A Nottinghamshire man who drunk two pints at a work event then decided to drive home before swerving into and hitting a cyclist, leaving him with a broken back, has avoided prison.
CCTV played at Nottingham Crown Court shows James Barber, 35, drive across the middle line, hitting the cyclist. The father of two, who was cycling home from work, was thrown over the bonnet and left seriously injured. Barber stopped at the scene, and was not speeding according to the recorder.
Barber, of Leveret Way, East Leake, was handed a 22-month suspended prison and disqualified from driving for three years.
Recorder Michelle Heeley KC said: “You had been out at a work event and made a foolish decision to drink two pints. I accept you were not speeding but you were swerving across the road, overtook a parked car and drove into the victim. You simply did not see him.
“This could have been fatal, and you would have had to live with that on your conscience. I accept you are fully aware of that and of the consequences of your actions.”
The victim spent 13 days in hospital, underwent spinal surgery and required weeks of care from his wife, who had to feed him water through a straw and help him wash and dress.
The incident took place in Pithouse Lane, West Leake, at around 5:30pm on March 22 last year.
Denney Lau, prosecuting, said that the victim had just left work and was cycling home when he was struck by the defendant’s BMW.
He said: “He saw the car swerving towards him and then could not remember anything.”
The court heard that Barber failed a roadside breath test. An evidential sample, taken at 6.59pm, gave a reading of 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, which is the legal limit in England and Wales.
Mr Lau read the victim’s impact statement to Nottingham Crown Court, which said: “I can remember my wife feeding me water through a straw, which would sometimes fall out for a long time. I had six weeks in a neck collar, and my wife had to shower me.
“I was a physically active person before this and now I feel like a kid with other people doing everything for me. There were times when I could not hold a cup in my hands.
“My wife and daughters have been brilliant as has my work. I am not thinking about going back to cycling just yet, I am taking baby steps, but I am getting there, but I want to get back on my bike.”
Andrew Thompson, mitigating, said Barber had never been in trouble with the police before, and has a child.
He said: “He was driving home from work and foolishly he’d had a couple of drinks. He knows the journey well, saw a parked car outside the pub and he went far too far across the road and did not see the victim coming towards him on the pedal cycle and that’s very unfortunate.
“The defendant, to his credit, did stop. The police came, he cooperated fully, and he actually admitted the offence to the police.”