Author Topic: Ninian Donald verdict.  (Read 1008 times)

spindrift

Ninian Donald verdict.
« on: 21 June, 2010, 01:09:24 pm »
The widow of a cyclist who was crushed to death by a lorry was today awarded almost £340,000 damages.

Set builder Ninian Donald, 33, was cycling from his Hackney studio to a hardware store when a skip lorry turned left in Kingsland Road, Hoxton, dragging him under its wheels.

After a High Court case, Mr Donald's partner, film and TV director Kate Evenden, 46, was awarded £337,500 damages. Their four-year-old daughter, Ava Rose, known as Rosie, will receive £25,000 of the lump sum. She was 19 months old when her father died, and the money will be invested until she is 18.

The family's case was that lorry driver Bernard Madden failed to adjust his mirror to check for other road users "to make sure it was perfectly safe" before turning left across a cycle and bus lane. The family's counsel, Simon Michael, told Judge Simon Brown QC the accident had been captured on CCTV. Under the settlement, Mr Donald's legal team accepted 25 per cent "contributory negligence".

Footage showed him undertaking a bus by riding on the pavement before the fatal crash.

The family's case was that lorry driver Bernard Madden failed to adjust his mirror to check for other road users "to make sure it was perfectly safe" before turning left across a cycle and bus lane. The family's counsel, Simon Michael, told Judge Simon Brown QC the accident had been captured on CCTV. Under the settlement, Mr Donald's legal team accepted 25 per cent "contributory negligence". Footage showed him undertaking a bus by riding on the pavement before the fatal crash.

An earlier inquest at Poplar coroner's court ruled the collision was an accident. Pc Adrian Cousins told the inquest the lorry's mirrors adhered to guidelines and the accident was caused by Mr Donald riding on the pavement and cutting back too close to the lorry as it was turning.




Family of cyclist killed by lorry is awarded £340,000 | News



The pavement riding seems to be a red herring, according to someone who claimed to attend court:

I attended the inquest and the trial. The press report is wrong. According to the expert evidence and the CCTV footage, Mr Donald had been back in the cycle lane for 13 seconds before he was killed. The driver never looked properly in his 3 wing mirrors. And at the point of collision there was a cycle box right across the 3 lanes - with a large cycle painted in white across it - and Mr Donald was in it. If you don't believe me, Google Earth the junction: Kingsland Road & Whiston Road.


So, had the cyclist used the cycle lane in the normal way he would still have been hit.