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Driver angered by cyclists "taking up the road" fined £1,000 after shouting abuse and careless driving

Iain Macdonald sounded his horn repeatedly while driving close to the group before stopping in front of them, forcing the riders to take evasive action

A driver, incensed by a group of cyclists he perceived to be "taking up the whole road", repeatedly sounded his horn, drove carelessly and abused the riders during an incident described in court as "at the upper end of careless driving".

Iain Macdonald was this week fined £1,040 and given five penalty points for his actions, which unfolded on the B9154 near Moy, around 20 miles south of Inverness, on May 1 last year.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard how the 63-year-old became angered by the group of six cyclists, who solicitor John MacColl, on behalf of his client, argued were "taking up the whole width of the road when there was no need to".

Macdonald drove close behind the group, repeatedly sounding his horn, before driving past and stopping ahead of them, a manoeuvre which forced the cyclists to take evasive action, The Inverness Courier reports.

"His position is that the cyclists were taking up the whole width of the road when there was no need to. He decided he wanted to speak with them, stopped and there was a robust exchange. Then he saw red and used industrial language," solicitor MacColl told the court.

"He has a number of jobs currently from Kiltarlity to Dunbar and he is concerned about the loss of his licence. He drives 30,000 miles a year and employs two people."

Ultimately, having admitted driving carelessly and threatening or abusive behaviour by shouting and swearing, Sherrif Ian Cruickshank said the offence was "at the upper end of careless driving", but decided against giving the motorist enough penalty points to see him banned from driving.

Instead, Macdonald received five penalty points and a £1,040 fine.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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41 comments

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Muddy Ford | 1 year ago
0 likes

Is Loophole now using multiple logins so he can pat himself on the back for his nonsense that he posts here in the comments section? Is he really that thick?   

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peted76 replied to Muddy Ford | 1 year ago
1 like

Muddy Ford wrote:

Is Loophole now using multiple logins so he can pat himself on the back for his nonsense that he posts here in the comments section? Is he really that thick?   

Now now.. misguided, egotistical, unscrupulous, narssasistic, possibly even a little derranged, but certainly not thick! How very dare you!

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KeithBird | 1 year ago
6 likes

It's a short road, with plenty of visibility and overtaking opportunities. This was all about poor anger management, and probably preconceived hatred.

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Cycloid | 1 year ago
3 likes

It looks like this guy is in a bad place. 
He has gone down the radicalisation road followed by terrorists and come to the conclusion that cyclists are fundamentally bad and must be punished for the good of society as a whole, even if it comes at a cost to himself. Check out "Altruistic Punishment" in any popular psychology book.
The fact that he stopped after he had overtaken the cyclists showed that he was not in a hurry to get to work, he just wanted to punish them
It will impossible to have a rational conversation with him, so the lenient sentance handed out by the court is not seen as the start of a rehabillitaion process, but as a sign of weakness and confirmation of his biased views.
He now knows what he can get away with, maybe next time he will be a bit more covert, but expect to hear about him again.
There again he may be a real nice guy who lost it for a few seconds, and has just made a big donation to the Cyclists Defence Fund in reparation.

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Cycloid replied to Cycloid | 1 year ago
4 likes

PS The lenient sentance has got many people angry.

A quick Google search came up with a record of 68 ponts and still driving

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bikeman01 | 1 year ago
1 like

First I'll state up front that the guy behaved like a bit of a tit and got punished, I've no issue with that.

BUT the mob mentality here is quite unbelievable. The magistrate heard that he was a busines owner, employing two people and presumably needs his car to visit clients to do quotes etc.  He employs two others and presumably, they would be laid off if the company is impacted.

Now of course I'm not condoming his behavour and he of course has a responsibiity to consider the consequences of his actions but he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit. A significant fine and 5 points is proportional punishment.

What sort of world do we now live in where there are calls for someone's lynching when they lose their temper. 

And publishing his personal details, whether in the public domain or not, is just incitement. I've a good mind to report @benthic for a non-crime hate incident - look it up.

Get a sense of proportionment people.

 

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hawkinspeter replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
14 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

First I'll state up front that the guy behaved like a bit of a tit and got punished, I've no issue wit that.

BUT the mob mentality here is quite unbelievable. The magistrate heard that he was a busines owner, employing two people and presumably needs his car to visit clients to do quotes etc. He employs two others and presumably, they would be laid off if the company is impacted.

