can help reduce the risk of car-dooring.
“We are still waiting for his response.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- momove 4 sec ago
Even the next paragraph makes it sound again as though someone riding a bike killed her: "The rider - a man in his 20s - was taken to hospital..."
- David9694 28 min 18 sec ago
was it one of these? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411246675771?
- Rendel Harris 30 min 49 sec ago
I may not have expressed myself clearly, I meant that it would be okay for cycle racers because it's banned, rather than that it wouldn't be...
- lesterama 45 min 12 sec ago
Houchen is utterly corrupt and morally bankrupt, as readers of Private Eye know all too well.
- hawkinspeter 49 min 6 sec ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7n1l72j9wo
- Geoff H 1 hour 1 min ago
ALERT!!! SAVE 100%!!! Stay home!
- Geoff H 1 hour 20 min ago
Deflect. Deflect! DEFLECT!! If the lad was in the drivers 'blind spot' no amount of high-viz and lights would have done any good. There is NO...
- andyk 1 hour 23 min ago
Hi Griff, unfirtunately one of the key measurements isn't bigger - the stack - it's the same on the 54 SL8 - 544mm, as the 54cm Addict 543.3mm, so...
- Geoff H 1 hour 30 min ago
Didn't the police (in regards to thefts) say solve your own issuses? Without their assistance the police are promoting vigilante-ism. Laz (below)...
- Hirsute 2 hours 30 min ago
"The paste inside is crafted from 100% Fairtrade Arabica beans and sweetened with organic Swiss beet sugar. " Why would I want sugar ?
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13 comments
"In early September, Cycling UK wrote to Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, about the potential to educate UK drivers and their passengers about the “Dutch Reach”, a technique which can help reduce the risk of car-dooring.
“We are still waiting for his response.”
Norman doesn't respond to communication like that. The best way to get Norman to respond is to accuse the headline-grabbing hypocrite of being a headline-grabbing hypocrite, preferably in a headline.
Or maybe get a mother to walk into your brakeless fixie. He'll be on that like white on rice.
I've chastised a taxi driver for allowing passengers out without checking, he was completely clueless about the law. Cabs right hand side doors should just stay locked until the cabbie releases it like a child-lock.
Here's an idea, a short mandatory test for everyone with a license with questions covering some stuff that drivers are clueless about such as what is an acceptable passing distance, who has priority at side-roads (ie crossing pedestrians have priority ), is filtering legal? Is it a criminal or civil offense to allow a door to be opened without checking. Etcetera.
Why was the van drive not charged with involuntary manslaughter, the being over the drink drive limit surely meets the 'recklessness' or 'criminal negligence' required to sustain such a charge.
Probably bacause one of the 4 elements that must be made out is that it has to cause the death, and there is authority that the act must be directed at the victim, though of course it's not that clear cut. In this case, it was argued that the action of opening the door was the actual CAUSE of the death, albeit that the MECHANISM was the van; the law distinguishes, in certain circumstances, between the two, and it's not a settled area.
Enough about the taxi driver - what about the measly £80 fine for the passenger?
Seems ludicrously low, given she was the one that actually opened the door.
Judges are completely out of touch with regards to money, if somebody can happy frittering away money on taxi's then £80 is a joke - killing somebody gets them same as a parking ticket!!
That's total balls. Unless you live somewhere especially cheap - it's £120 where I live.
This just confuses me so much, taxi drivers should be the most responsible people on the road, if only they'd thrown the book at this bastard... £300 plus a £30 victim surcharge - WTH is a victim surcharge, this makes me feel sick.
I agree Pete but I find taxi drivers, especially minicabs, are some of the most appalling drivers I encounter. If you think about the qualifications needed, a driving license, it's no wonder some of them are idiots. Too extensive a criminal record to get a 'proper' job? Too stupid to do anything else? You get the picture
.
Seeing taxi drivers behaviour outside schools in Leicester , parking on yellow lines and zig-zags , I'd hope this outcome will be a game changer, I doubt it though.
Pissed and in a 2 ton killing machine, suspended sentence. bike with out a front brake, 18 months in prison. You’ve got to love your “justice” system haven’t you.
Taxis should have a differential door lock operated by the driver that allows only the kerb side door to open, save for emergency override.
The van driver should never be allowed to drive again, simple. Drink driving = c*nt = lifetime loss of right to drive.
Seems like a miscarriage of justice here. The non-innocent van driver is paying the price for the taxi driver and passenger's mistakes, while they both get-off pretty leniently. Although, obviously the cyclist paid the real price.
So, he's he didn't stop and was over the drink-drive limit, he deserves his punishment and arguably more. But, all else being equal and had he been sober and stopped, would the result basically be the same for the cyclist... and would the taxi driver still have got such a light punishment for causing someone's death?
You can't necessarily entirely blame the passenger, ie, if they are a child or don't have a driving licence, not aware of the rules of the road, or whatever, it's definitely the taxi driver's responsibility to ensure this sort of thing does not happen.