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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgLorry driver jailed for killing cyclist in Hull
A lorry driver has been jailed for killing a cyclist in Hull. The victim, 55-year-old Pat Field, had been riding his bike to work each day to get fit for his daughter’s wedding.
He died on 7 August 2019 from injuries sustained a fortnight earlier when Andrew Darkin, aged 50, ran him over as he rode home in a cycle lane from his job as a warehouse worker.
Hull Crown Court heard on Friday that the lorry driver had momentarily lost concentration at the wheel, reports the Grimsby Telegraph.
Darkin, from Grimsby, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving in relation to the fatal crash, which happened on Anlaby Road in west Hull on 25 July 2019. He was jailed for eight months.
Mr Field, who was treated in intensive care and underwent several operations following the crash, seemed to be recovering and regained consciousness, but died following a cardiac arrest due to a huge blot clot resulting from his injuries.
His daughter Zoe had been due to get married in Florida in October 2019, where Mr Field was to have given her away. Following his death, she and fiancé Ben decided to marry in the UK instead.
Mr Field’s wife Melanie, who gave up her job as a midwife assistant following his death, said in a victim impact statement that her husband, to whom she had been married for 30 years and who was also stepfather to two of her children, had been hugely excited about the wedding.
“Pat would finally be getting to walk his daughter down the aisle,” she said. “He had a countdown timer on his phone and he would remind us every day how long was left until the big day. I am certain he was the most excited out of all of us.
“We were also booked to go to New York in March 2020, this was our 30th wedding anniversary gift from Zoe and Ben.
“I suffer with stress and anxiety and because of this I now live with Zoe and Ben.
“The whole family has been left traumatised by this tragic event and we will never get over losing Pat,” she added.
In a separate victim impact statement, his daughter Zoe, who gave birth to her first child in January this year, described her father as “One in a million.”
She said: “He was the most hard-working, happy, genuine, affectionate, caring and loving dad. I am proud to say that I am a daddy's girl. I can think of no better person to model myself on other than him. We were like two peas in a pod.
“There are so many things that my dad will now miss out on through no fault of his own, in turn, there are so many things I will miss out on without having my dad.
“To know that he suffered in such a horrific way will haunt me for the rest of my life,” she continued. “The injuries to his body showed the magnitude of what he suffered. I felt helpless as he endured hours of surgery.
“I thought my dad was invincible but the medical team told us he only had a 50/50 chance of survival. He was a fighter though.
“Hour by hour, day by day, he was starting to win. He spent a week in intensive care, and he appeared to be improving. He was moved to a major trauma ward. His medication was reduced and he regained consciousness.”
She added that her father’s death “broke me” and that afterwards she “suffered with anxiety attacks and couldn't accept that he was never coming back.”
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.
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19 comments
What does "momentarily lost concentration" actually mean, in this context/on this occasion?
"drives in general without concentrating/paying attention with no problem, but in this moment it happened to go badly [for someone else]"
I wonder if he had one of those trays...
I suspect it means 'was staring at his phone but the police can't prove it'
Well the Commision on the Croydon Tram Crash deems microsleeps as another term for that according to the BBC article.
The driver of a tram that crashed in Croydon, killing seven people, could have been "disorientated" following a micro-sleep, an inquest jury has heard.
Simon French, of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), said there was evidence the driver thought he was travelling in the opposite direction.
This happened just around the corner from my house ... and calling it a "cycle lane" is significantly over-selling the situation. It is some lines and an occasional icon of a bicycle painted on the road. I generally ignore it and just take the lane down most of Anlaby Road (although the council has added plastic rods on the edge of the lane as it goes over the railway flyover a little further along (much to the annoyance of the people of Hull, who hate cycle lanes with a passion).
The comments on the original article on Hull Live are utterly infuriating ... full of people complaining about the HGV driver being jailed as "prisons are for proper criminals not people who just make a simple mistake" and "hasn't the driver suffered enough because he has to live with causing the cyclist's death for the rest of his life ... conveniently ignoring the loss and lifelong pain his "simple mistake" has inflicted on the victim's family, not to mention the actual ending of someone's life.