Now of course I'm not condoming his behavour and he of course has a responsibiity to consider the consequences of his actions but he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit. 

What sort of world do we now live in where there are calls for someone's lynching when they lose their temper. 

And publishing his personal details, whether in the public domain or not, is just incitement. I've a good mind to report this is a non-crime hate incident - look it up.

Get a sense of proportionment people.

I have a couple of issues with what you've written.

Firstly, the fact that he employs two people should be irrelevant to the carrying out of justice as otherwise big companies can just freely break the law and pop out the "but what about mah employees?" excuse.

Secondly, I don't believe anyone is calling for a lynching, but we want people with anger issues to not be on the road in charge of 2 tonnes of speeding metal. There's plenty of deaths out on the roads, so why should we take the risk that this out-of-control self-entitled idiot won't get even angrier next time and take someone's life?

Take away his licence - it is for public safety, and if two or three people have to find alternative employment, then so be it.

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mdavidford replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
11 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit.

He didn't just swear a bit - he endangered them by close passing and brake checking them (road.cc also says he drove close behind them, but I don't see that in the source report, so maybe they mangled that bit).

[Edit] I'm doing road.cc a disservice - it appears an earlier version of the story did say that he 'drew up too close behind them'. So endangered their safety at least three times - he may not have tried to kill anyone, but he wasn't trying very hard not to.

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chrisonabike replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
7 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

First I'll state up front that the guy behaved like a bit of a tit and got punished, I've no issue with that.

Problem is when this happens with motor vehicles they are force multipliers.  So "behaved like a bit of a tit" and "lost his temper and swore a bit" - what humans do sometimes - has to be put in context: "after choosing to drive a motor vehicle".  If you lose your cool while walking and start shouting and throwing your weight around you're unlikely to kill anyone. You're committing some kind of public order offense or just merit a talking to.  If you're driving a motor vehicle and the other parties are not the risk of "inadvertantly" causing serious injury or death is much, much higher.  If only because while a car may be an extension of your body it's not so well controlled.

"he didn't try to kill anyone" - debatable but again with a car the distance between "threat" and "assault" can only be sketchy.

bikeman01 wrote:

BUT the mob mentality here is quite unbelievable. The magistrate heard that he was a busines owner, employing two people and presumably needs his car to visit clients to do quotes etc.  He employs two others and presumably, they would be laid off if the company is impacted.

Our legal system allows for flexibility.  Actually quite a bit.  Your "A significant fine and 5 points is proportional punishment." is in the eye of the beholder.  For me the fine is small there should be at least a temporary suspension of licence.  Disagree with that but note if you follow your logic we'll not be punishing anyone who owns a business or has children or parents or animals they need to look after...

Putting the address up here is not in great taste but as others have noted this is all entirely public.  Companies House and all that...

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Gimpl replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Well said - I completely understand your sentiment even if others don't. 

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Jetmans Dad replied to Gimpl | 1 year ago
6 likes

Gimpl wrote:

Well said - I completely understand your sentiment even if others don't. 

I understand the sentiment, but disagree with the conclusion. 

There are way too many cases in this country where dangerous drivers (and some behaving "like a bit of a tit" behind the wheel falls into that category) are allowed to keep their licence because it will impact on their family/work/company/whatever (delete as appropriate). 

Someone who relies on driving for those things needs to take responsibility for not driving in a way that endangers their licence (and other humans) and not suspending their licence at all doesn't reinforce that message at all, it reinforces a message that if their car is important to them they can get away with behaving like a bit of a tit behind the wheel. 

The "mob mentality" comes from the fact that readers on this site have seen it too many times without the prospect of it changing and are fed up of there being no genuine consequences for terrible driving. 

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TriTaxMan replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
5 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

First I'll state up front that the guy behaved like a bit of a tit and got punished, I've no issue with that.

BUT the mob mentality here is quite unbelievable. The magistrate heard that he was a busines owner, employing two people and presumably needs his car to visit clients to do quotes etc.  He employs two others and presumably, they would be laid off if the company is impacted.

Now of course I'm not condoming his behavour and he of course has a responsibiity to consider the consequences of his actions but he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit. A significant fine and 5 points is proportional punishment.

What sort of world do we now live in where there are calls for someone's lynching when they lose their temper. 

