A driver who allegedly followed a cyclist, loudly revving his engine, after the man on the bike asked him to stop using his mobile phone behind the wheel, has had a two-year driving ban lifted after an appeal.
The driver was never charged over the allegations the cyclist made, including throwing something as he passed in his BMW. However, when the cyclist made a complaint to the gardaí and they carried out an investigation, the driver's approach to dealing with those gardaí became problematic.
The driver initially said he did want to make any comment when he was contacted by gardaí and the cyclist's allegations were put to him. The driver also failed to keep an appointment with the investigators and then said he could not recall who was driving his car at the time of the alleged incident.
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His refusal to share the details about who was driving eventually led to a prosecution, which resulted in his being fined €1,000 and banned from driving for two years.
However, the driver - Romeo Stoica (24) of Forest Ridge Crescent, Wilton, Cork - has now appealed his driving ban, saying it was significantly him and his family.
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On hearing those details at Cork Circuit Appeals Court, Judge Sinéad Behan lifted the driving ban but also increased the fine imposed on Stoica to €1,300.
The court was told the cyclist was riding out of Elm Park, Sarsfield Rd, Cork, on April 30th, 2020, and allegedly saw Stoica on the phone while he was driving his white BMW. It was alleged the cyclist urged Stoica to get off his phone and focus on the road.
The cyclist then alleged the BMW was driven closely behind him as the engine was loudly revved in an attempt "to pin his bike to the kerb", it was claimed in court. And the cyclist also alleged, in his statement to gardaí, that a small object was thrown at him from the car.
There was no allegation the driver ever made contact with the cyclist, either through his car or the object that was thrown. The allegations set out by the cyclist were also never tested in court and so were never proven.
Stoica was charged with breaching the Road Traffic Act by failing to provide information, rather than being charged with anything arising directly from what the cyclist alleged.
