On 06/10/2010 08:30, Mrcheerful wrote:

the taxi drivers witness was out of the country, but the cyclist's witnesses
turned up, the taxi driver (on his own) was not found to be credible.

http://road.cc/content/news/25146-lo...leared-assault

The report in the standard has a slightly different slant
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...ard-readers.do

the comments after it are telling: people are p@@@d off with cyclists in
London.

QUOTE:
As reported on road.cc in June, Jared Kelly, aged 39, issued an appeal via
the London Cyclist blog for witnesses to the incident, which took place in
March this year on London’s Oxford Street, to help him in his defence. Word
of his predicament quickly spread via cycling websites and Twitter, and was
also picked up by the Evening Standard.

[ ... ]

According to one eyewitness, it had been Mr Kelly who had attacked the cab
driver, but that witness was unable to attend the hearing at South Western
Magistrates’ Court due to being out of the country, and attempts by the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) to have the case adjourned were rejected.

[That is hugely important.]

Instead, the Evening Standard reports, Mr Kelly produced two witnesses, Lee
Sattaur, manager at H&M in Oxford Street and Matthew Gowan, a student at
Westminster University, who supported his version of events, who were
described as “Good Samaritans" for having stepped forward.
ENDQUOTE

Just *imagine* the outcry there would have been from the usual suspects if
tht had been reversed and it had been the driver up on the assault charge.
Just think of a situation where the only witness known of (who supported the
"victim" cyclist) was unavailable, but the case went ahead anyway and
magically, after an appeal in the cab trade press made by the defendant
seeking "witnesses", two cab-drivers turned up to say that it was all the
cyclist's fault.