2020 Vision
External internet blog of Matt Polaine & family
categories:
archives:
meta:
Cycle death father tells of anger
Published by Matt Polaine | Filed under Bicycle, Cycling
Clockwise from top left: Thomas Harland, Wayne Wilkes, Maurice Broadbent, Dave Horrocks
The father of one of four cyclists killed when a car skidded on ice, now does feel anger towards the driver. An inquest into the deaths heard how Jonathan Harland initially said he had felt no anger towards the man but had a change of heart “over many monthsâ€.
The cyclists - members of Rhyl Cycling Club - died on the A547 near Abergele in January 2006. The driver was fined and given just six points for defective tyres but they were not to be a factor in the crash in which he killed four people.
The driver, Robert Harris, lost control on the icy road which, the inquest has heard, had not been gritted on the morning of the collision - 8 January 2006.
Thomas Harland, 14, Maurice Broadbent, 61, Dave Horrocks, 55, and Wayne Wilkes, 42, all died when Robert Harris spun his car sideways into their path.
The cyclists had not long set out on a 60-mile Sunday club ride to Llandudno’s Great Orme. Jonathan Harland - whose leg was injured in the incident - has told the inquest at Abergele town hall, how he and his son had been cycling alongside each other.
He recalled seeing a car heading for the cyclists sideways on. He estimated its speed at 60mph or more. In the statement, which he gave just days after the tragedy, he said he felt no anger towards the driver. 
However, on Thursday 14th June 2007, Mr Harland’s barrister, William Hoskins, read another statement outlining how those feelings had changed.
Mr Hoskins said: “During the course of his evidence yesterday, Mr Harland’s statement was read to him by the coroner and it contained of course, the sentence ‘My thoughts and feeling about the driver are that I don’t feel anger towards him because it won’t bring my son back’.
“That quotation has been extensively reported in the media as if it were indicative of his state of mind today. He has asked me to make clear to the jury the following - that he was interviewed a couple of days after the tragedy whilst still very much in a bewildered state. He says ‘It was accurate and true at the time. However I have felt for many months nothing but anger towards the driver who killed my son and three of my best friends’.â€
After the accident, driver Robert Harris, 47, from Abergele, was fined just £180 with £35 costs and given only six points on his licence after admitting having defective tyres.
Magistrates in Llandudno decided in August 2006 that the defective tyres on the car had not been a factor in the collision.
see BBC news report just after incident
One Response to “Cycle death father tells of anger”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
This really shocked the public in January 2006, but for keen cyclists this is nothing new.
This was a horrific display of the UK transport mindset, and how cyclists are treated by the law.
In what other scenario where a member of the public operating a machine ends up killing four people, breaking the leg of another, and injuring two others would receive a £180 fine, £35 costs and still keep their licence to operate the machine?
Driving at over 60mph around a bend in icy conditions near cyclists is not an accident, yet this incident sends out yet another clear message to motorists:
‘don’t worry if you kill four cyclists in one lapse of concentration - you’ll keep your licence and it’ll only cost your around £250.’
Is it any wonder that cycling in the UK in declining at a rate of 2% a year, and that we have school-run traffic chaos and obese children?
Killing a dog through neglect obtains a higher fine than this. It’s disgusting, and the Judges should be ashamed of themselves.