18mth ban for hitting cyclist

A DRIVER who knocked down a cyclist in a bike lane claimed he left the scene after his dog jumped out of his car and bit a witness.

Janusz Pluta, 47, had been driving near Ballymena Rugby Club on March 11 this year when his car’s wing mirror struck the handlebar causing the cyclist to fall.

The defendant was later arrested. He appeared at the town’s magistrates court and admitted a number of charges including driving without care and attention, failing to provide a specimen of breath at a police station and failing to remain at the scene and report an accident.

Defence barrister Michael Smyth said it had been a “momentary lapse of concentration” and his client stopped but when his dog got out and bit a witness he got the animal back and drove off.

The lawyer said Pluta had consumed wine when he returned home. District Judge Peter King told the court if the defendant had provided a breath sample at the police station there may have been a defence on the basis of “post-incident consumption” of alcohol.

However, he told the court he had no alternative but to impose a period of disqualification and he said the normal one-year ban was inappropriate as it could incentivise people with high alcohol readings to forego giving samples.

Pluta was banned from the road for 18 months and fined £500.