Driver slammed for 'appalling' behaviour
A Sunderland motorist who crashed into the back of a car and then verbally abused the stricken driver in front of her teenage daughter has been given a driving ban.
Bradley Bute, 21, of Tudor Grove, Plains Farm, was told by a district judge his behaviour following the smash on Friday, March 22, last year, had been “appalling”.
A court heard he smashed into a woman’s white Mercedes A Class as she drove in Suffolk Street with her 13-year-old daughter.
The woman, whose driver’s side door would not open, looked up to see Bute standing by the passenger door, South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.
But instead of helping her and her shocked child as she expected, he swore at her and shouted: “Get out. Look what you’ve done to my car”.
Prosecutor Lee Poppett said Bute then took off into a William Hill betting shop close by as passers-by warned the woman to get out fast due to liquid spilling from her vehicle.
The court heard Bute had pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to stop after an accident but had denied driving without due care and attention, to which he was found guilty after a trial at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court on January 9.
District Judge Natalie Wortley said it was likely Bute, who works as a driver, would have been breathalysed had he not fled the scene.
In banning him from the roads for six months and giving him a 12-month community order, she said: “Instead of asking if the other driver was okay, you acted appallingly towards her.”
Bute must also complete 225 hours of unpaid work and pay £200 court costs and a £90 victim surcharge.