‘OUTRAGEOUS’ BIKER STUNS CITY CENTRE SHOPPERS
Rider who sped through busy streets spared prison:
A MOTORCYCLIST rode through pedestrianised streets busy with Christmas shoppers in a display of “frankly outrageous” riding, a court has heard.
Learner Daniel Paul Gear was seen “weaving” between people and around festive market stalls in the middle of the afternoon on November 30 last year, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said 21-year-old Gear rode his Kawasaki off-road scrambler motorbike – which was not road legal and had a modified exhaust which made a loud noise – into the city and around the pedestrianised streets which were busy with Christmas shoppers.
He said witnesses saw the bike, which was carrying a passenger, “weaving” between pedestrians and stalls at the pop-up festive market in Oxford Street and police officers working from a temporary cabin in the market reported how a motorbike “sky-rocketed” past their door. The bike’s speed was estimated at around 25pmh.
Mr Pulling said Gear rode up and down Oxford Street before turning onto Whitewalls and riding along the pedestrianised area around St Mary’s Church. From there the defendant returned to the roads and ended up on The Kingsway where he turned right up Christina Street against the direction of traffic.
He said during the course of the defendant’s two-mile journey around the shopping streets a number of pedestrians looked alarmed and some of them had challenged him about his behaviour.
Gear was subsequently identified as the rider and was arrested at home in Treboeth on January 27. In interview he said he did not know the area he had ridden around was pedestrianised. He also said that in the days after the incident he had seen postings on social media about a biker in the city centre and had sold his bike.
The court heard the defendant refused to name the person who had been riding pillion and refused to say to whom he had sold the motorbike.
Gear, of New Road, Treboeth, Swansea, admitted dangerous driving, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence, and driving with no insurance or MOT certificate.
Stuart John, for Gear, said the defendant had qualified as a mechanic shortly before the lockdown and the bike was used for competing in motocross events.
He said Gear was a young man who had made a “very grave mistake” in riding the way he had and his actions had caused his family “embarrassment”.
He said the defendant had since “woken up to the path his life was taking” and no longer associated with the same peer group as they had been having a “negative impact” on him. Mr John said the defendant was in full-time work as an agency worker and had moved back home with his parents.
He said Gear realised how serious the offending was and was under no illusion that he was facing the prospect of an immediate prison sentence but he asked the court to draw back from taking that step.
Judge Geraint Walters said there could hardly be a motorist in Swansea who had not witnessed a “hoodlum” riding a bike or quad bike on the roads in an anti-social or dangerous manner. He said communities were being blighted by riders with “small man syndrome who are only big when they are playing chicken with members of the public”.
The judge said it was only a matter of luck that nobody had been injured and the message needed to be understood that those who engage in such driving should expect immediate custody “in almost all cases”.
The judge said he was persuaded that, given the defendant’s lack of previous convictions and the changes he had made in his life, there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and so the term of imprisonment that was due should be suspended.
The judge sentenced Gear to six months’ detention, suspended for 18 months, for the dangerous driving and ordered him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and to pay £420 towards the cost of his prosecution.
The defendant was disqualified from driving for 12 months and must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.
No separate penalties were imposed for the other matters.