Ladies and Gents ... my home town!
Heres another relevant story.
HGV driver caught 'watching F1 documentary' on mobile phone' while on M5
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/hgv-driver-ca...
Whats's the difference between Andrew Darkin and the driver on the M5. Both not paying attention when in charge of a lethal weapon. One gets a fine the other gets prison. Our justice system punishes the outcome and not the crime.
Oh, and neither punishment is sufficient.
Quite, the behaviour is not that bad, and you have to be unlucky to kill/maim someone. You deserve sympathy really, you've probably suffered enough.....
mistake Ignore this
They should do away the 6 points and a fine for using a mobile phone whilst driving, and just sacrifice a random cyclist.
My deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Pat Field.
Christ on a bike that's a harsh sentence. Where was the congratulatory handshake and 6 points?
Still pathetic
Today we saw yet another derisory sentance handed out to a driver who killed a cyclist.after a "momentary loss in concentration"
A man died and a family's life has been ruined.
I'm sure all fellow cyclists share the grief and give their sympathy to the relatives and friends of Pat Field
These sentances are always met with disbelief from the cycling community and beg the question what value do we put on a life?
What is a fair and just sentance from the point of view of the deceased, the family, the perpatrator and society as a whole?
This cascades down the criminal justice system and we often see drivers who have caused lesser incidents walk free from court.
In order to discuss sentancing away from this sad place I have opened a new thread "Fair vs Fantasy Punishments"
Hard to work out what happened. Appears the driver drifted into the cycle lane or maybe even did a left hook.
This is why close passes need more action from the police
8 months seems ridiculous for someone with additional training and licencing.
Saw this article in the times. "Driving too fast is ‘worse than carrying a knife’" by Detective Chief Superintendent Cox.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1ae3c7bc-b580-11eb-a803-dd7acc9bc346?
shareToken=11eff645cea5ad6f85fb98b5a2a08ad9
Just transpose momentarily distracted for speeding. An interesting read and the comments. At least someones listening.
Just transpose 'momentarily distracted' with 'speeding'
Agreed. These are both offences that many (most?) drivers think aren't 'real offences'. They think it's unreasonable to expect drivers in charge of a lethal weapon to concentrate 'all the time' when they have eating, drinking, smoking and being 'on the phone' to contend with- yes, I do think all of those should be illegal while driving, except for specially trained public service drivers with hands-free phones/ radios. This 'momentary loss of concentration' excuse sounds like something put forward by a defence shyster lawyer, although it is accepted as fact by Grimsby Live and, to a degree, by road.cc.
I claim precedence in deploying this dodge for Lancashire Constabulary, who used it in December 2018 against me and in favour of the offender who hit me while I was stationary and he was cutting the corner, on the wrong side of the road and too busy to waste time looking out for the incredibly improbable event of there being a cyclist in the way. LC decided there should be no further action- a stance to which I took exception.
I rather suspect that the sympathy of the motorised majority here lies with the offenders in both cases, because the victim was a cyclist.
The eight months sentence, out in four, reflects what society thinks about drivers killing cyclists: you're bound to kill a few- let's not overreact.
8 months? I know it's traditional to comment on the leniency of these sentences, but that does seem a phenomenally short punishment for taking someone's life.
I'm actually astonished by any custodial sentence. He must have had a useless solicitor. If the court accepted that it was 'momentary loss of concentration' then it's death by careless driving, not even dangerous. (To be clear, I'm not supporting the current state of the law. Just explaining what it is.) Perhaps there are stricter rules for HGV drivers that I'm not aware of.
The laws in this country basically permit people to mow down cyclists with impunity. As extraordinary as it seems, if Anne Sacoolas hadn't fled the country, but had instead fessed up, they'd have given her points on her license and a community service order. Apparently she didn't consult a solicitor before doing a runner!
Ultimately, the punishment isn't for taking a life, it's for bad driving that unfortunately resulted in the loss of life. If the driving isn't really terrible, it's seen as merely an unfortunate consequence that someone died rather than surviving. It's very odd, as our laws go. Manslaughter takes precisely the opposite view.