And publishing his personal details, whether in the public domain or not, is just incitement. I've a good mind to report @benthic for a non-crime hate incident - look it up.

Get a sense of proportionment people.

A few things..... do you not think if he relies on his vehicle for his job that he should behave like a responsible human being?  I'm personally sick fed up of the old "I need my car for work" excuse being rolled out..... if you need your licence for your work don't act like a complete idoit.

Ok if you look at the sentencing council guidelines, he was given 5 points which is a Category 2 offence receiving a Band B fine which is 75-125% of weekly income.  Even if it was a Category 1 offence, it would receive a Band C fine which is 125% to 175% of weekly income...... so is it really a significant fine?

Publishing his personal details?  I assume you are also going to report the Inverness Courier for a non-hate crime incident?  I mean this is what they said "Iain Macdonald, of The Old Inn House, Moy, drew up too close behind them, sounded his horn repeatedly, and when the opportunity arose to overtake, he did so again too close to the six.".  They published his address in their article.

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chrisonabike replied to TriTaxMan | 1 year ago
1 like

Address - again I don't think posting here is a good look.  However what is here is apparently from Companies House - that's public info.  More than that it's entirely up to you what you put in there.  Indeed by law you are entitled (even steered towards) providing a correspondence address which isn't your home address.  (You have to provide CH with a home address but they won't publish that unless you don't provide a correspondence address and / or ask them to keep your details on the public register - which is unusual).  Same with date of birth - you normally only see month and year unless you opt for the public register.  So that's a choice.  (Leaving aside the fact that by law Companies House has to record anything you write and almost never checks anything, and it's only moderately expensive to set up structures which make your ownership very difficult to trace etc.).

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TriTaxMan replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
1 like

chrisonatrike wrote:

Address - again I don't think posting here is a good look.  However what is here is apparently from Companies House - that's public info.  More than that it's entirely up to you what you put in there.  Indeed by law you are entitled (even steered towards) providing a correspondence address which isn't your home address.  (You have to provide CH with a home address but they won't publish that unless you don't provide a correspondence address and / or ask them to keep your details on the public register - which is unusual).  Same with date of birth - you normally only see month and year unless you opt for the public register.  So that's a choice.  (Leaving aside the fact that by law Companies House has to record anything you write and almost never checks anything, and it's only moderately expensive to set up structures which make your ownership very difficult to trace etc.).

I know exactly how easy it is to obscure public info on companies house.  I deal with companies and company directors on a near daily basis as my job.  And the vast majoritiy of companies tend to use their accountants address as their registered office and to a slightly lesser extent directors correspondence address.  Most accountants offer this as a nominal fee service.

What was posted was a direct cut and paste from the directors details page on companies house.

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Rendel Harris replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
6 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

Now of course I'm not condoming his behavour and he of course has a responsibiity to consider the consequences of his actions but he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit. 

'Ultimately, having admitted driving carelessly and threatening or abusive behaviour by shouting and swearing, Sherrif Ian Cruickshank said the offence was "at the upper end of careless driving"'

He didn't just lose his temper and swear a bit, he did that and committed careless driving offences by his own admission. Careless driving can encompass anything up to and including killing somebody with aggressive driving, so if the judge says the offence was at the "upper end" of the spectrum, it was pretty bad.

 

 

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Owd Big 'Ead replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
9 likes

Then perhaps he should have thought how his own actions could affect others before acting like a douche-bag.
His driving seems to be totally over the top, yet still people want to defend him.
How very odd.

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Muddy Ford replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
1 like

What if those cyclists had been children? Is he still just behaving like a tit? He was angered simply because they were cyclists, it had nothing to do with causing him a delay because he found the time to brake check and stop the car to bully them further. He believed he was tougher than 6 cyclists. Just like men who beat up women and children, they have no fear of their victims so they vent their anger at them. If he lost his job as a result, it might actually have been better for his employees as he is likely not to be a great boss given how he behaves when he believes he is superior.  Why are still posting on here Loophole? 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
1 like

No one seems to have pointed out  that he was given 5 points by the judge so he wouldn't get banned from driving. Which means he already has 6 points on his license so is a serial offender on the roads. Whilst driving along with 6 points already in a vehicle he definitely needs and instead of being careful, tailgated, close passed, brake checked and then got out of his car and ranted and raved. 

