Pensioner reversed into cyclist in overtaking row
71-YR-OLD ‘CALLED RIDERS ENGLISH B ******* ’ AFTER THEY HAD TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTION
APENSIONER overtook a group of cyclists then reversed into one bike’s wheel when they allegedly called him a “Welsh b ****** ”, a court heard.
Gareth Jones, 71, was said to have “sped off” after the incident on a country lane near Beaumaris on Anglesey last summer.
Mr Jones told a court he had been unable to go past the cyclists as they were “spread across the road”.
He said he was then surrounded by the “gang” of riders who verbally abused him.
But the cyclists claimed he had overtaken them in his white Kia Sportage car “too close and too quickly” and called them “English b ****** ”.
One of their group was in fact Dutch.
Jones denied dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident. He also pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated harassment by using threatening or abusive words or behaviour.
After a three-hour trial on Wednesday,
Caernarfon magistrates found the defendant guilty of all three charges.
Magistrates chairman Gordon Browne adjourned the case until this month for a pre-sentence report.
Prosecutor Clare Bate said a group of cyclists on holiday on Anglesey had been riding on an unclassified road towards Llandegfan when the Kia Sportage car drove past them.
She said the riders “had to take evasive action to avoid being struck by the car”.
The court heard the lead cyclist Valentin Scambraks said words to the effect of “what the hell are you doing?”
The driver stopped and told him: “You’re not Welsh. You’re an English b ****** .”
The car went a short distance forward then reversed towards the group. The car’s rear bumper hit Mr Scambraks’ bike’s front tyre, making a “crushing or crunching” sound, and drove away, the court heard.
Cyclist Tiernan Ryan told the court the driver had said: “’Go back to England.’ Val (Valentin) said ‘I’m from the Netherlands, I’m not English.’”
Mr Ryan said the car had then “purposefully reversed to try to intimidate us”.
Another cyclist, Will Holloway, a chartered mechanical engineer, told the court that, when the car first came up behind them, he felt “unbalanced” as he avoided being hit.
Later, when it went ahead and came back, he said: “It was an uncomfortable speed to be reversing towards some people.”
The court also heard that Pauline and Brian Stables had been out for a walk.
Mrs Stables, a retired nurse, said she heard shouting up ahead and thought someone had been hurt.
She took photos of the car and shared them with the cyclists.
Police traced Jones but he denied the offences.
Jones, defending himself, told magistrates he had been going to visit his brother in Ysbyty Gwynedd.
He said he had driven along the lane between Beaumaris and Llandegfan a hundred times, and said he hadn’t been speeding because the lane narrows and “is not a motorway”.
He had come around the bend and seen a “gang” of cyclists “spread out across the road”, he said.
He said the photos had been staged and the bike pushed into his car, but did admit to hearing a “bump”.
In cross examination, prosecutor Ms Bate asked Jones: “Did you call him (the lead cyclist) an English b ****** ?”
Jones said: “No. I might have called him an English snob. (But) how would you feel if someone called you a Welsh b ****** ? I would feel aggrieved.
“I’m Welsh. I’m proud to be Welsh and they verbally abused me.”
Magistrates chairman Mr Browne said the cyclists had been two abreast and went into single file, but he passed them very close and quick at an uncomfortable speed, according to witnesses.
His driving had been “aggressive” and fell far below that of a competent driver, he said.
The bench found the defendant, of Maes Gwyn, Llanddona, guilty of all charges.
He banned him from driving pending sentencing and granted him unconditional bail until then.