Carlisle taxi driver who reversed into 80-year-old woman must resit test

Mike Donnelly

A 49-year-old Carlisle driver with more than 30 years experience will have to resit his taxi driver’s test after he reversed into an elderly woman.

Michael Donnelly, from Parkside, Belah, was picking up a passenger from Greystone Road Community Centre in April when he struck the 80-year-old woman, leaving her with a fractured ankle.

She was crossing the community centre car park at the time.

Mr Donnelly was convicted of driving without due care and attention in June and was fined £120.

His licence was endorsed with four penalty points.

He said he was shaken, he had to take time off work and described it as a “momentary lapse of concentration” when he appeared before Carlisle City Council’s regulatory Panel yesterday.

Sue Stashkiw, one of the authority’s licensing officers, said Mr Donnelly had been a licensed Hackney Carriage Driver since November 2008 and in April the following year he was caught travelling at 44mph in a 30mph zone while carrying a passenger.

She said: “Apart from this last conviction his licence has no more points.

“He has not come to our attention since the last referral in 2009.”

He was given a warning in 2009 that any breach would see him being brought back before the panel.

Mr Donnelly told the panel that, when he thought about what had happened with the elderly woman, it was a “very unpleasant feeling” and he had pleaded guilty when the case went to court.

“I represented myself,” he said. “I wasn’t going to try any legal arguments – I just told the truth of what happened.

The CCTV evidence makes it look worse than what it was.”

Mr Donnelly said that when the matter went to court it was described as a “momentary lapse of concentration” – and the magistrates did not ban him from driving.

He added: “I didn’t travel enough distance to be going at excessive speed.”

He said that he had learned a lesson from the incident and added: “I try my best to be a bit more careful.”

Panel chairman John Bell said there had been a slight lack of concentration and Mr Donnelly had been a “little bit careless”.

He said that he would be given a letter of warning and added: “You will resit the taxi driver’s test within 26 weeks or you will lose your licence.”

source: http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/