A PLUMBER who swerved across the A419 and braked hard in front of an articulated lorry in a jaw-dropping road rage incident has been told to do community service.
Daniel King shockingly forced a fully-loaded articulated lorry to stop on a steep hill after he objected to the lorry overtaking another slower-moving truck.
He flashed his lights “aggressively” and hurled abuse at the lorry driver, Swindon Crown Court was told on Friday (August 12).
When arrested four months later, he then said that the lorry driver was flashing him and he had stopped to find out why.
Video footage: CPS
He also said they had stopped at traffic lights.
Earlier, the Islington Street court had been told that the lorry driver was heading south on the A419 towards Swindon, near Blunsdon Hill, at around 4.45am on August 1, 2021, when he approached a lorry.
The driver pulled out to overtake, but noticed a King in his Volkswagen Golf flashing his lights, prosecutor Simon Foster told the court.
As the lorry completed the overtake, King pulled alongside and was gesturing with his passenger window down.
The 25-year-old then pulled in front, and braked suddenly, which caused the lorry to swerve to the next lane, before King cut him off again.
Eventually, they both came to a complete stop, with other vehicles forced to take avoiding action.
“King got out and started shouting abuse,” Mr Foster told the court.
The lorry moved around the stationary Golf and carried on, until around 15 seconds later the Golf sped past and again forces the Scania to come to a complete stop.
“This is an absolutely shocking incident that could have caused fatalities,” the lorry driver said afterwards.
“In 23 years of being an HGV driver I’ve never witnessed anything like this.”
Police arrested King, of Rodbourne Road, in December, who told police that he “didn’t really remember” the incident.
“He knew it was a lorry driver who reported him but didn’t know why,” Mr Foster said. “He said he and the lorry driver stopped at lights.”
But after police showed him the driver’s dashcam footage, the driver said: “I do remember this now, I thought why would you pull out now when there’s three lanes coming anyway?”
King then said that he didn’t get out of his car again, before police showed him otherwise.
The defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at a hearing last month at Swindon Magistrates’ Court.
Representing himself on Friday, he told the court: “It was a little bit before that he was behind the lorry.
“He knew I was coming but he pulled out too sharp, I flashed my lights so he knew I was there.
“I was struggling a bit with depression due to Covid. I acted really rash, that’s not my sort of character.
“I do understand it was a very bad decision I made. I know it was early hours of the morning, but it’s no excuse.
“I’m just ashamed of myself really. I’m just sorry about the whole situation.”
The plumber also said he would lose his job as a result of the inevitable driving ban.
Sentencing, Judge James Townsend said King’s guilty plea in the lower court would count in his favour, and decided to impose a 12-month community order.
During that, he will have to complete a 120 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Townsend banned King from the roads for 12 months, and the defendant will have to take an extended retest before he can regain his licence.
He must also pay £150 in costs and a victim surcharge.
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