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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgTaxi driver hit cyclist then did factory reset to hide his use of two mobile phones
A taxi driver who crashed into a cyclist at 60mph then remotely performed factory resets on his phone in an attempt to conceal the fact he had been using both of them when the crash happened has been jailed.
Ian Isted sustained multiple fractures to his spine when Kashrap Patel, aged 36 and from from Tunbridge Wells ran into the back of him on the A228 dual carriageway close to the village of East Peckham, reports Kent Online.
Mr Isted had to abandon plans to mark his 50th birthday by taking part in an Ironman triathlon and may also have to take early retirement from his job as a project manager due to the effects of the crash on the morning of Sunday 6 January 2019.
Peter Forbes, prosecuting, told Maidstone Crown Court that one witness had said that Mr Isted, who was wearing hi-viz gear and had powerful lights on his bike, could be seen from half a mile away.
Another witness, driving behind Patel, moved out to overtake the cyclist but said that Patel made “no attempt to brake, swerve or take any other evasive action” as he drove into the back of Mr Isted.
Following the crash, police took two mobile phones from Patel, but he subsequently went online and tried to delete all the data remotely to conceal the fact he had been using them at the time of the crash.
Patel admitted causing serious injury through dangerous driving, as well as perverting the course of justice, with Ian Dear, defending, describing his client’s actions as “mindless stupidity.”
Sentencing him, Judge Catherine Moore told him that he had been distracted through using the phones, “and soon afterwards, having left the scene, you took actions remotely to apply a factory reset on the phones.
“These are very serious offences. The use of mobile phones has long been recognised as having a detrimental effect on driver's ability to concentrate on the road.
“There is a need to punish you but also to deter others from acting as you did,” the judge said. “This was not a momentary act of stupidity.”
She added: “The evidence, the police were able to get, showed repeated calls to the two mobile phones over that period ... this was prolonged bad driving.”
The judge jailed Patel for two years and eight months, banned him from driving for three years and 10 months, and ordered him to take an extended retest should he wish to reapply for a driving licence once his ban expires.
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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13 comments
what's his first action? Attempt to cover his tracks.
Crooked behaviour, practised.
So, he probably got punished more harshly because of his getting caught in this blatant attempt to pervert the course of justice...
Maybe for the intent, rather than actually achieving anything by doing it, any of the phones interaction either for voice or data services, or even just maintaining connection to the nearest cell, would have been logged securely by the networks it interacted with, and available to the police if requested.
The ban should have been for longer.
I very much hope Ian makes a speedy and effective recovery.
If a lawyer, teacher, doctor, accountant, or other professional gets jailed for something related to their profession then they don't generally get to practice again upon their release. It ought to be the same for professional drivers.
Hopefully he never will as he won't be able to get affordable motor insurance.
I'm not sure how the system works, I know that you are supposed to declare motoring and criminal convictions when applying for insurance. However, I would like to think that as there obviously will be an insurance claim from this incident, that his cards will be well and truly marked.
But you're now only asked to declare insurance claims for the previous three years, so when he takes his retest in three years time, they won't count against him 😡
I guess with so many on the roads with a full point tally, not being able to get insurance must start to hit the insurers. They do need to actually insure people to get that business model to work. So it is in the companies interest to insure them, albeit at some exorbitant but ultimately affordable rate.
Personal injury claims can cost insurers very large sums. They need to insure drivers but they also need to avoid paying out lots of money. There are certain drivers who it is in the insurance company's best interests to not have as customers.
For sure, really it's just a comment on how many people have a ton of licence losing points and yet are still driving. It might be in their best interests, not sure it's in the persons they hit! In our current climate of selfishness, folk gonna drive whatever. It's a truly depressing state of affairs.
Not forgetting that the insurance industry generally maintains a fund to provide 3rd party payouts to other drivers hit by uninsured drivers.
remember how uninsured cyclists are getting away with something?
Jail time was good, but yes that's a shit ban.
He drove straight into the back of a person at 60mph because he was more interested in his phones than looking where he was going... I'm not sure that jail time is really reflects the seriousness of what he chose to do.
Better than the usual slap on the wrist and the judge making excuses for the driver I guess.