It has a serious side, but made me chuckle. A teacher has been fined after cycling the wrong way down a slip road in Norwich into an oncoming car. Neil Barwick, 48, of Portersfield Road, denied the charge of cycling without due care and attention at Norwich Magistrates’ Court yesterday, but was found guilty of the offence by district judge Paul Watson. Mr Barwick was fined £270 and was also ordered to pay £200 in court costs and a £27 victim surcharge. The court heard he had been cycling against the flow of traffic down a slip road leading from Bluebell Road onto the A11/Newmarket Road while he was on his way to work at Cringleford Primary School at around 7.40am on January 7 this year. It was a dark, rainy morning and Mr Barwick hit a green Nissan Almera being driven by Josine van den Berg and went over the top of it, suffering injuries to his back and neck. Ms van den Berg, who was driving with her headlights on, then stopped and called an ambulance for Mr Barwick, and police also arrived at the scene. Her car was written off in the collision because of damage to its bumper, bonnet, windscreen and a light. Giving evidence, Ms van den Berg said: “He hit me straight on”. But Mr Barwick claimed he was crossing the slip road from one side to the other, and the car ran into his side. He said he was “100pc sure” that he was not cycling down the slip road the wrong way on that day. But Mr Watson said the evidence, including the damage to the bike, which had folded up, pointed to a head-on rather than a side-on collision. He said: “This is certainly consistent with the damage to your bike and the position that you were found in behind the car. “It seems to me inconceivable that the collision took place as you suggested. “No reasonable cyclist would have cycled that way, therefore I find you guilty.” Mr Barwick’s lawyer, Simon Nicholls, said they planned to appeal the verdict at crown court.
Quite the normal behaviour for cyclists in London and what's more, they are always right; even when they are not. And every other road user and pedestrian's first name starts with an 'F'... Boris created a 'monster' there! NB. I cycle, but not on the road...
The sad thing about this is that he is a teacher. And when presented with overwhelming evidence denies it. But basically shooting himself in the foot by claiming he was crossing the slip road from one side to the other, and the car ran into his side. So he carelessly crossed without checking for traffic Mr Barwick’s lawyer, Simon Nicholls, said they planned to appeal the verdict at crown court. So is Simon Nicholls as thick as Mr Barwick or can he see loads of money.
they have a use............... Organ donors. Brain and eyes unused. Relatively fit. Next of kin can buy your dash cam video too. L
From the title I deduced that this woud be a short unread thread! Disgraceful that he lied and apparently intends to continue doing so.
I think he should be congratulated for using the road, thank you Neil. The majority of cyclists here use the footpath be it a shared cycle\pedestrian path or not and cycle at speed with no regard for anyone else. That Tour de France has a lot to answer for.
Brain unused. Agreed but a brain is hard to format and takes years to install and configure the appropriate software, so brain transplants are still very uncommon. To be frank I would be reluctant to accept a replacement brain that I hadn't had a hand on or a least a few tongue lashes to keep moral high and performance on the right percentile. This cyclist doesn't look like he was cycled through Za's Academy of Life Sciences. Bin him.
No surprise here then. Norwich cyclist loses appeal against conviction for cycling wrong way down slip road. A teacher has lost his appeal against his conviction for cycling the wrong way down a Norwich slip road into an oncoming car after a judge said he had taken a “dangerous short cut.” Neil Barwick, 48, of Portersfield Road, was convicted at Norwich magistrates of cycling without due care and attention after he cycled against the traffic flow down a slip road leading from Bluebell Road onto the A11/Newmarket Road while on his way to work at Cringleford Primary School, at around 7.40am on January 7, this year. He appealed against his conviction at Norwich Crown Court, however his case was dismissed by Judge Anthony Bate, who heard his appeal along with two magistrates. Judge Bate accepted that Barwick had “limited recollection” of the incident itself because of his injuries but told him: “We are quite sure that magistrates came to the right conclusion in this case that on this occasion the appellant(Barwick) took a dangerous short cut.” He said the injuries Barwick received and the damage to the car and his bike were consistent with the evidence of Miss van de Berg that he was coming straight at her when the collision occurred. He said that it was fortunate he was wearing a cycle helmet at the time as otherwise his injuries would have been “very grievous.” Barwick was also ordered to pay £650 costs of the appeal.
The Lycra boys on their olympic bikes are always creeping up silently on me and my dog in quiet narrow country lanes. She has nearly had a few off their bikes. It should be compulsory to put fag packets (or cornflake packets) in the spokes, like we did as kids. Why can't I find anything useful to say these days!
My dog did have a woman off her bike on my local towpath at the canal. She was haring along at a great pace behind me and did not slow down. I got out the way just in time but she came a cropper when my dog ran in front of her. She had a skint knee and I helped her up offering to take her to my nearby house but she declined. I did not see any need to apologise. I must say that most cyclists on the path slow down and say hello in passing.
A couple of weeks ago, here in Windsor I was driving home when I passed a man on a bicycle, he was clearly out of control of his bike as he had a child in a basket on the front, in his left hand he had a dog on a lead running along side. What I call a complete wanker