So do you think he cared about his car usage, his company, or his employees whilst commiting multiple road offences previous to this day, and then multiple road offences on the day. Yet we should care for all this because?

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Rendel Harris replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

No one seems to have pointed out  that he was given 5 points by the judge so he wouldn't get banned from driving.

I didn't understand that at all, does Scotland have a different set of rules (I know they do in many matters)? In England the job of the sentencing magistrate or judge is to hand out the appropriate punishment for the offence, then if the driver is so minded they can make an appeal for "exceptional hardship", the court doesn't have the licence to reduce the punishment to avoid the driver getting a ban - they can't, for example, give someone two points instead of three for doing 35 in a 30 zone because that would keep them under 12.

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giff77 replied to bikeman01 | 1 year ago
1 like

bikeman01 wrote:

Now of course I'm not condoming his behavour and he of course has a responsibiity to consider the consequences of his actions but he didn't try to kill anyone, he lost his temper and swore a bit. A significant fine and 5 points is proportional punishment

Except when the Red Mist falls people get killed as a result  the most recent case being reported here a few days ago where both drivers were found guilty and now waiting prosecution  https://road.cc/content/news/two-drivers-convicted-causing-cyclists-deat...

I'm sure that neither of these two intended to kill during their spat but they did.  

You only need to do a search on road rage here within the site and you will see a huge catalogue of events where cyclists have been seriously injured or killed as a result of somebody's temper tantrum.

When I started driving I was advised not to get behind the wheel of a car if angry and if I felt my frustration edging towards anger when behind the wheel to stop when safe to do so and get out of the car for five minutes. We all get angry to some degree and we all respond to anger in varying degrees.  It's when we allow it to blind our judgment and thinking that things go pear shaped.

In reality while many of us on the site here may vent I reckon that we're all pretty reasonable individuals and won't go all Death Wish on errant motorists. Unfortunately I read more vitriol directed at cyclists and experience more antipathy towards me after our friend Littlejohn and his ilk pen some of their columns. 

An angry cyclist may slap the rear panel of a car whereas the angry motorist will drive their 1.5T of metal at speed at the vulnerablepiece of flesh and bone. 
 

 

 

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VIPcyclist | 1 year ago
4 likes

Another effective let-off. This man employs two people, a £1040 fine, I'll bet, is small change to this man. The lost wages through a court appearance, if he went, will have cost more.

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rDaved | 1 year ago
3 likes

He lives right next to Route 7 on the NCN, so you'd imagine that he would be accustomed to passing lots a JOGLE & LEJOG groups doing charity rides.

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Boopop | 1 year ago
25 likes

"he is concerned about the loss of his licence."

Perhaps he should have thought about that before partaking in road rage. Actions have consequences.

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OldRidgeback | 1 year ago
13 likes

Hopefuly he'll learn a hard lesson from this. But I'm not convinced that he will.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
34 likes

Isn't it odd that so many motorists think that cyclists are taking up all the road as they drive along in their single person car, taking up all the road.

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Philh68 replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
2 likes

It's not odd at all. The point of having a car is to be able to travel faster than other people, therefore if the driver can only use the road at the same speed as the people in front of them, those people must be denying the driver of that privilege. The fact that it's 6 people taking the same space on the road as the driver does in their vehicle isn't relevant because although they say the cyclists are "taking all the road" they really mean "denying me the privilege I paid for".

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ymm | 1 year ago
10 likes

🤣🤣 £1000 + fine. Excellent score. Driver will always be cursing cyclists because he is a proven fool. He surely will seek revenge. Watch out for him. His details, reg and photo should be shared with public, 'wanted poster ' style so we can all do our best to keep away from him.

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Benthic replied to ymm | 1 year ago
5 likes

MACDONALD PLANT LIMITED

Company number SC240498

MACDONALD, Iain

Correspondence address
The Old Inn House, Moy, Inverness, Inverness Shire, IV13 7YP

Role Active
Director

Date of birth
November 1958

Appointed on
3 December 2002

Nationality
British

Country of residence
Scotland

Occupation
Contractor

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Benthic replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
6 likes

Before anyone moans, that's as reported by the Inverness Courier and is all information already in the public domain.

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0-0 replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
4 likes

I hope no one send him some sloppy dog shit through the post 😏

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