Man left couple stranded in river

Riverside: Driver sentenced after he fled crash scene

A Taplow man has been sentenced for careless driving after crashing into another car, pushing it into the Thames and leaving a couple stranded in the water.

Zac Bunyard, aged 26 of Ellington Road, was driving along Lower Cookham Road near Boulters Lock on August 22, 2019 when he crashed into the rear of another vehicle.

Inside was a man in his sixties and a woman in her seventies. The force of the crash pushed the other vehicle into the Thames.

Bunyard then fled from the scene on foot ‘showing no concern’ for the occupants of the car who had gone into the water.

Both occupants of the other vehicle were rescued by passing boats and only suffered minor injuries.

Bunyard was convicted at

High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday of one count of careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision.

He was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence, banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay a £500 fine and £288 in costs.

Investigating officer Robin Nickless of the Joint Operations Road Policing Unit based at Amersham, said: “Bunyard carelessly drove into the back of the vehicle in front of him with such force as to knock their car into the river.

“To make matters worse, rather than staying on scene to help the couple who were stranded in their vehicle, he ran off from the scene.

“Bunyard has rightly been banned from driving for 12 months and I hope this allows him to reflect on his driving and the potential danger he put other road users in by the manner of his driving on that day.”